Shivtharghal,Varandha Ghat

Dear Blog viewers,

With this blog,I am introducing the beautiful part of Maharastra,The great Sahyadri mountains running from North to South,full of historic tales of the great legend Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj,Great saints and places of religious and historical importance

I was always fascinated by the great sahyadri mountains from my childhood and so developed habit of trekking and visiting various tourist places.The main objective is to learn lifestyle from the villagers,knowing various cultures.

I would like to start my blog about of the great place called Shivtharghal located near Mahad(Raigad district Maharastra) .

Introduction:This place is a sacred place and abode of great saint Ramdas Swami,the spiritual Guru of Shivaji Maharaj.He used to reside in the cave located at the footsteps of mountains and he wrote a book in this cave called "Dasbodh".It is a calm and quiet place surrounded with massive hills from all around with huge waterfalls in rainy season.

All these surroundings makes this place as a worship place,challenging place for trekkers and for those people who like visit excursion spots for gaining peace and ambience and take some time from their hectic schedules

How to Go to this place

From Pune this place is 115 kms

The road is from Pune to Bhor and from there you join Bhor-Mahad Road.While driving through this road you will always see clean and fresh waters of neera river towards your left with huge mountains of Raireshwar-Wai-Mahabaleshwar range further left and Huge Varandha ghat and Rajgad fort mountains to your front

Further 25 kms from Bhor there is a big dam on neera river and in front of it you will see huge Raireshwar pleateau mountain.This pleateau is famous for its very huge table land and yellow symthia flowers in monsoons,This pleateau is larger than Panchgani table land

The varandha ghat starts 10 kms from this dam and you will encounter steep climbs and slopes,dense greenery all over the hills and backwaters of neera dam towards left.This heavenly scene is undescribable.I think that more than I telling you,it will be better that you must experience it yourself(especially in monsoon season)

After driving for around 20 kms now the climb up slope become more steeper and now the backwaters of dam is not visible.You will see a pass in this ghat(Khind in Marathi language) called dwarmandap pass.From here the view changes.You will see very very steep valleys facing towards Konkan with curved roads climbing down and deep valley around 3000 feet,Torna and Rajgad fort to your front and if the climate is not foggy,you will be lucky to see the King of all forts 'Raigad'

Further the road climbs down and we reach a point in Ghat where nearly all tourists definately halt to have tea and kanda bhajis/pakodas.This spot is called Waghjai point.From her we can have some view of shivtharghal and in rainy season we can see awesome huge waterfalls

From this point Shivtharghal is 9 kms through a small approach road for two wheelers and cars and 24 kms by a good road.but be careful because I dont recommend this road unless you are a hardcore driver/biker to drive through this road.This will be full of adventure because you will have to drive through really very bad road with steep slopes and curves and through dense jungles(Please note that this road is suitable for bullock carts and only for those who like walking in jungle treks)

The safe road which I recommend is straightway climb down Varandha ghat into Konkan and reach Barasgaon and from there Shivtharghal is 15 kms.This good road will take you through banks of Shivthar river and huge mountains in front to Shivtharghal

This place is in cave located with huge hills from all sides,dense forests.There is a Math near this cave called 'Sundar math'

After reaching this place you will come to know why Ramdas swami choose this place for his meditation and writing dasbodha

In rainy season you will see a huge waterfall in front of cave

The cave is not very big but good  for meditation and peace of mind.

You will find yourself relaxed after sitting in this cave for a while 

From Mumbai/Konkan area the approach to this place is quiet simple

Reach Mahad through Mumbai Goa highway,take left towards road going to Pune,reach Barasgaon and from there as mentioned earlier follow the road till Shivtharghal.

Best season to visit: July to November(For trekkers and bike freaks)

For those who loves spirituality/Adhyatma,there is no season to visit this place

Care to be taken:Please maintain sacredness of this place while visiting this place,dont talk in loud voice to disturb others,After having prasad(Khichadi) from the Math,please remember to wash your own plate and keep it in its place.

Please check that you have enough fuel in fuel tank,check brakes and headlights of your vehicle

There is no fuel station between 75 kms.In The 30 kms area,rarely there is a village

Staying:In this village there is a 'bhakta niwas' where you can stay (with discipline) or else in the village also you can get accomodation at reasonable rates.

Places nearby to see: Mahabaleshwar & Pratapgad via Poladpur 85 kms,Harihareshwar 80 kms,Diveagar Beach 75 kms,Raigad Fort: 45 kms

For Trekkers: Jungle Trek from Shivtharghal to Madhe Ghat to Torna fort 27 kms

I also will be coming with new posts about new places specially about tourism and some hobbies/crafts

Thankyou all for reading this huge blog.I recommend you to visit this place