Kohoj (17th June, 2007)

KOHOJ - INFO
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A traveller journeying on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway will notice an imposing mountain to the right, just short of Manor. At the top of this mountain is the 3000+ feet high Kohoj fort. This fort, with its peculiar twin human-shaped pinnacles are easily recognizable from a distance.


Height: 3200 feet

Range: Palghar

Grade: Medium

Ways to Reach: Catch a local train to Virar(last station) on the western railway.
From Virar, catch the Dahanu shuttle and get down at Palghar railway station. From the Palghar ST depot, take the ST bus to Manor, and from Manor, catch another one going towards Wada, and get down at Vaghote village which lies at the base of the fort. You can also get a direct ST going towards Wada and get down at Vaghote.

Alternately, One can drive on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad national highway and reach Manor in about one and a half hrs, and turn right at the Manor Faata towards Wada and reach Vaghote village.

From Vaghote village,catch the path which goes adjacent to a heart-shaped lake. Further ahead, it passes through a few fields and then u hit a rocky road. The road goes to the neighbouring village. Catch a right turn in between which goes towards the fort.. The path climbs up a bit to reach a beutiful lake called the Paazhar lake in which u get to see the reflection of the fort. Walk over the damn. The path then climbs up gradually In between a small col to reach a small opening where a concrete slab bearing the name of a trekker who had died lies on the right. A further climb of about half an hr and u reach the plateau where theres a Temple and a few water tanks. Climb up a few rock cut steps and you will reach the top in about 15 mins.

Climbing time: About 2 1/2 - 3 hrs

Things to see:

1]A Shankar temple on the plateau. It has now been renovated. A path from the left of the temple leads to about 6-7 water tanks. Quite a few of them are spoiled or clogged. A couple of dirty cisterns are also present in front of the temple.

2]A hanuman idol is present midway to the top. Here 3 big cisterns are present with potable water.

3]Just as you cross the fort entrance and the ruins of a fort wall, you come across a
bastion, which is now in a dilapidated state. A temple of Lord Hanumana is located to the left of this bastion. From here, we climb up the steps and within 15 minutes of walk reach at the top of the fort. Here we come across many natural pinnacles formed due to wind-erosion. A man-shaped pinnacle is one of the greatest wonder of nature’s creation. This is the most attractive place on the fort. Different shapes of this pinnacle are evident when viewed from various directions.

4]Further ahead, theres a temple of Lord Krishna.

5] From the northern side of the fort, you can see the Deharaja river valley and the Vikramgad area. To the south, the Pinjal and the Vaitarna river valleys provide a picturesque view. Beyong the river Vaitarna is the Vandri lake, while in the distance, the outline of the Takmak fort can be seen. To the west is the Tandulwadi fort in the Asavgad range of mountains.

Accomodation: There is no accomodation on the top. Hence, the trek is best done as a day trek. However, one can stay overnight at many hotels in Manor or Wada.

Food and Water: Carry your own foodstuff. Drinking water is available in the cisterns on the top during the monsoon. However it is advisable to carry sufficient drinking water during the summer, as many tanks on the top have become dirty.

History: Very few of the historical evidences are coherent to this fort. Looking at its well-dug cisterns, the fort can be said to be belonging to Bhoj-period. But no such evidences are available. In 16th century, Portuguese captured this fort from the King of Gujarat. They constructed fortifications and bastions on this fort. Later, in 18th century, Peshwe conquered this fort in their campaign of 1737. Afterwards the fort remained under the British rule.

KOHOJ - THE UNKNOWN FORT

Yeah.. true to its name, this fort is really a one which is not so popular with the trekkers as the others on the central side. After being bugged by trekking in the central region in raigad and pune, me and Amit decided to venture out in the Western region for a change. The description of the Kohoj fort with the so-called-human-shaped-pinnacles really fascinated me, and so we decided to trek Kohoj instead of Asherigad.

As usual, it was just me and another person - this time again, it was Amit. We caught the early morning 5.15 local to virar, but unfortunately, we just missed the connecting shuttle by a whisker. So we had our breakfast of hot vada-pavs and tea at virar station and waited for the next shuttle at 8.30. We got down at Palghar and caught an ST to Swargate, and got down at the base village of Vaghote. The massive fort of Kohoj standing tall over the national highway looked pretty imposing. We started our trek and within a few minutes reached a peculiar heart-shaped lake.. and then the bigger lake at the base of the fort. We stopped for a while, and after looking at the village kids having a ball of a time bathing in the lake, we decided to have a dip while coming back...

