Visit to Sangameshwar temple (Saswad), near Pune

Location: near Saswad, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Attractions: Shiv Temple
Best time to visit: Anytime (monsoon preferred by me)

10^th August 2013, Day-tour to temples continue...

After visiting Balaji temple, we headed towards Sangameshwar temple.

Route:

From Baner, get on the Pune-Banglore highway and drive towards Banglore. After driving for ~54Kms (from Wakad) you will reach the Kapurhol Junction. At this junction, take left to get on the Narayanpura road. Cross Balaji temple and after ~18Kms Sangameshwar temple will be visible on your left side. Take left turn (before a big play ground), cross the bridge and take immediate left to reach temple.

Other route:
From Baner, get on the Pune-Banglore highway and drive towards Katraj. Cross Warje bridge. Skip the bridge before Sinhagadh road, you need to get on the left road skipping the bridge (the bridge will take you towards Kapurhol). Keep driving on this road for ~22-23Kms to reach Saswad. At Saswad junction take right to get on the Naraynpura road. And in ~1Km take right turn (after a big play ground), cross the bridge and take immediate left to reach temple.

Sangameshwar temple:

It took ~30-40 minutes (~18Kms) for us to reach Sangameshwar temple from Balaji. This temple is at the confluence of two rivers river 'Karha' and river 'Chambli'. Confluence means 'Sangam' and hence the name of this temple - Sangameshwar. The view of temple with greenery all around and small dam over the river looked amazing from the bridge that we crossed to reach this temple.

Temple seen from the bridge

Nandi seen from inside the temple

Ancient walls illuminated by flash

We parked our bike just near the temple and headed towards the entrance. Big Nandi (the famous bull of lord Shiva) welcomed us at the entrance. Inside the temple, it was all dark. The only source of light was through the small entrance and two side windows. We took the blessings of Shiv-Linga inside the temple and when I turned back, I saw a beautiful black frame of Nandi visible through the entry point of temple. I could not see anything on the walls of the temple so I thought of taking a flash photograph to see how these walls actually look like (Yes, you are free to take pics inside the temple). When I flashed I saw only blank ancient walls and pillars of rocks. There was nothing much inside so we got out of the temple to explore things around.

Temple seen from the back

Exterior of this temple has lots of carvings on it. After looking at the surroundings, I felt its not taken good care of. I found names of people written on the walls, may be these people feel proud of writing their names and destroying the beauty of such ancient places.

There were couple of small shiv temples around, they too were not in great shape but one of them had a beautifully colored (may be recently) dome. 

Colored dome

River view from back of the temple

View of the bridge and dam

Weather was good that day, luckily no rains. Blue sky with white clouds and soft sound of flowing river created a pleasant environment around the temple.  We had a good view of the river from the back of the temple. Also the view of dam and bridge over the river looked good on that bright day.

Dragon fly, they were many in numbers

There was no disturbance in photography as there were very few people around us. It was so calm that I could capture some flies too. We explored every visible spot there around the temple and after spending ~2hrs, we decided to leave for the next spot Bhuleshwar temple.

For more photos visit: On Facebook or Panoramio


Next Stop: Bhuleshwar Temple