Holy Pilgrimage to Pandharpur in the State of Maharashtra in India

There are many places of pilgrimage situated in the State of Maharashtra in India, particularly for the Hindus. I was lucky to visit one such most vital place of pilgrimage during my last trip to India. This holy place was the city of Pandharpur. The city of Pandharpur is known as the Banaras of Western India and is situated in the South of Mumbai. I have covered some of the aspects of my unique visit to this holy city in this article.

Pandharpur is well connected by air, rail, and road from most of the major cities of the State of Maharashtra. However, the best option to reach Pandharpur is by train from Mumbai. The train takes around 6 hours to reach Pandharpur from Mumbai. There are around 10 trains available per day for Pandharpur from Mumbai. Make sure that you make reservation for this train journey in advance so as to avoid last minute rush and hassles. The city of Pandharpur is situated on the bank of holy River Chandrabhaga. The most important place to visit here at Pandharpur is the famous temple of Lord Krishna, which is commonly known as Lord Vithoba in this region. This temple is located in the heart of the city of Pandharpur. This temple is spread in the area of 105 meters long and 51 meters wide. There are six gates to this temple. The most vital gate is the gate located on the East side, which is known as Namdev gate. The most impressive statue of Lord Krishna, made of classic black marble, is placed inside this temple. This statue is around 5 feet high. The eyes of this statue are really very hypnotic and cause lot of spiritual feelings inside the soul of all the visitors. The statue of Goddess Rukshmani, principle wife of Lord Krishna, is also placed here near the statue of Lord Krishna. This statue of Goddess Rukshmani is made of smooth white marble. The clothes and the ornaments on both these statues are really worth seeing. These decorations are changed four times a day by the priests of the temple. This temple is around 1500 years old.

There is one other temple of Devotee Pundalik, just opposite to the main temple. Pundalik was the most sincere devotee of Lord Krishna. He performed tap of Lord Krishna here for 24 years. Lord Krishna was pleased with this and gave blessings to him and that is why the temple of Pundalik is kept in the same place as the main temple. Thousands of pilgrims visit this holy Vithoba temple on eleventh day of every Hindu month. There is a big fair held here at this temple, every year on the eleventh day of the Hindu month Ashadh. Millions of pilgrims visit this holy temple on this auspicious day. It becomes extremely difficult to get hotel accommodation in the city of Pandharpur during this period.

There are many dharmshalas available for the pilgrims in the city of Pandharpur. There are some guest houses also available here. But these guest houses are not that luxurious and mostly provide only basic facilities. We stayed at Neelam Guest House, which is situated in the heart of the city. The double room provided here was quiet simple but good enough to stay for a night. The charges for this double room were around Rs.250 ($5) per day. Most of the local restaurants serve traditional Maharshtrian food delicacies. Such food delicacies are quiet spicy and may not be suitable for all. It would be advisable to carry packed lunch and the mineral drinking water with you while visiting this holy city of Pandharpur. It would be better to visit Pandharpur during the winter months from November to March as the summer months are extremely hot here. The stay of one day may be enough at this holy city of Pandharpur.

If you are devotee of Lord Krishna and are interested in Hindu religion, you may like to plan a visit to this holy city of Pandharpur in India.