Bhuleshwar Temple, Yavat

01The temple inside the fort

The temple was built in dark stone in the age of the Yadavas, about the 13th century. In the 17th century, during the wars of the Deccan Sultanates, the hilltop was fortified, the temple walled in and its outer face covered in plaster with domes and minaret-like turrets, and the place was called Daulatmangal; that is why it looks as it does from the road. Inside, the old temple stands whole. The linga sits in a pit in the sanctum, and the priests say a sweet offered there sometimes vanishes, so the people call the Lord Bhuleshwar, the one who makes you forget.

02Ganeshi and the friezes

The walls carry long friezes of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, apsaras, musicians and animals, many of them with faces broken in the wars. Among the panels is a rare image of Ganesha in a woman’s form, called Ganeshi or Vinayaki, one of the very few in western India. Mahashivaratri and the Shravan Mondays bring crowds from Pune; on other days the temple is quiet, with a wide view over the Purandar hills.