Solapur-Pandharpur-Tulja Bhavani-Akkalkot- Ganagapur Trip

Everything went as per plan with the blessings of the deities. A few pointers if you are interested.

Our base was Bombay, we took the Siddheshwar Express from Bombay to Solapur. The train was about 30-45 minutes late. I had booked a travel agent who connected me to a local driver at Solapur. He picked us up and dropped us at the hotel (Hotel Orient Elite near Mallikarjun Temple) at South Kasba, Budhwar Peth in Solapur. We stayed there for 2 days and 2 nights, the travel agent booking covered my breakfast, lunch, and dinner, hotel and taxi+driver charges. It cost about 15k in all for all this. Train bookings were done by me. 

Food at the restaurant at Orient Elite is good, somewhat cost effective. Don't forget to consume dahi and milk in Solapur - simply priceless. 

We had our breakfast at Kamath restaurant further down in the city. Now the temple visit part. 

1. Keeping Solapur as base, we covered Pandharpur, Tuljapur, Akkalkot and Ganagapur.

2. Solapur used to have a poor reputation - keep windows down, police would inspect if there are any "dacoits" and stuff. Today, Solapur is a Smart City. Agriculture is the biggest industry there.

3. Dairy, the infamous Solapur bedsheets, sugarcane, groundnuts, millets like Jowar are the major source of livelihood. Youth move to Pune/BMY for work. 4. The driver who drove us over the 2 days was a Lingayat, his family living in Solapur for several generations. Easy to survive if you know Kannada/Telugu 5. Food is fantastic, dahi/milk to die for. Sharing a typical Marathi thali we had. Matki, shenga chutney and thecha (green chilli chutney missing in pic) are a must every day.

 

6. Visit Siddheshwar temple in the city. Swami Siddheshwar is the gramadevata of Solapur.

7. We also went to a Mallikarjun temple near the hotel we stayed. Found this vlog - 

The temple and the architecture are very reminiscent of Kannadiga style, later found out it is a Lingayat temple.

8. Next is Pandharpur - Located about 75km from Solapur, Vithoba or Vittala gives darshan to his devotees here, there is a river Chandrabhaga also near the temple. It is a must that you do the online darshan booking reservation (it is free) if you want to touch Vithoba's feet.

Roads from Solapur are fantastic and you can reach your destination in a very short time. 

For charan sparsh darshan, book your tickets online (website - Shri Vitthal Rukmini Mandir, Pandharpur), 3 days before the darshan date, choose your time, print out the ticket. Once you reach Pandharpur, go to Tukaram Bhawan near temple, get the tickets stamped, come back to temple entrance, deposit your phones and enter. There was minimal queue in May - we finished our darshan in 30 mins - usually takes 2-4 hours. After Vithoba darshan, you can have darshan of Rukmini, Satyabhama and Radhika Devi. Just explore the interiors of the temple. You can also take a dip at Chandrabhagha nadi, we did prokshanam & returned, less water and too hot. 

The heat during May month can be really nasty, stay hydrated and cover your heads. You can eat at the Annachatra here or go a few km to town centre & have full thali. We had our food at Savera Dining Hall, located near the Citi Centre Mall. 

It was my lifelong dream to have darshan of Vithoba and if possible touch Vithoba's feet and He helped me do it. Keep chanting Vittala Vittala as you stand in the queue, those few seconds near Him are precious. This song kept coming in my mind, always make me teary-eyed.

9. Next stop was Tuljapur - about 45km from Solapur. Tulja Bhavani is the family deity of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Beautiful inside but filthy outside. Beware of touts/pujaris who make you pay for special darshan. Just follow the crowd and go for Dharma Darshan not Mukh Darshan.

Amba Bhavani's presence is felt everywhere, be ready to witness people jumping and screaming all of a sudden, the place is powerful. Much needs to be done to keep the outside areas of the temple clean - you can see pigs roaming around, flies everywhere. 

10. Next stop Ganagapur - Dattatreya temple. Located in Karnataka's Afzalpur taluk, about 108km from Solapur (takes about 2 hrs), this place was worse than Pandharpur in terms of heat. The temple is unfortunately unkempt and so are the surroundings. Known for removing black magic.

You might see people screaming, howling, hair let loose, climbing rods placed there... this happens regularly. The driver who took us there said those who have been subjected to black magic do not even enter the temple, once they enter they behave very differently.

11. You have to look through a small window and you will see Dattatreya swami. It is just too fuzzy. Again touts snatch money from you saying they will do annadana in your name and show you a shortcut queue. Do check out the Sangam of Bhima and Amaraja rivers just a few km away.

We managed to only do prokshanam at Bhima river. I nearly fainted due to the heat. Stay hydrated, keep 2 water bottles in hand. Thankfully after this, it rained!

Wanted to add, this temple is associated with Narasimha Saraswati Swami, the 2nd incarnation of Swami Dattatreya.

12. Next stop Akkalkot to Swami Samarth Mandir. Also considered an avataram of Swami Dattatreya. Akkalkot is located about 38 km from Solapur and on the way from Ganagapur to Solapur. Annachatra food is really tasty. We reached at about 330 hungry and thirsty, had a sumptuous meal. 

Here is a short video of Swami Samarth's samadhi - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/COVnG0JQD1E

Overall, a very fulfilling journey - exploring different parts of the country, interacting with people from all over, learning new things, making use of languages I learnt, trying out different food items. We just covered one small part of a huge state, there is a lot more. Blessed we are to live in a country like Bharat where we have so many things to watch, see, do, learn in every nook and corner of the country. 

Jayatu Bharatam, Jayatu Hindu Rashtra