Bhandardurg: One more to the list...

It was almost 6 months since we had gone for a trek. The last one was Ratangad which we did way back in september. Last winter was a total waste as everyone was busy with their life and no one was taking initiative. When Dipali pinged me a link from Maharashtra times about Bhandardurg i was thrilled after reading the article and was thinking of ripping this in the early monsoon this year. But Dips and gang planned it in this boiling heat, and that too @ Nasik. Initially i was a bit reluctant but i could hardly find any pages about Bhandardurg on the web. Eventually i decided that, no matter what, i am going to do this, even though the heat is pouring.

We started very late @ around 1 am from Mumbai. It was a group of 9 with 4 girls and 5 boys. Thanks to Amar for the Sumo, otherwise travelling by public transport in this summer vacations would have hell. By 5.30am we were at Trimbakeshwar. One of the 12 jyotirlings in India. Shri Trimbakeshwar Kshetra is covered by hills on three sides in a semicircle pattern and a long road which comes in from Mumbai - Nashik - Agra(NH2) highway. This placement of hills and considering the road which connects the kshetra to the highway makes it resemble a Lord shiva's Shivling if seen from a bird eye view. The hills covering the Trimbak are Anjaneri, which is also the birth place of Hanuman. Behind the Trimbakeshwar temple is the Huge mountain called Brahmagiri. They say its origin of the river Godavari. There is one more Lord shiva temple and also a Krishna mandir on the hill. All these three temples are at south end of the brahmagiri hill whereas at north end is the Shiva's Jata mandir.

We started from the base village at around 7 am and reached till the Jata Mandir by 11 am. We were in no hurry since we had ample time as the the route till Brahmagiri is very straight forward and one can find many small stalls of lime-water, cucumber and resting spots. There were also stalls which had flowers, rudraksha malas, empty bottles of bisleri costing from 2rs - 5rs, which poeple bought to carry godavari water back home. The decendants of Hanumanji or say human ancestors trouble a-lot in a small patch of steep steps. They steal anything which is in your hand and give stern looks if one tries to retaliate. One of them sat on my bag for quite some time until Runal who was behind me screamed when another one tried to pull her bag too. May he was thinking now since i am sitting on this sack, it belongs to me :D ... Somehow we were able to get out of that patch with less struggle since few of us had sticks in our hand. But there were other devotees who suffered because of these monkeys. Some of them also snatched purses of women. The really fun had now started. Till the Jata Mandir, things were normal as there were troops of people who accompanied us, but the place where we wanted to go was Bhandardurg, they call it Durga Bhandar. Its at a half kilometer distance from Jata Mandir. A a very narrow route behind the Jata mandir. On the way till Bhramagiri we asked many people about Bhandardurg, everyone said its very risky to go there. Not many people go there besides trekkers. (And why would one go? As there is no temple over there, if there had been one, people would have gone there as well). I saw people throwing 10 rupee notes in the godavari kund and even on the Shivling. God neva ask for money, and if you still want to give it then dont atleast throw it on him. It was disppointing to see people gathering around the pandit who was distributing the godavari tirth and creating chaos and hurting eachother and even fighting. For every spoonful of tirth every person used to drop a 10 rupee note in front of the pundit. There were a few foreigners as well who dropped 100 rupee notes each.

We started walking on the narrow route behind the Jata mandir. The route is very slippery because of the granular mud which has come down because of the land-slide. On our left was a valley and a small village of around 5-10 houses with farm fields around and goats and other pet animals running around and a few of those quietly trying to beat the heat by sitting under the shade of a huge tree next to a small well where a few females from the village were busy washing clothes and kids palying around. What a lyf! I mean this statement for each one of the living being i specified in the last couple of statements. There were places where we had to make our foot firm before placing the other foot. One slip and zuppppp.. in the valley.. We were approaching a pinnacle which looked dismantled at various places still standing tall. The pinnacle was linked to the brhamagiri hill with a very sleek and narrow wall like sructure-bridge. Until now, there was no clue how we are going to reach the dismantled pinnacle(Bhandardurg). With baby steps techinique at critical patches we reached a place where there was a 4 feet wide tunnel going down which had steps of uneven height ranging from 1/2 a feet to almost 2 feet. From top it looked like going no man's land. We started climbing down the slope. Eternal bliss it was. The sun was getting harsh minute by minute but the temperatue in this tunnel was as cool as cucumber's. The Rembrandt light entering the tunnel and hitting the rocks created beautiful reflections and amazing lighting conditions for photography. We spent nearly half an hour in that tunnel. At the end of the tunnel was a small window/ door of 2 feet height which lands you on the bridge i mentioned earlier. One will have to lie down and crawl and come out from the window. We enjoyed every moment of that experience. Finally we crossed that bridge and moved at the other end; the pinnacle(Bhandardurg). There was similar tunnel at the other end which we climbed and finally reached BhandarDurg. Yes its one more to my trekking list. Everyone of us was very happy. We were hoping if there is another route down to trimbakeshwar from Bhandardurg, but there wasnt one. It was a dead-end fulltoss at the other end of the durg. We wrapped our lunch right there at the second tunnel where a nice breeze was flowing-in and experienced a great bird-eye view of Trimbakeshwar village. Few of us also took a power-nap of 10 minutes with silent songs on mobile at the background. The blue sky pleasing the eyes and to complete the picture add a few snow white clouds. The clouds acted as an umbrella over the Trimbak village whereas some part was still bare with sun-strokes falling on it. It was an amazing view to distinguish the shadow part and the non-shadowed part of the village.

We started moving back at 2.15pm from Bhandardurg. The confidence level was slightly higher this time while walking on the edge. The story was not different even at this other side of the hill, the clouds had quite nicely covered the village from the suns harsh strokes and to add to it a gentle breeze was flowing as well. With couple of halts we reached the base again by 4.45pm. The sumo had come till the base of Brahmagiri. While returning we were caught by nice cooling shower in the Kasara ghat. And at the very moment the song playing on the FM was "Give me some sun-shine, gimme some rain" from 3 idiots. At the west, the sun was signing-off who was accompanied by heavy breeze with showers and thunder lightning. The fragrance after the first rain mesmerized each one of us.

Bhandardurg is a one of the undiscovered, unexplored fort from Maharashtra. Although there is nuthing much on the fort but the route to bhandardurg and the two tunnels makes it interesting and fantasizes any avid trekker. Except at a few place where there was slippery sand, the trek is a normal trek with no experience needed. The view around Bhandardurg from top pleases your eyes. The only threat here is the monkeys but if taken proper care it can also be countered. Do visit this amazing place once for sure.