Monday, August 21, 2006

Lohgad A.K.A Lohagad

Chose Lohagad this weekend. I had not been to Karla caves before so decided to cover that too. Honestly all buddhist caves appear the same to me. Well although I dont remember much about Bhaja caves now since I did not have an eye for the fine details etc. I thought the sculptures etc were pretty good here at Karla. Since we got done with it it soon, we decided to head to Lohagad.

A no-nonsense route to reach here, reach Malavali from Pune. If you are travelling by local etc. walk to the village from the station. If you are travelling by car etc, the paid parking business has boomed here. Prepare to shove 20 bucks down the throat of two old chaps fighting for your 10 bucks so that your car is safe etc and move on.

You can spot Pawana dam from the top, [ Only visible water body ]. I was told by some poor sods that its Mulshi dam. Man it was so amusing.
Right across Pawana dam you can spot Tung in Pawana Dam backwaters. You can spot Visapur right oppositte Lohagad/Lohgad. While getting to the place, you can also spot Tikona from this place.

The structures and entrances to the fort are pretty intact. The fort is under maintainance by ASI, although there is chai-bhajji shop there on the top. I had asked this chap 5 odd years ago how would they have his tapri there and he gave me an amused look. Poor guy, if Sahara can swallow an entire fort, why cant we have him have his humble tapri on this fort? Doesnt harm right?

Check out the complete set of pictures here.