After crossing the dam over the lake, the actual climb begun. The numerous routes which the villagers, the wood cutters and the cattle had made.. just made things difficult for us. After geting lost n number of times, we finally caught the right path well marked with arrows..
Sometimes i wonder that the whole fascination of trekking and finding your route is lost with the route well marked with arrows, as was the case with Kohoj.. but i guess with a tight schedule, it was like a blessing in disguise. As dark clouds loomed over the valley, we awaited eagerly for the showers.. thats what we had come there for.. but we were disappointed as they just flew past without shedding a single drop of rain. It was raining.. no doubt .. but it was pouring down from our foreheads rather than the sky!!

On the way to the first plateau, we passed through a thick dense path of forest.. but we were appalled to see giant tall trees been burned, cut and chopped down for deforestation.. This wasnt the first time we had encountered such a scenario. Even during my earlier trek to Siddhagad, we had seen such deforestation been carried out on a large scale. But it brought back memories from my last years trek to Matheran to Garbett point, when i saw the government had encouraged afforestation and had planted numerous trees all along the way.. There was some hope, i told myself.. and we moved on..

Huffing and puffing, we finally reached the plateau at the base of the fort. We took a break for lunch near the shankar temple, and waited for a group which was on the fort to get down. We running out of drinking water and all the water tanks were clogged and muddy. And there was no sign of the rain..
We packed up and started our final ascend and as we were reaching the fort wall, we saw the approaching rain far away on the horizon... hurry.. i told Amit.. we climbed as fast as we cud and reached the fort gate and made our way to the top of the bastion and awaited eagerly for the first showers for the day. It was an amazing sight, as we saw the thick dark rain cloud bringing the rain along with it.. and the sun-bathed valley in front and behind it... The cloud approached us and slowly it grew darker all around us .. and as we saw the plateau been engulfed by the rain showers, we began to feel the first showers on our face.. and voila!! Finally it came.. with a gust of a strong breeze, it began pouring over us ... and before we could enjoy the first showers, it was sunny all over again!! Duh!!!

Just an hr's sleep and the lack of another cup of tea had made my head pretty heavy and i was totally drained out of energy. I had to sleep.. i told Amit.. we reached the Krishna temple on the top.. but it was too small to accomodate even a single person. Then we found the perfect place for our afternoon siesta.. just behind the first pinnacle, overlooking the valley, we slept on the ground, with our feet dangling 1000+ feet above the ground! That was the most peaceful sleep id experienced for a long time ! :) After i woke up, i was feeling fresh as ever.. we explored around a bit.. climbed a pinnacle.. and soon started our descent.. as we had a very urgent need of taking a dip in the lake below..

We zoomed our way across trees, shrubs and rocks and reached the dam in less than a couple of hrs.. And as soon as we reached the lake, it began to pour again.. we needed no time, and paying no heed to the village girls and other women folks watching us with curiosity, we stripped down to our bare minimums and splash!!! Brrrrrrrr.... the lake water was as chilled as it could had been! Just didnt feel like getting out... curious village kids tried to entertain us with their acrobatic stuff in the waters.. after about an hr or so, we decided to move on..

We had to wait for a long time for the bus, and finally when it came, it was packed.. so we had to stand all the way to Palghar station.Thankfully, we got a passenger train to Bombay central which was stopping at Virar and then Borivali.. so we rested our tired legs and slept all the way to Borivali... It would had been more fun if ud have brought your Bike along.. I told Amit.. as Manor was just a couple of hr's drive from Borivali.. Next time.. we said. and we parted good bye..

Elephanta Caves

I'd been wanting to visit these caves since my childhood... But due to sheer laziness or lack of company, i was unable to visit Elephanta.. till my vagrant feet could hold on no longer..

How to get there??

