PLACES

MAHULI

Mahuli (Satara T; 17° 40' N, 74° 00' E; RS. Koreganv 8 m. NE., P. 624.), also called Sangam Mahuli from its position at the meeting of the Krshna and the Yenna, is a holy town in great local note about three miles east of Satara. The town is divided into two parts, Ksetra Mahuli on the east bank of the Krshna [The Krishna is crossed near Mahuli by a flying bridge and the steep descent on its east bank is obviated by a good winding pavement or ghat.] and Sangam Mahuli on the west bank of the Krshna the property of the Pant Pratinidhi by whose family most of the Mahuli temples were built in the eighteenth century.

Temples.

These temples, [The temple accounts are from the MSS. of the late Mr. E. H. Little, C. S., formerly Assistant Collector, Satara. Compare Chesson and Woodhall's Bombay Miscellany, 1: 303-04.] which form the chief objects of interest at Mahuli, are ten in number and are built almost on or about the river bank. Descending the river the first is the temple of Radhashankar on the east bank of the Krshna in the limits of Ksetra Mahuli. The temple stands on the Giri Ghat a long and handsome stone platform built by one Bapu Bhat Govind Bhat about 1780. The temple is built of basalt and consists of a shrine and a vestibule which may here be described as a verandah supported by three small horse-shoe scollopped arches. The dome is of brick and almost conical in shape. It is broken up into gradually lessening rows of stucco ornamentation in which are niches filled with images. On each side of the entrance is a lamp-pillar or dipmal. The temple was built about 1825 by Tai Saheb Sachiv of the Pant Sachiv family of the former princely state of Bhor.

The second, also on the east bank of the Krshna, is the temple of Bilveshvar built about 1742, by Shripatrav Pant Pratinidhi. The temple consists of a vestibule (18'x18'X11') and a shrine (10' 9"X10' 6"X13'). The vestibule has no opening but a low door close to which is the Nandi. The roof is supported by a few pillars each of which is in alternate courses square, round or octagonal. The sides gradually contract by a series of offsets which run up nearly to the top of the dome so that the back wall is only five or six feet long. Except the tipper part of the dome which is of brick covered and ornamented with stucco, the temple is built of gray stone and bears a very solid appearance. Over the bull near the vestibule door is a square stone canopy apparently later than the temple and supported on each side by a broad low pointed arch. In front of the temple are a few tombs of ascetics and further beyond is the ghat or winding pavement and flights of steps leading to the river built in 1738 by Anandrav Bhivrav Deshmukh Angapurkar. The third, also on the east bank of the Krshna but at some distance from the first two as also from Mahuli village, is a large temple dedicated to Rameshvar and built about A. D. 1700 by Parashuram Narayan Angal of, Deganv. Looking at it from the opposite or west bank the chief objects of note are the very fine flights of thirty-five steps leading up to it from the river-bed. One flight with its broad platform was begun by the last Peshva Bajirav II. (1796-1817), but never finished. Though forming part of the whole structure, it would lead, if finished, rather to the side of the temple than to the temple itself. The other flight begins nearly where the first leaves off, and at an angle to it, and is said to be the work of Parashuram Angal. Half-way up it on either side is a small cloister of two arches, which would be perfectly circular but for a small niche in the keystone. The roof is domed and formed by concentric layers of stone, each projecting over the below and so diminishing in circumference till only a small hole is left enough to admit one stone. At the top of the steps are two lamp-pillars one on either side of which, only one is in good condition at present and on the right is a small shrine with a three-faced image of Dattatraya. In front is a bull with his face towards the door of the vestibule. He is very richly ornamented with chains and bells. Between his feet is a small ling overshadowed by the cobra with two worshipping women. The canopy is supported at the corners by pillars which are square and round or octagonal in alternative courses. Above is a low octagonal dome on two' courses, the lower plain, the upper with a few figures. Above this again is a representation of the lotus, but the stucco has fallen off. The doorway consists of a stone porch supported on half pillars. The vestibule is very small and is entered by a low door. There are three domes, the lowest is over the vestibule, the next comes a little higher, and the third adjoining it is the highest. All the domes are of brick and stucco surmounted by a representation of the lotus. Behind the temple is a cloister of five arches now not xn good repairs. A small door leads into the shrine with five small figures in black basalt. The central figures are Shiv and Parvati. At one end is an upright Hanuman with hands clasped together.

