Dharashir district of Maharashtra comes under Marthwada region. Surrounded by Deccan plateau, Terna river and Solapur district Kalaburgai is yards away indicating start of Karnataka and end of Maharashtra border. Tulijapur is a part of this region where Sri Tuljapur Bhavani Devi temple is located.
So one such weekend from Mumbai via Pune we reached Solapur. It was a 8 hour drive via Pune highway. Solapur is one of the biggest town of Maharashtra with wide roads beautiful nature and home of Shri Shivayogi Siddeswar known as Gramma Devta of the city. Ruled by Chalukya and Bahamanis this town is filled with ancient historical stories.
We had booked a room at Balaji Sarovar premiere, this hotel comes under chain of Sarovar hotels. Ambience of the hotel was filled Ganapathy fest air. Lot of lights, mild agarbathi smell and statue of Lord Ganesh welcomed us. After checking in and quick lunch at, 4pm we started our journey towards Tuljapur from Solapur.
A small town welcomed us to the abode of Sri Bhavani Mata. Built by Kadamb dynasty in 12th century this temple comes under Sakthi Peeth. This temple also lists among four great Sakthipeeth of Maharashtra. Goddess Bhavani is called as Giver of life who protects, Her devotees from negative forces. There are two Myth stories revolving around this temple.
- To kill demon Madhu Kaisabh Devas approached Lord Brahma. He in turn seeked help of Goddess Sakthi who took the form of Sri Bhavani Mata.
- Sage Kardam performed penance on the banks of river Mandakini for Devi to look after the infant child. There demon Kumur started torturing the penance when Sri Bhavani Mata appeared and slayed him. Since She came to Tulja town she was called as Mata Tulija Bhavani here.
Dropping ourselves 10 minutes away from the main temple entrance, we walked into the lane that look us to the temple premises. One straight road, with bends takes you to the temple directly. From a distance you could view temple architecture. There are only two chappal stands around the temple. One nearby and other opposite to the temple. One thing to remember here is if you leave your chappals near the stand or just meters away from the stand people who clean around the temple will take your chappals away. We did this mistake and lost our slippers.
History of this temple says Sri Bhavani Mata is the clan Goddess of Maratha dynasty. There are 2 entrances to the temple. First entrance is devoted to Sri Bayajirao Mudhoji Naik Nimbalkar who was the 16th Maratha King affectionately known as Sardar Nimbalkar. The second entrance was named after King Shivaji parents- Sri Shahaji and Smt.Jijabai. Belief is she appeared as a Swayambhu who was ardently worshipped by whole of Maratha empire other name of Goddess is Amba and Turaja.
We entered via Sri Sardar Nimbalkar entrance walking a long way, taking right then another right brought us to Sri Siddhi Vinayak entrance. There are two ways of darshan. One is going via free darshan where you get to see Sri Tulja Mata pray for few seconds and walk out. Other way is going via paid darshan. We opted for paid darshan. 15 days prior to our visit, through Tulja devasthan app we booked tickets. They guided us to a local person who connected us to a person working inside the temple. He took us to the paid assembling point. In paid darshan a Pandit is assigned who takes you to Sri Tulija ma feet, make you do curd Abhisek and receive Prasad directly laid at Her feet.
Paid darshan queen opened by 6.30 pm. A long walk, wait here and there, brought us to Devi Mata sanctum. Though crowd was heavy, pushing, pulling, nearing Goddess we got 7 minutes to do Abhisek and pray. Coming out Pandit handed us an arthi plate and do arthi clockwise for Mata who is seen to a huge photo form outside. He handed over the Prasad asking me to collect it in - vodi format (Spreading a cloth and taking Prasad in the cloth). From there we were asked to sit on the stairs for 10minutes and exit. Here ended our visit. A wonderful temple, filled with spiritual ambience and a landmark temple of Maharashtra making it a must to visit.
Next day morning from Tulijapur forty minutes drive brought us to - Sri Vatavruksha Swami Maharaj Devasthan- Akalkot. Devoted to Saint Shri Swami Samarth who is known as Lord Dattatreya here, there is a huge banyan tree sitting under which Swamiji used to meditate. There is a Shiva linga in this temple, which was ardently worshipped by Swamiji. Being Pradosa day and Sunday huge crowd was seen. Through a local person entering, worshipping and exiting the temple is easy. We knew a local person and worshipped Lord nearby thereby receiving Prasad from His feet directly. Coming out rounding the banyan tree opposite is a lovely picture of Swamiji designed using Rudraksha.
Taking the backside exit we started our return journey to Mumbai. Our temple visit for the weekend completed here. Drive to Tulijapur showed me nature, lovely paddy fields and temples every few yards once. Highway was so smooth that all through the drive I could relax. A short travel, but very memorable spiritual weekend trip etched in my mind for lifetime.