Saptashring
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Saptashring
('the seven-horned,' otherwise, but wrongly, called Chattar-singh or 'the four-peaked ) ). One of the highest points in the Chandor range, Nasik District, Bombay, situated in 20 2$' N. and 73 55' E -> 4,659 feet above sea-level. It rises about the centre of the range, 15 miles north of Dindori. The highest point towers 900 feet above the plateau, and the rock is perpendicular on all sides but one, where it has crumbled away and grass has grown in the crevices. The rock has more peaks than one, but it seems to have no claim to the title ( seven-horned.' The hill may be climbed from three sides: by a good but steep bridle-road from the north; by a very steep sixty-step path on the east, formerly the only road used by pilgrims, but now abandoned ; and on the south by a steep footpath for part of the way which ends in a flight of 350 steps carved in the face of the rock. This last is the road now commonly used by the pilgrims and other visitors. On the steps figures of Rama, Hanuman, Radha, and Krishna, and in one or two places a tortoise, are carved at intervals. These steps were made in 1768-99 by three brothers, Konher, Rudraji, and Krishnajl of Nasik. At intervals five inscriptions have been carved on and near the steps. One of the inscriptions is in Sanskrit, the others in Marathl. They give the names of the three brothers and of Girmajl their father. At the foot of the steps the three brothers built a temple of Devi and a resthouse, and at the top a temple of Ganpati and a pond called Ramtirth, These steps lead to the plateau, and from the plateau a farther flight of 472 steps leads to the shrine of Saptashringanivasini Devi. The 472 steps to the upper hill-top were built about 1710, before the lower steps, by Uma Bai, wife of Khande Rao Dabhade, the hereditary general of the Maratha army.
The shrine of the goddess, known as Mahishasur Mardini or Sapta- shringanivasmi, is in a cave at the base of a sheer scarp, the summit of which is the highest point of the hill. Something like a portico was added to the shrine of the goddess at the beginning of the eighteenth century by the Satara commander-in-chief, and the present plain structure has been recently built by the chief of Vinchur. At the foot of the steps leading to the shrine is a small stone reservoir dedicated to Siva and called Sivcalya-tlrth, which is said to have been built by Uma Bai. On one side of the pond stands a Hemadpanti temple of Siddheshwar Mahadeo, mostly in ruins but with the dome still standing, with some rather elaborate stone-carving. Under the dome stands the Ungam> and outside in front of it a carved bull. Not far from the bathing-place is a precipice known as the Sit Kadc, which overhangs the valley about 1,200 feet; from this rock human sacrifices are said to have been formerly hurled ; a kid is now the usual victim.
A large fair lasting for a week, and attended by about 15,000 pil- grims, is held on the full moon of Chaitra (April). On the occasion of the fair the steps leading to the shrine are crowded with the sick and maimed, who are carried up the hill in hopes of a cure. Barren women also go in numbers to make vows and gain the gift of a child. Like the top of Mahalakshml in Dahanu, the top of Saptashring is said to be inaccessible to ordinary mortals. The headman of the village of Burigaon alone climbs up on the April full moon, and next morning at sunrise is seen planting a flag. How he climbs and how he gets down is a mystery, any attempt to pry into which, says the tradition, is attended by loss of sight.