Elephanta caves is located about 10 kms north east of Gateway of India. To reach the island, one has to catch the jetty from the gateway. Economical and luxury, both types are available. I took the economical one, costs about Rs.120 for a round trip.. and it takes about 1 hr to reach..
Once u reach the island, a path leads u to the bottom of the stairway.. and 120 odd rock cut steps flanked by small shops and restaurants, leads u to the top of a hill, where the caves are located.
There is a small diesel run mini train which ferries passengers from the jetty to the base of the steps.
Entry ticket for an adult is Rs 20.
The caves are open from 9 am to 530 pm and shut on mondays.

History:

Earlier, the island was known as "Gharapuri" (Ghara: shudra priests of the shaivite temple, Puri: town)
In 1534 AD, the Portuguese landed on this island. They saw a colossal statue of an elephant in the caves and named it Elephanta caves. The statue has been now shifted to Jijamata Udyan in Byculla.
Based on the Aiholi inscriptions datable to 7th century, it can be inferred that Elephanta was initially governed by the Konkan Mauryas, when it was taken over by the Chalukyas. Afterwards, Rashtrakutas defeated the Chalukyas and thereafter it went to the Chalukyas of Kalyani in the reign of TailaII (997 AD) and from them to the Yadavas.
Allaud-din Khilji overthrew the Yadavas in 1294 AD and remained in his possession upto the 16th century.
In 1594, the island passed into the hands of the portuguese and in 1682, to the marathas.
Finally, the British occupied it in dec 1774.
The sculptures depict that it belonged to the Gupta period in medieval India, when Hindu sculpture was at its zenith.In Hinduism, there are 2 sects, namely Saivism and Vaishnavism, in which Shiva and Vishnu are regarded as the supreme respectively. The sculptures in the elephanta caves portray Saivism.

The Caves:

There are in all 5 major caves in the complex.

The Main Cave:

(The Plan of the First cave)

The main cave has 3 entrances, one each pn the north, east and the west. It has a central hall and 4 vestibules. It measures about 130 sq.feet, and is supported by 36 pillars. The temple faces the north from where one enters. The whole ceiling is having fresco paintings.
Innumerable sculptures depicting various forms of Lord Shiva are seen on each and every wall of the cave.



A] Nataraja Shiva: Nataraja, the king of dancers is shown performing his mystic dance of creation. This is known as the cosmic dance of Lalit Nrutya.He is shown as setting the whole universe in motion, but he himself remains unperturbed. The wild movements of his limbs and his legs, are markedly contrasted with the serenity and dispassionateness expressed on his face. The figure of Nataraja is shown with 8 arms, but many of them are broken. There are in all 108 postures of Tandava dance. Parvati is also shown participating in the dance. But Shiva performs the Urdhva Tandava posture, in which he touches one of his legs to his head, which Parvati is unable to perform, due to delicacy of womanhood. She surrenders and admits defeat. This sculpture can also be seen in Ellora cave no.16.
On the right side, we can see Shiva's sons, Ganesh and Kumar Kartika, and above this group, we can see lord Brahma and Vishnu.



B] Shiva Shrine: It consists of a cubical cell with 4 doors facing each principal direction. On either side of each of the door, we see the figures of 8 Dwarpala, i.e. God of directions, or door keepers, standing majestically. The main temple faces east. To the East is Lord Indra, to the south is Lord Yama, to the west is Lord Varun , and to the north is Lord Kuber. In the middle of the temple stands a pedestal in the centre of which is the Shiv Linga.






C] Kalyan Siva - Sunder murti , or the Marriage of Shiva and Parvati: We can see the handsome, benevolent face of Lord Shiva, full of serenity. Parvati can be seen at Shiva's right, indicating that the actual marriage has not taken place.After marriage, she is supposed to occupy the left side. Behind her is her father Himalaya, her mother Menaka with Chauri and her brother mountain Mainak with the holy water pot. Brahma to the right is seen acting as the main priest. Lord Vishnu is also seen attending the wedding.









