Kopeshwar Temple in Khidrapur

Khidrapur happened because of a family trip to Sangli.

We had driven after a long time- from Hyderabad to Sangli stopping at night in Solapur. Located between the borders of Maharshtra and Karnataka, Khidrapur is about an hours drive from Sangli. It is easily accessible from Kolhapur too. Khidrapur is a quaint little village with sugarcane farms all around it.

The legend behind the temple is as gorgeous as the carvings in it- Sati's immolation in Daksha's yagya on insulting Lord Shiva and eventual anger in Shiva who beheads Daksha only to be pacified by Lord Vishnu to restore Daksha's head with a goat's head is the story behind it. Lord Visnu brought Lord Shiva to Khidrapur to pacify him. Hence the name Kopeshwar temple. Unlike other Shiva temples, Nandi is missing here as he escorted Sati during her immolation. We can witness Lord Visnhu too in this temple.

Though part of it was built in 7th century by Badami Chalukyas, it was completed in 11th and 12th century by Shilahara king Gandaraditya and Vijayaditya. But, like all the other temples in India, this too was attacked and parts broken by Aurangzeb! Even today, none of the 92 elephant sculptures in the vicinity have their trunks in tact.

At the entrance of Swargamandapa

Exteriors of the temple...

The temple, built using hard basalt rock, stands as an example of one of the richest (in terms of architecture) in Maharashtra in the banks of river Krishna. The temple is divided in to four parts- the Swargamandapa, the Sabhamandapa, Antharal and Garbhagriha.
The first part- Swargamandapa, with its' circular open to sky ceiling, is its' unique feature. Though it looks incomplete, it was meant to be so. Of the total 48 pillars in the Swargamandapa, 12 main pillars have the sculpture of a deity  (Ashtadigpalas and other Gods) riding his/ her vehicle. Interestingly, these deities look as if they are riding alone if you look at them from front but a slight variation in angle would reveal their consort seated behind the deity except Karthikeya.

Complete view of Swargamandapa

Open to sky ceiling

Sculpture of deities on pillars

Pillars in Swargamandapa

The Sabhamandapa has 60 pillars with 5 Dwarapalas on lower panels of the door. The pillars depict stories from Ramayana, Panchatantra and other motifs of peacock, flowers etc., Photography inside the Sabhamandapa is prohibited. 

The Antaral has beautiful Madanikas carved (sadly broken) and an exquisitely carved  Chandrashila before entering the Garbhagriha. The Garbhagriha has two lingas- of Kopeshwar and Dhopeshwar. 
The exterior part of the temple has innumerable elephant and madanika sculptures.

The broken elephant sculpture, deity on the pillar with consort and dwarapalas...

Exterior carvings, lattice window and madanikas...

Spokes outside Swargamandapa

Unfortunately, there was guide available when we visited and the crowd too was large. But it didn't stop us from savouring the beauty of the temple especially the Swargamandapa! On our way back, we stopped at another temple village Narsoba Wadi; more for the food at one of the 'bhojanalayas' called the 'Soman Bhojanalaya' that served authentic Maharashtrian thalis. This village is famous for its' Dattatreya temple situated next to Krishna river. 

Daulatabad Fort

Daulatabad, once known as Devagiri or Deogiri is located at around 15 kms from the city of Aurangabad. It lies on the way to the famous Ellora caves. Driving through the foot of the fort to Ellora caves, we had made a mental note to visit that place on our way back.

However, the delay in arrival to the fort in the evening and our tiredness (after much walking exploring Ellora caves) had left us with little enthusiasm to explore the fort that was considered as an 'invincible fort' in earlier days. Nevertheless, we had decided to visit the place. 

The topmost part of fort seen on our way to Ellor caves...

Rising above a conical shaped hill at a height of about 600 feet, this 'Hill of Gods' was built by Bhillama V of the Yadava dynasty in 1187. The hill is shaped like a smooth tortoise's back. In 14th century Muhammad Bin Tugluq of Delhi Sultanate renamed it as Daulatabad (abode of wealth) and shifted the entire capital from Delhi to Daulatabad. Ironically, his administration failed miserably due to shortage of water and various other reasons and lost his wealth. He thus re- shifted the entire population to Delhi which gained him the title of a 'mad king'.

We had reached the entrance of the fort almost during closing time which had left us with little time to trek through the entire fort and reach the top. Thus, we had walked past through many important spots without stopping much or stopping just to click a few pictures and not going through the history part of it.

Canons placed at the entrance...

Walkway leading to Chand Minar and other parts of the fort...

The fort has only one entrance/ exit. This was done deliberately to confuse the enemy soldiers. The wooden entrance gate is studded with pointed spikes to wound the elephants that the enemies used to break open the gates. As we had entered the main gate, we had come across a vast courtyard that housed several canons of different sizes. Walking past few watchtowers and curved paths, we reached a stoned path which reminded us of the Golconda fort in Hyderabad. This is where the famous Chand Minar of the fort became visible.

Chand Minar was built by Bahamani king Hasan Gangu Bahamani, also known as Alauddin Bahaman Shah in 1358. He built the Chand Minar as a replica of the Qutb Minar in Delhi. He employed architects from Iran who used Lapis Lazuli and Red Ochre to colour the Minar. As we had passed through various passages to reach the top of the hill, we had realized that Chand Minar was visible from almost all corners and directions.

Another view of Chand Minar...

Chini Mahal...

Menda Canon...

A move through some more passages had led us to Chini Mahal, the royal prison built by Aurangzeb. Abul Hasan Tana Shah of Qutb Shahi dynasty of Hyderabad was kept as a prisoner in this royal prison. At a later period Shivaji's son Sambhaji maharaj too was kept in the same prison. A massive canon called the Menda Canon made of metal sits above Chini Mahal with Aurangzeb's name inscribed on it. 

Though the number of visitors to the fort were limited during that hour, many of them present were local youths simply vandalizing and throwing plastic bottles into the trench that lay ahead of Chini Mahal. An elderly couple who were the guards were trying relentlessly to stop them from dirtying the place. The wide trench that led to the top most part of the fort had to be crossed over by an iron bridge (it was made of leather in earlier days). The moat would be filled with water and crocodiles were left in the water to act as barriers to enemy attacks. The end of bridge would lead one to Bhool Bhulaiya or the Maze. A descend of small steps was built to look like a tunnel leading towards passageways to confuse the enemy soldiers. The pathways has windows where the soldiers hid themselves and poured hot oil to attack the enemies. 

Trench below the bridge...

We did not reach up to the top point i.e. Baradari as time did not permit us. We had skipped the Bharat Mata temple and few other important parts as well. Heading back, we were fortunate to witness the setting sun against the Chand Minar indicating a perfect end for the day.