Harishchandragad

Participants:
Pranav Joshi, Anand Sohani

Date:

About:
Harishchandragad is on border of Thane, Pune and Ahmednagar districts. It is once of the most ancient forts in Sahyadri ranges. It is a dream destination for all trekkers. Everyone should do this trek atleast once in a lifetime. The fort is situated in Malshej ghats. If you happen to go there in monsoon days, you will feel like you are in heaven. The fort is in Kalsubai-Harishchandra forest region. This is not a single day trek. It takes atleast two days to see the whole of Harishchandragad. There are 7 known ways to reach top of Harishchandragad. We followed the medium difficult route i.e. via Tolar khind.

How to reach:
We started from Thane @ around 4.30 a.m. From thane we got down at Kalyan. From kalian bus stand take any bus going through Malshej ghat and alight at Khube Phata. There is a bit of confusion aming bus drivers as to which is Khube phata. So best thing to recognize the correct route is you will see a reservoir and a road going by its side-perpandicular to the main road. As soon as you get down you will see a board showing way to Harishchandragad. From here proceed towards Khireshwar village. It is around 4kms from main raod. If you are licky enough you may even find a taxi to go there. From Khireshwar follow the route as it goes and very soon you will be inside a dense forest. This is the way to Tolar Khind. From here, it takes around 3 to 3.5 hrs to reach the top. For most of the time you are in dense forest. The way is quite steep and exhausting. The main trek is easy except for the last rock patch. At the top of the khind you will find a engraved statue of sharabhsinha on your left. You will find this type of statue in almost all khinds and passes. It takes around 2.5 to 3 hrs to reach here. From here the main trek starts. As you proceed further, there is no turning back. The rock patch awaits you. I do not want to scare anybody! This part is also quite easy. But take precautions since it can be slippery in rainy season. After first rock patch there is some distance to walk, then the second and final rock patch comes. At the end you will find remains of a wall. From here take right. From here it takes around 1 hr to reach the main temple. You have to cross 7 hills to reach the temple. There is lot to see near temple. The most beautiful thing to see is obviously Kokankada. If you go to Harishchandragad in monsoon season, there is very less possibility that you will be able to see kokankada because of fog. There is one thing you can try anytime @ kokankada. Take any light object like a twig or something like that and through it below from kokankada. The wind blowing is so high that it will come back!!!! There is one small ditch on edge of kokankada. Get down in this ditch and look down!!!! It is so amazing view and feeling that you will feel lost for sometime.
Then there is Taramati peak to see. We were not able to go there because of fog and bad conditions of my shoes. So I will not write about Taramati here. There are lot of dewalis nearby Harishchandra temple. In late 1800s a british officer came to Harishchandragad. He liked the place so much that he built a bungalow there for himself. Later the bungalow was destroyed by fire. The officer also left. But while going, damaged much of Harishchandragad. We do not know why he destroyed it. The Harishchandra temple was said to be decorated with precious stones on all sides. He looted these too. Only plinth of his bungalow can now be identified.
Near the entrance of Harishchandra temple, there is an inscription on wall in pali or some ancient language. By reading this inscription, it was concluded by researchers that the great sage Changdeo (yes the same one who came to meet Dnyandeo sitting on his tiger) meditated here for quite some time and also completed his book Tatvasar. Behind the temple there is a underground cave. This is said to Changdeo’s meditation place.
The priest of the temple can provide you with food. After so much of exhaustion, even simple food of pithale n bhakari tastes very good!!!



Getting back:
You can return by same route of tolarkhind. Once you cross the rock patch then there is nothing much as walking down and going back to Mumbai. We were not so fortunate. First there was fog and then my shoes were damaged and I could not take grip on rocks and was constantly falling. So we decided to stay in the cave overnight and then descend next morning by Pachnai route. We started at around 9.30 a.m. next morning. It is very simple route and we reached the base in around 2 hrs.(We came very slow). Now this is very important. There is only one bus in 24 hrs from Pachnai Village to Rajur at 11.30 a.m. If you miss this bus, then you are in very bad position. The village is very small. Population may not be more than 100. So there is no place to stay overnight. No food and nothing. If unfortunately you miss the bus, like us, then walk to next village of Vaghdari which is about 7 km from here. From here also there is one bus in a day to Rajur. So for God’s sake do not miss this bus @ 2 p.m. From Rajur, there are jeeps for Karjat. They charge around Rs. 60/- From Karjat there are n number of options to go to Mumbai, Pune or Nashik.