The fourth temple of Sangameshvar Mahadev is, as its name shows, close to the sangam or junction of the two rivers, on the west bank of the Krshna and the north bank of the Yenna and nearly opposite the Bilveshvar temple. From the bank of the Krshna two flights of steps lead up to the courtyard wall in which is a small door opening into the quadrangular court in which lies the temple. It consists of a small open verandah with a roughly executed painting of Lakshmi and a vestibule and shrine. In front is the sacred bull under a canopy resting on four pillars. The breadth at the back is gradually diminished by a series of offsets which are carried up into the dome. The architecture is pure Hindu. The pillars are round or octagonal and square in alternate courses, and the roof is formed of long stones which stretch diagonally from pillar to pillar so as to form a series of lozenge or diamond shaped spaces, filled in with square stones of smaller size. There are good flying buttresses to the platform of the sacred bull and the top of the dome. Like Bilveshvar the body of the building is of basalt and the dome of brick and stucco. It. is said to have been built by Shripatrav Pant Pratinidhi about 1740. Just below this temple and at the actual junction of the rivers is a triangular plot of ground occupied by tombs built over the burial places of an ascetic named Banshapuri and his disciples. The largest, under which the ascetic himself is said to be buried, is an octagonal building of gray basalt, surmounted by a low dome. The sides are open, and the triangular heads of the openings are scollopped and richly carved above; a broad ledge is carried round supported on elegant scrolls. Inside is a ling and sacred bull. The next in size is square with a horse-shoe opening about six feet high and carved pilasters on each side. The dome is of brick, plastered and fluted. In de are a ling and bull. The third is a mere canopy with fluted dome and supported on square pillars over the ling and bull.

The fifth, the largest of the Mahuli temples on the south bank of the Yenna at its meeting with the Krshna is dedicated to Vishveshvar Mahadev and is said to have been built by Shripatrav Pant Pratinidhi about 1735. It is of basalt and enclosed by an irregular shaped courtyard open on the river side, from which it is approached by a flight of steps. The high platform on which it is raised, the low colonnade which runs round the greater part of it, the short thick pillars in alternate courses of round octagonal and square, the lozenge-figured stone roof, the breadth increasing from the front by offsets and then decreasing in a similar way behind, all show that it is a building purely Hindu in architecture. The length from back to front is about fifty feet, and the breadth varies from twenty feet to five feet. The interior consists of a vestibule with images of Ganapati and Lakshmi and a marble shrine. The dome is of brick and stucco. The squareness of the form in this and other domes of this time contrasts with the round domes of a later period. Animals are carved in the capitals of the pillars and the cornices. The sacred bull is on the usual platform surmounted by a canopy and octagonal dome, the niches of which are filled with mythological figures, and are divided from each other by figures of men on elephants. On two sides of the court-yard are cloisters with broad low pointed arches and square pillars; they are either meant to serve for cooking purposes or are hostelries for visitors. On another side is a similar unfinished building with narrower and more pointed arches. At the entrance of the vestibule is a fine bell apparently with no writing but the date 1744 in English figures. The bell was probably taken by the Marathas from some Portuguese church in the Konkan after the capture of Bassein in 1739. At the back of the Vishveshvar temple and very inferior to it in every respect is a basalt temple of Ramchandra said to have been built in 1772 by Trimbak Vishvanath Pethe usually called Mama Pethe a distinguished general under the fourth Peshva Madhavrav (1761-1772) and the maternal uncle of Sadashivrav Bhau. It is very small and consists merely of a verandah and a shrine with brass figures of Ram, Lakshman, and Sita. The wall behind them is panelled with broad low arches and painted with flowers. The dome consists of only two polygonal courses. There are five other small temples in Mahuli. The temple of Vithoba was built by Jotipant Bhagvat of Cincner about A. D. 1730. It originally consisted of a small verandah with carved wooden pillars opening into the shrine by a low Muhammedan arch. A hall or vestibule with wooden pillars and door all round was added in about 1860. The roof is hung with lamps. Bhairavdev's is a small temple consisting of a shrine and open vestibule or verandah with three small arches. It was built about 1770 by one Krishnambhat Talke and a hall with wooden pillars, as in the temple of Vithoba, has been recently added to it. The other three temples are one of Krshnabai and another of Krshneshvar Mahadev built in 1754 and 1790 by Krishna Dikshit Chiplunkar; and a temple on the right of the Satara road with a handsome flight of steps begun by one of the Satara Ranis in 1865. Besides these temples Mahuli has on each side of the road leading to the ferry several tombs or cenotaphs to members of the royal family of Satara and others [The illustrious dead from Satara and the neighbouring villages are brought for cremation to Mahuli.]. One or two of these have some simple but handsome stone carving [One tomb with the figure of a sitting dog is said to mark the burial place of a favourite dog of Raja Shahu (1707-1749). It was a black greyhound and saved Shahu's life by its furious barking, which called the king's attention to a tiger which was in the act of springing on him. A palanquin establishment was kept up for him, Grant Duffs Marathas, Vol I, 441; Lady Falkland's Chow Chow, II, 31-32; Murray's Bombay: Handbook, 275.].

History.

Mahuli was the birth place of Ram Shastri Prabhune the famous spiritual and political adviser of the fourth Peshva Madhavrav (1761-1772).

An open plot, once inhabited by him, has been given to the gram-panchayat and in his memory the building will be named after him.

Mahuli was the scene of an interview between the last Peshva Bajirav (1796-1817) and Sir John Malcolm just before war was declared against him and during his wandering he constantly returned to Mahuli.

Many fairs are held at Mahuli. Especially the one held on the last Monday of Shravan and on the Mahashivaratri day attracts more than 10,000 people. Mahuli is considered as one of the most sacred places by the Hindus.

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