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PLACES
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ALTE
Alte Kasaba (Hatkanangale T. 17° 10' N; 74° 30' E p. 5,214),
from alta, a red colour formerly made in the town, was the former headquarters of the Alte sub-division. It lies in the Varna valley, about twelve miles north-east of Kolhapur and six miles south of the Varna. It is two miles from Hatkanangale railway station on the Kolhapur-Miraj-Sangli metre gauge railway. The town is surrounded on three sides by woody heights and has a good supply of well water. The people live in brick and tile-built houses. Alte is said to be more than 800 years old. Weekly markets are held every Tuesday and Wednesday. During the disorders at the close of the eighteenth century, Alte was twice burnt to the ground. The objects of interest are a Musalman prayer-place called Ramzan Darga, and about a mile to the west of the town the temples of Sidoba, a Lingayat saint, of Dhuloba, probably another name for Khandoba of Alam Prabhu, a Lingayat shrine, and of Ramling or Siva. The Ramzan Darga is a square building, including the plinth, forty-four feet long by forty feet broad and including the dome thirty-three feet high. The prayer place is visited by many Musalmans and by a few Hindus. Every year on the 15th of Saval a fair or urus is held attended by about 2,000 people. The Darga enjoys free land valued at a yearly assessment of Rs. 613. Of Hindu temples the temple of Sidoba is a small tile-roofed stone and mortar building five feet long and five feet broad. It is visited chiefly by Kunbis. The temple of Dhuloba which is built in Indo-Saracenic style, is twenty-five feet square and has a small central dome. It is said to have been built by a weaver of Kagal. Every year in Caitra or March-April a fair is held attended by about 5,000 people chiefly Marathas. The temple of Alam Prabhu which
is also built in Indo-saracenic style, is twenty-seven feet long, seventeen feet broad and ten feet high. It is chiefly visited by Lingayats and Jains. According to a local legend Prabhu was a Lingayat saint who came to Alte. He was followed by his disciple Adiling as far as Alte. As he could find no further trace of his Guru, he thought that Prabhu had buried himself alive at Alte. To show respect for his teacher, Adiling built the shrine and set up a lamp which is still kept burning and worshipped. There is a local story that the temple was visited by the Emperor Alamgir or Aurangzeb (1658-1707) and was presented by him with a maca or footstool. The original footstool has disappeared and a new one has been installed in front of the lamp. Some small domes in front of the temple are said to have been raised in honour of devotees of Siva who performed the live-burial or jivant-samadhi. The last live-burial is said to have taken place about 150 years ago. The cave temple of Ramling is on the side of a rocky hill. The chief cave was originally nearly twelve feet square, but three quarters of it have been turned into a cistern five feet deep. At the inner end of the temple are a rock-carved ling and a Ganapati from which water always trickles. Before they can reach the ling, worshippers have generally to pass through three or four feet of water. Outside the cave-mouth a massive Hemadpanti structure thirteen feet square rests on stone pillars. By the side of the main cave is a row of seven small cells dedicated to the seven Puranic sages or Sapta risis. Near the temple are several unfailing springs, of which the Nilaganga or Blue Ganges and the Papanasi (sin-destroyer) are tirths or sacred pools. The position of the ling and the Ganapati seems to show that the caves are Buddhist or Jain and have been adopted for Brahmanic worship.
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