Purandar Trek

Purandar Outing
Sunday, 28th May 2006

Anil
Rahul
Gurujit
Ritin
Anand
Dhaval
Someshwar
Subhajit
Sanjukta and
Vikram



Swargate - Solapur Road – Saswad - Turn before Jejuri for Purandar




Swargate, one place that’s probably as important as the forts we trek. 6.30 am was the auspicious IST decided to assemble. Sticking to our tradition, 7.30 am was when we finally moved on, only after downing some idlis and a hot cuppa of tea. Two more joined us at Magarpatta city. That made up for 5 bikes and 10 nature enthusiasts, all set to scale Fort Purandar in the near perfect weather conditions.

Now, bikes are meant for sudden breakdowns, known to stall at the most misappropriate spots with a punctured tyre or stutter to a standstill when none expect them to. However, this journey was to be different. The ride was butter smooth, thanks to the excellent road right up to the Purandar base village. The weather played a perfect ally and we just cruised along. The distance was not great either, just 45 km from Swargate. We screeched to a halt at Narayanpur, base of Purandar, before 9 am. After pampering our tummies once again and packing some Wada Pavs and biscuits for lunch we headed to the historic Purandar. But not before visiting the impressive Narayanpur Shiva Temple.

For some queer reason we started our trek on bikes. We followed the almost non-existent road to the top, riding gingerly through loose pebbles, razor sharp rocks and mud patches. In 30 min. flat we had parked our bikes, and our asses, at the imposing statue of Purandar’s ‘Killedar’ Murarbaji Deshpande. A brief photo session ensued almost immediately. Thankfully, even the great Murarbaji Deshpande obliged to our antics.

Next stop was at the one and only hotel / restaurant / dhaba / tapri on the fort. A perfect watering hole for animals of a different kind, us. A neatly carved out path from there leads to the top of the fort. It’s a simple 45 min. walk. With 2 short cuts, we reached even earlier. The refreshing breeze that blew through the entrance gate of the fort was AC cool, to say the least. You don’t feel like moving an inch from that spot. And that’s exactly what we did for the better part of the next half an hour. Clicking photos, generally ‘tp’ing, speculating about the fighting tactics of the Maratha warriors and the canon positions. Two more groups had chosen the same day to visit the fort. A generous mix of youngsters like us and enthusiastic elders.

Soon we proceeded to explore the fort. A Shiva temple that sits pretty on the highest point of the fort was our next destination. One thing that I found a Purandar specialty was that there are at least 4 to 5, sufficiently big, well-endowed water tanks on top. None with potable water though. But that clearly shows that Purandar was a strategic fort for the Marathas in the 18th century. Incidentally, the fort that has such good reserves of water is abundant with big cactus. Am still searching for a satisfactory explanation. Anyone?

Two Army men joined us on our way to the top. They were among the 6 men who form the Army division on the fort. Again the way to the temple is very simple. A fun walk rather. There are even steps at the end. Once on top we quickly took darshan and settled for an early wada pav lunch. In between, the army men narrated about a great escapade. A group of guyz from Ichalkaranji had come there some time back. One of them, in the usual masti, went a bit too far on the edge. As fate would have it, he slipped and went straight down the valley. Fortunately his foot touched a sole rock on the slope and he stood balancing himself on that narrow rock. As per the army man’s version,
8 min. was all that it took for them to climb the fort. Equipped with ropes they finally rescued the guy. A pretty close shave it was for him, they said, else bones were the only thing that would’ve been retrieved form the slopes.

On that note we bit into the wada pav. An brief introduction session followed where everyone seemed to be reluctant to disclose their identity. The IT guys even got down to solving a riddle about Subhajit’s age. All in all, it was fun. By now we had consumed every drop of water we were carrying. Fortunately the clouds came to our rescue and absorbed all the heat. It seemed like it would rain soon. Amidst the expectation of heavy rains, we headed back. Each one came by a different route. On our way we came across a deserted house (all houses on top are deserted anyways). While exploring the vacant rooms we came across a big skull of a bull. That called for some more photos, posing as big game hunters with the skull in hand.

Back to our only restaurant, cold ‘nimbu sarbat’ greeted our parched throats. It was 1.00 pm by then. From there we proceeded to yet another huge water tank that’s on the route to Vajragad, the adjoining fort. While some sat on the banks of the tank, we spotted a mango tree fully laden with kairis, kaccha mangoes. Instincts took over and we started aiming stones at the mangoes. The bitter realization that none of us were Rajyavardhan Rathod or Anjali Bhagwat came fast enough as all the stones went wheezing past their target, clearly missing it by a comfortable distance. Then Someshwar struck an idea. He started hurling huge sticks/tree trunks towards the branches. This strategy paid instant dividends and soon we managed to down a handful of ‘kairis’. Fortunately there was no rakhwaldar to chase us away and we made merry.

Vikram took on another tree in the vicinity. However he chose to climb. Soon Someshwar followed up and we could spot two monkeys on the tree trunks. Now mangoes started coming down every alternate second. Soon one haversack was full and we stopped stripping the tree of its mangoes. Satisfied with our pick we headed towards Vajragad. Just four of us, rest decided to take a quick nap. Within 40 min. were on top. By now the wind had deserted us and it was getting hot. No signs of rains too.
Vajragad is more like a mini-fort. On top is a cool cluster of black rock formations and complementing them is a thorny jungle of cacti. After romancing with the black rocks we proceeded back down.

The initial path to Vajragad, from Purandar, is lined with rows of dilapidated structures. These were the army accommodations in the 1980s. Purandar fort was an Army Training Base and a sizeable number of army men trained here till the late 1980s.
Later they shifted base and now only 6 army personnel are posted on the fort. The restaurant owner later told us that only these army people have access to electricity on the entire fort. A statue of Shivaji Maharaj is installed amidst these structures. An information board next to it had some valuable information on Sambhaji Raje. One of the points shed light on his life. It read,



“The perception that Sambhaji Raje was an addict and an aiyyash is completely baseless and false. That some historians chose to malign this great hero is nothing but the misfortune of this magnificent land called India.”



On this enlightening note we headed back to Purandar. It was 4 pm by now and we decided to hop on to our bikes and proceed back. Only after another round of tea and generous sips of the zarnas drinking water. On our way Ritin misled us to a Somnath Temple at Saswad , saying that we’ll be visiting the samadhi of the first ‘Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath.’ Fortunately, we located the samadhi quite close to the temple. So Ritin was not completely wrong after all. ;)

We soon picked speed only to halt for a cool glass of ‘lassi’. Just an excuse to settle the accounts. The whole trip cost us just Rs.100/- per person. That’s too small for a great experience like this. By 7 pm we were back in Pune. Thus happened the Purandar outing. A great one-day location for a short trek, if I may call so.

Click on the link to view the Purandar photographs:

http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?action=viewAllPhotos&albumID=550886093&security=lLSxuo