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Mystic, mesmerising Mahabaleshwar

Damodar Joshi

Mahabaleshwar is a beautiful hill station situated in the Western Ghats. It is at an altitude of 1,353m above the sea level, hence very cold during summer. This was the capital of Bombay Province during British rule. Mahabaleshwar is easily approachable from Mumbai, it is at a distance of 285 km from Mumbai.

Mahabaleshwar has many beautiful places. These are called points, one can hire private taxis to go there. These points can be covered in one day. Some of the popular points are Arthur’s Seat, Tiger’s Spring, Wilson Point, Sunset point which is also popularly known as Bombay point.

Sunset point is very popular and there is lot of rush at this spot at sunset hour. One can see the beautiful valley with greenery from most of these points. Venna lake is another famous tourist spot, one must enjoy boating here. There are three waterfalls in this region, these are Chinaman’s waterfall, Lingmala and Dhobi waterfall. To see the real beauty of these waterfalls one must visit them after the rains.

Other famous points are Kate’s Point, Lodwick Point, Elphinstone Point, Helen’s Point, Falkland Point. Some of these are named after the viceroys of India.

Old Mahabaleshwar is called Kshetra Mahabaleshwar, there is an ancient Shiva temple, which has the swayambhu shiva lingam. There is another temple nearby called Panchganga temple which is said to be the sangam of five rivers — Koyna, Savitri, Gayatri, Venna and Krishna. Many people visit this place as a part of pilgrimage.

If time and money permit, one can go to the ayurvedic spa centres here which offer different massages and treatments for tension relief and many chronic diseases.

Another hill station which is very near Mahabaleshwar is Panchgani (18 km). This place derives its name from the five hills around it. This hill station also has some beautiful points to see, like Parsi point from where one can see the Krishna valley and waters of Dhom dam, Table Land which is the second highest plateau in Asia after the Tibetan plateau. Some spacious caves are here, it is said that some of the caves were built by Pandavas during Mahabharata period. One can see the beautiful locations here used in many Bollywood movies.

Those interested in history and forts can visit the Pratapgad Fort, which is 20 km from Mahabaleshwar. This was built under the command of Shivaji Maharaj by his prime minister. This fort has the famous Bhavani mata temple, which was built by Shivaji. Buses and taxis go up only to the base of the fort, the rest has to be covered on foot.