Pandhapur Darshan/A Trip to Pandharpur

बोलावा विठ्ठल पहावा विठ्ठल ।

 करावा विठ्ठल जीवभाव ॥

Bolva Vitthal Pahawa Vittal

Karawa Vittal Jeewabhawa

 

 (I want to) speak (of) Vitthala, (I want to) see Vitthala and (I want to)  make Vitthala my very own"; with this uncontrollable desire .This marathi abhanga describes the ecstatic state of a mind of a devotee who is overwhelmed with the love of the Lord Vitthala.  When Lord enters his mind everything gets forgotten instantly.

We have been planning to visit Pandharpur to see Vitthal for quite a while, but this time lord gave us the permission and blessings. it was not a planned one but a sudden trip, It's mandatory to visit such places where God lived their life. A place where a true devotee met with God.

 

Its famous temple with heritage is located in Pandharpur and attracts lots of pilgrims all round the year .Pandhar- pur(also known as Pandhari) is a city on the banks of Bhimā river in Solāpur district, Maharashtra, India. It is known as "Dharma kshetra" and "Punyabhumi"; a place where devotees go for pilgrimage because it is the very abode of all merits. River Bhima flows southwards in Pandhari, making a shape of crescent moon so it is called "Chandra-bhaga". Chandrabhaga is embodiment of "Tirtha" (holy water), not only due to its proximity with Lord Vitthala; but also because many saints and pious devotees have taken dip in it immersed in devotion of Lord. It is believed that a dip in the holy river Chandrabhaga on whose banks Pandharpur resides, may wash away all our sins.

 

This God is well-known as Pandurang and Shri Vitthal. Shri Rukmini's temple is in north side of Shri Vitthal Maharaj. The uniqueness of this temple is pilgrims can approach the idol and place their foreheads on the feet of the Lord and Goddess. Apart from Vithala and Rukmini, we can worship Sathya Bhama, Radhika, located next to Rukmini and also Lord Narasimha and Venkateswara.

 

Online Ticketing:

It is suggested to book your Darshan on Line seeking the time slot... It has taken only 10 minutes for the Darshan, whereas others were standing in the queue for more than 4 to 5Hours. Online booking is a must if you wish to have a peaceful darshan. Just get it done from authorised site, You can book your tickets online. Choose a date/ time slot of visit.

 Online ticket is free

Caution: Though it says you can book 3 days in advance it did not allow us to book even 80 hours away. Hence do not keep it to last minute. We had to push/ alter our plans due to this problem

 Once you book the slot, you cannot cancel or change it so be careful what time you would reach that day  I could not book 2 slots on the same day

 

 You must carry the prints of the tickets. I had booked a slot for 11 to 12 am on 4th Dec. Before proceeding for darshan, you need to get your passes stamped at Tukaram Bhavan which is close to the mukh darshan line. You need to be present 15 mins prior to your booking slot at the bhavan. For any slot you get it stamped before proceeding. Online darshan queue is the same for mukdarshan queue. Show your passes there and they will allow you to join the main line

QUEUE/ WAITING TIME:

Though we went on a weekdayand  no special occasion on that day, Sothe regular line was very small and took 1 hour and our line took 15 min .It was all systematic and well arranged. No hours of standing or pushing around by people/ officials At one point, both regular and online ticket holders queues mix up to become one. Hence finally there is no difference in the kind of darshan either of the devotee has had.

As we walked into the temple led along corridors where the normal general public wouldn’t be allowed, I noticed that while the main, central part of the temple was made of stone, the extensions had been made of wood. While the sculptures on the stone weren’t as intricate as those we see in southtemples.But they were beautiful by themselves, and as to the wooden parts, the walls were covered with paintings, both old and new, depicting stories of Lord Vitthala, and the saints who sang of Him.While watching we came near to Vittal.

The darshan was very peaceful. Don't have words to describe You are allowed to touch the deity's feet; this was top of the world experience Priest was very nice and himself asks both of us to touch the feet of the deity.Feel of crying I surrender myself to Lord.when you do sparsh darshan of lord vitthal then you can see the brick on which he is standing.Once you done with vitthal darshan proceed for rukhmini devi darshan. All the devotees are allowed to touch feet of the idol of Vithoba. Apart from Vithala and Rukmini, we can worship Sathya Bhama, Radhika, located next to Rukmini and also Lord Narasimha and Venkateswara

inside the same premise itself.