D] Mahesh Murti (Trimurti): This sculpture is seen right in front of the north entrance. The total height of this sculpture is 8.3 metres. It has 3 faces of lord shiva.
Central face- It is the calm face of Tatpurush, with its full sensuous lips rests on chest of mighty proportions which is adorned by rows of necklaces.One of the front hand holds a Citron,while the other is damaged which represents as a preserver of the universe.
Face on the Left- It represents shiva as Rudra i.e. Aghor, the destroyer of the universe with severe looks, cruel eyes and third bulging eye on the forehead.It also shows curling moustaches and beard.. and several snakes are seen wriggling out of his matted hair.
Face on the right- It represents Vamdeo, the beautiful God in a feminine look of creation with a calm and pacific expression. It is an ornamented statue. The left hand with bangles on the wrist
and lotus is another hand indicates creation.





E] Mahayogi Shiva: Shiva is shown as the lord of the Yogis i.e. Yogeshwara. Shiva is shown sitting on a lotus in a cross legged position, the stalk of which seems to spring out from primeval water, held by 2 Naga kings.The figure is badly damaged, but the powerful swelling chest and silent absorbed face, though damaged, exhibits great spiritual strength and calmness.













F] Andhakasura Vadh i.e. Shiva as the killer of the demons

G] Gangadhara Shiva - Descent of the Ganges : The main figure shows Shiva and his consort Parvati. Above the head of Shiva is Triveni, or the confluence of the three rivers, Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati.

H] Ardhanareshwar Shiva : In puranas, this form of shiva is known as Shiva- shakti. Here, half of his body is feminine and leans against the bull Nandi.

I] Shiva - Parvati laying a game of dice: Parvati here is depicted in a somewhat affectionately angry mood. Shiva has lost the game and has nothing left with him. She appears to be teasing him with a mild smile.

J] Ravana shaking Kailash : It is seen opposite to the Shiva parvati playing a game of dice.

(The entrance of the fourth cave)

(Inside the fourth cave)

(Fifth cave)

(A statue of a lion on top of the first cave)

Other Caves:

As we move ahead from the main cave, we come across 4 other caves with fluted pillars at their entrances. It has smaller caves within, which may have served to house the priests. Some caves have small shiv lingas.
The entire complex is very serene, especially on a weekday. From the edge of the hill, we can see the other hill in front. It is believed to be a home to various Buddhist caves and sculptures, like the one at Kanheri, but have been shut down for visitors. We can also see the port on the other side of the island.

Cannon Hill:


Once we get out of the complex, we come across a series of small rock cut steps leading further up to the top of the hillock above the caves. It is called as the Cannon Hill, as 2 huge iron cannons are installed over there. One is right when we reach the top , and the other one is on the other end of the hillock, a further 200-300 metres away. Monkeys are a major nuissance on this hillock. We can also see few ruins of storehouses on the way to the second cannon. One can trek down the hillock from the second cannon to reach the port on the other side of the island.

(The first Cannon)

After a tiresome venturing and exploring the entire area, I relished on some cucumbers been sold by local women o the cannon hill. As for restaurants, there are plenty of them on either side of the stairway leading to the caves. MTDC restaurant is really good and the view it provides is simply amazing. On a clear day, we can even see the Mumbai shores.. and the sea provides a beautiful backdrop to enjoy a chilled mug of beer..!! (yes... they even serve Hard drinks!! ;)

As for company, no need to worry, as there are plenty of foreigners you can hook up with for an interesting conversation.And thats what i did. This guy called Nick and his girl friend Stephanie, both Australians, were having a stopover in Mumbai for 3 days before they flew back to UK, where they were working... Australians really do have an amazing beer drinking capacity!! :D

The local shops sell all sorts of memorabilia ranging from small statues to key chains and shells and post cards and books... The main occupation of the locals is fishing, but they do earn the extra bucks by this side business..


As the day began to end, I wearily made my way to the jetty... You have to pay Rs 10 extra to get to the top deck, and thats what i did.. Enjoying the cool sea breeze, the ferry moved swiftly thru the waters, passing through several Oil carriers and Navy ships nearby... And the sea gulls flying over our heads just made for an amazing view..
Finally, after an hr long journey, I reached the gateway.. it was the first time i saw the gateway and the Taj hotel from the otherside.. It was a pretty sight..


Waiting to go the Elephanta again sometime in the monsoon!! :)

View My entire Photo collection of Elephanta Caves at

http://picasaweb.google.com/Pyromaniaaac/ElephantaCaves

Bibliography : Guide to Elephanta by V. M. Wani