Ghrishneshwar Temple and Malojiraje Bhosale | Aurangabad | Maharashtra | History Pravasi | Pious Pravasi

History Pravasi series - Ghrishneshwar Temple and Malojiraje Bhosale

Most of the tourist destinations in Maharashtra have a history. Maharashtra is full of many forts, ghats, ancient temples, caves, and abundant natural resources. So before we visit the place, I think we should know the history of the place. Only then we would do a perfect tour of the place. We will try to shed light on some of these places and the history associated with them through the series "History Pravasi".

Today we will talk about the history of the Ghrishneshwar temple and who was Maloji Raje Bhosale.

Ghrishneshwar temple is known to every Shiva devotee not only in Maharashtra but in the whole country. The temple is located in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra and near the world-famous Ellora Caves. The distance from Aurangabad station to the temple is about 30 km and it is just 2 km away from Ellora caves.

Millions of devotees visit this temple every year. There are five Jyotirlingas in Maharashtra including Bhimashankar in the Pune district, Trimbakeshwar in the Nashik district, Parli Vaijnath in the Beed district, Aundha Nagnath in the Hingoli district, and Ghrishneshwar temple in Aurangabad district. It is also one of the twelve Jyotirlingas in India.

You may know that the temple we see today was rebuilt in the 18th century. But most people do not know that the temple was repaired in the 16th century, 1599. Why was the temple repaired at that time? What happened then? And who contributed to this work?

About four hundred years ago, when the Ghrishneshwar temple was in ruins. The walls of the temple were shattered and the priests also left the temple. People used to feel bad seeing such a great temple of Lord Shiva and its condition but no one was thinking of repairing it.

A Shiva devotee used to come to that ruined temple every day. He used to offer bellflowers on the Pindi of Shri Shiva. One day, seeing the condition of the temple, he brought some men and repaired the fallen walls of the temple. Restored the original condition. He did arrangements for the proper maintenance of the temple. And thus the lost glory of the Ghrishneshwar temple came back.

Who was this devotee of Shiva? Who did this work?

That was Maloji Raje Bhosle.

Friends, he is none other than the grandfather of our Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and father of the Shahaji Raje.

Babjiraje Bhosale was a Patil of Verul village. His childrens are Maloji Raje and Vithoji Raje. After him, Maloji Raje got Patilki of Verul village. Both brothers were very capable and brave. They had many armed Maratha soldiers. At that time Nizam Shah was attacked by the Mughal emperors of the north. Daulatabad is the capital of Nizamshahi. Malik Amber was the Wazir of Nizamshah. He saw the bravery of the Bhosle brothers and praised them to Nizamshah. On the recommendation of Malik Amber, the Shah gave the Jahagir of Pune and Supe Paraganas to Maloji Raje.

Glory came to Bhosale's house. Umabai was the wife of Maloji Raje. She belonged to the Nimbalkar family of Phaltan. They had two sons. One was named Shahajiraje Bhosale and the other was named Sharifji Bhosale. When Shahaji was five years old, Maloji Raje was killed in the battle of Indapur. Vithoji Raje took care of his nephews and Jahagir.

We urge you, whenever you visit Aurangabad to visit Ellora Caves and Ghrishneshwar Temple, don't forget to visit the nearby Maloji Raje Bhosale Gadhi and Samadhi.

Click on History Pravasi to read more blogs from the series.

Jay Shivray

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