 

 Rukmani Darshan

Though the deity, Rukmini, who is the wife of Krishna, is placed alone in the temple. The shrine consists of high walls, along with colossal towers that face the north-western direction.

The entry into the temple premises is through the Namdev Gate that consists of 12 steps and an idol of Namdev, along with his tambourine.

On the Streets:

Most of them sold items for puja, not surprising, considering that this was a temple town. Mounds of Kumkum, deep red in colour had been arranged carefully, resembling huge lingams. Each had an image of a deity fixed near the top.

 

 As I stopped to click a picture.from the crowded shops came the sounds of singing – abhangs – Marathi songs sung by the saints, venerating Vitthala and Rakumai. Lifting our heads to see where the sounds came from, we could see the crowd of people waiting in the lines in a seven storeyed building. the building has been built just to accommodate the crowds who gather here everyday,

There are also plenty of other temples and places to visit in and around Pandharpur.

 

Vishnupad temple in Pandharpur is steeped in legends & mythology.

  It is believed that Lord Vishnu and Indra Dev had appeared at this place. The footsteps of Lord Vishnu/ Panduranga are visible on the rocks. It is a quaint little structure with arches that affords a beautiful view of the Chandrabhaga river. There are two other structures in the river nearby- one is Hanuman idol and the other is temple of Narada. Both get submerged during monsoon. Vishnupad temple is located 4 kms from Pandharpur town. One can come in private vehicle or hire an auto to come here. One can also reach by boat from Pandharpur. It is a good place to visit before sunset. We were lucky to have the darshan.

 

Special attraction is a very rare temple of NaradMuni.There are Two footmarks of Lord Vishnu on a stone. You can get there using the stone pathway or by boat.We gone through steps.

Gopalpur:

The way to Gopalpur was scenic with lots of small buildings and a chaotic town traffic thrown in at the beginning.

Gopalpur is around 2 - 2.50 kms from Pandharpur and is home to the residence of Sant Namdev and Sant Janabai who worked as a servant girl at Sant Namdev's house. She loved and in turn was loved by Lord Vittal. It is said that Lord Vittal would come everyday and help her in the daily chores including grinding grain. En route to Gopalpur we saw many fields of Sugarcane. This temple is on a small hillock. 

At the base of the hillock, there was a small temple with a churning stick and a big pot half buried in the ground....seems Janabai sang and composed Abhangs while churning milk....

 

The temple was again fortified...i.e. it looked like a mini fort rather than a temple. A flight of around 50 stairs took us to the top. We were warned by the autowallah not to take any prasad/offering in the temple as it would lead to the money game.

Both sides of the stairs were flanked by vendors selling pooja and prasad materials. Tried and succeeded in evading them. After reaching the top was amazed seeing the scenic beauty of the surroundings...it was a great view from there. The Fort temple...if I can put it that way is actually built on a Mesa. The first temple to greet us (facing the entrance) was the temple of Lordess Rukmini's parents King Bhishmaka and his wife.

Then there was a temple dedicated to Lord Dattatreya ....it was explained by the priest that there are three small swayambhu lingams which symbolise Lords Brahma, vishnu and Shiv....(these were actually tiny pebbles which were cemented/rooted to the ground). There was an idol of Lord Dattatreya just behind these three lingams. Also two trees appeared to grow from behind the idol...it was explained that there were actually three trees and only one of them is alive as of now.

The next temple in the courtyard was the main temple of Lord GopalaKrishna....The idol was really very beautiful.... It was decorated the same way as Lord Vittal's idol in Pandharpur...it too had the fish shaped earringsand sandalwood tika shaped inthe same way as Lord Vittal. The only difference was that the Lord here was playing his flute with crossed legs.

 

 We then checked the kitchen which comprised of some earthenware, grinding stone, chappati stone and other kitchen ware used by Janabai during the course of her daily routine.We maximum visited all places and leave by evening

Once we have a good darshan of the Lord!. The sight of the beautiful idol itself is enough to take away all the worries. Truly satisfying darshan we had. and the splendid architecture need not be mentioned as the temple itself leaves us spellbound!!! I feel very humbled on seeing the innumerable devotees walking barefoot coming from far-off villages just to get darshan of their favourite deity. Also the banks of the river early in the morning resounding with bhajans and the sunrise to add to it made the trip memorable.

How to reach?
Solapur is nearby station. From there you have train, bus or cab to reach Pandharpur.