PLACES

DIVASHI KHURD

Divasi Khurd (Patan T; RS Karad 34 m. NE; p. 580) village in Patan, alienated to Nagojirav Patankar, contains a curious cave and spring sacred to Dvareshvar Mahadev and Ramchandra. The cave lies seven miles north-west of Patan on a platform of rock on the east side of the spur ending at Dategad, and about 700 feet above the plain. Two hundred feet higher is the large mura or ledge generally found on the sides of these hills and 100 feet above this the rocky ridge or hogback which crowns this spur throughout. The worshippers are chiefly unmarried Jangams or Lingayat priests. The cave is about 200 feet long, thirty-five feet deep, and six to eight feet high. In the centre is the Mahadev shrine and twenty-yards to the north, a shrine of Ramchandra. The Jangams have maths or cells all along the cave leaving spaces for the temples about twenty feet square. They make themselves and their cattle fairly comfortable by blocking up the rock with mud partitions and doorways. The water drips from a spring in the solid rock above the Mahadev cave. The Mahadev cave has a little wood ornamentation put up by a member of the Patankar family about 250 years ago but except its size and curious nature, the cave has nothing very remarkable. Great holiness is attached to the place and it is visited by pilgrims from the Karnatak and elsewhere. Jatras or fairs are held in honour of Mahadev on the first day of Margshirsh or November-December and in honour of Ramchandra on the first of Chaitra or March-April and are attended by about 1,000 people from the neighbouring villages.

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