PLACES

DHOM

Dhom (Wai T; 17° 55' N, 73° 45' E; RS Wathar 26m. SE; p. 1,006) village lies on the north bank of the Krshna about five miles north-west of Wai with which it is connected by a motorable road. The population once consisted mainly of the Brahman worshippers at the temples which form the only objects of interest in the village. The chief temple is between the village and the river and is dedicated to God Mahadev. It consists of a shrine and a verandah, and in front of these are small saracenic scollopped arches supported on pillars about six feet high and a foot thick. The arches and the inside walls are of highly polished basalt. The shrine is fifteen feet long and fourteen feet broad and the verandah fifteen feet broad and eighteen feet long projecting two feet on each side of the shrine making the length of the whole structure thirty-eight feet. The verandah arches are covered with leaves and what appear to be cones. Beyond the arches, on each side of the facade, is a broad band of wall carved in arabesques. The height of the building including the spire is probably not more than forty feet, and, except the spire which is of brick it is all made of basalt. The spire is in two twelve-sided tiers with an urn-shaped pinnacle on the top. The urn rests on a sort of basin the edges of which are carved in a lotus leaf pattern. There are similar small pinnacles at the corners of the shrine and the Mandap. The whole building is raised from the ground on a plinth about two feet high. Four feet in front is the sacred bull, Nandi, well carved of polished basalt and under a canopy surmounted by a dome. It is seated upon the back of a turtle represented as in the act of swimming and surrounded by a stone basin by filling which it is intended to complete the illusion. The canopy is octagonal supported on scollopped arches similar to those in the shrine. The bull is in the usual reclining attitude with the point of the right foot resting on the tortoise and the right knee bent as if about to rise. The usual trappings, necklace bells, and saddle cloth are carved in stone. The tortoise is circular with feet and head stretching out from under the shell and very roughly done. It rests on a circular basement and has a diameter of about fifteen feet. The sides and margin of the basement are tastefully cut so as to represent the fringe of the lotus flower. The canopy is surmounted by a small octagonal spire or shikhar eight feet high, and profusely decorated in stucco. The basin in which this structure rests is circular, about two feet deep and twenty feet in diameter and is simply sunk into the pavement of the court with a small turned back lip or margin. Round this chief temple are four others dedicated to Narsimha, Ganapati, Lakshmi, and Vishnu which contain yellow marble images of those divinities said to have been brought from Agra. One temple which stands outside by itself represents the Shiv Panchayatan. Four heads look to the four cardinal points of the compass and the fifth heaven-wards. Of the other four temples the Narsimha temple deserves mention for its curious hideosity. It has a circular basement on an octagonal plinth about six feet high and surmounted by a hideous structure made of mixed stucco and wood and supposed to represent an umbrella. All these buildings are in a paved court 100 feet by 120 with brick walls about twelve feet high. There is an entrance consisting of a stone pointed archway which by itself is not unimposing, but the walls are very much out of keeping. These temples were all built by Mahadev Shivram, a Poona moneylender who flourished about 1780 A.D. A side door from the temple court-yard leads to a flight of steps built about the same time by one Narayanrav Vaidya. On the right is a small temple dedicated to Ram, attributed to the last Peshva, Bajirav II (1796-1817). Its conical spire has been broken off by the fall of a tree. Below this and facing the river is a sort of cloister containing an image of Ganapati. The arches are pointed and the date of the building is probably about 1780 A.D. About half a mile up the river is a small temple of Mahadev built by Shahu (1682-1749) who came to Dhom to bathe in the river. The place is held in great veneration and the Mahadev ling is said to have been first set up by a Rshi named Dhaumya said to have come from the source of the Krshna at Mahabalesvar. A fair or jatra in honour of God Mahadev takes place on the full-moon of Vaishakh or April-May and one in honour of Narsimha on the bright fourteenth of Vaishakh, when about 1,000 to 1,200 pilgrims attend. The management of the temples is in the hands of a temple committee which also looks after the repairs and upkeep of the temples.

TOP