Mahimandangad Chakdev Parvat Sankranti 2012

Mahimandangad Chakdev Parvat Sankranti 2012
On Friday, Jan 13 night we left from Mulund for Shindi. On the way at Poladpur and Bharana naka it was freezing cold and foggy so we sipped the tea and also enjoyed fire/shekoti. Raghuveer Ghat route by vehicle at some places it is dirt road so small cars are not advisable. The entire area is now declared as Tiger Project there is forest post at the entrance of Shindi Pass but it is closed till date. We heard that soon Forest department will have restrictions on this area.
Morning 6 am we reached Shindi village and had breakfast at Chandrakant More’s house, he have Kirana shop so even if you don’t carry ration for breakfast he can arrange for breakfast. The Shindi village is ahead and for Mahimandangad you again need to go back. We took 45 minutes to reach the top of Mahimandangad from base but I guess it depends on season and also number of peole. On the top there are water tanks and the temple of Bahiroba. Whenever Vaishali is there Aarti is must so we did Aarti and also had Prasad of Royal Anjir Burfi given by Kishore.
After Lunch we started ascending Chakdev. The route for Chakdev is from Shindi side is easy. Initially ascend then flat again some ascend and you reach the plateau of Chakdev. We took 2 hours to reach Govind Jangam’s house at top. After some rest we left for temple and most attracting part of the trek i.e. 300 ft ladder on Ambivali route. One can also see the place from where Ram hit his arrow.
The Choukeshwar temple is now newly constructed but inside it is still with old construction.
The big Nandi welcomes you the moment you enter the temple. One can see the statues of Ram, Laxman, Bharat, Shatrughna, Sita and Parvati along with Shiva’s mukh. We took 45 minutes to reach Ladder. The view from ladder is amazing. The forest is so dense from both the side of ridge to ladder. One can see Makarandgad, Rasalgad, Sumargad and Mahipatgad from top.
The myths about Chakdev are When Ram came in Vanvaas period; the Shankar tried to test him and where Ram’s arrow slipped-‘chakala’ that is Chakdev. There is also stone statue in the remembrance of this story. Another story is when Ram [? Parshuram] came he created Konkan from here. But I guess first goes with the name of Chakdev. Choukeshwar temple on Chakdev is one of the ShivPuri-Shiv Temple created in ChandraRao More’s era.
Parvat also has story as in when Arjun came in Vanvaas, Shankar-Parvati took another form and when Arjun failed to hit them he recognized it as Shiva. That is how the temple at Parvat is known as Jom Mallikarjun. Another concept says it is related to Malla King who used to rules this place.
Coincidentally we met Hira Pandit Sir and Jignesh Lakhani at temple who came from Ambivali side for Chakdev and Parvat. It was indeed pleasure to here informative stories from both Hira Sir and Arun Sir about Himalayan rescue operations, virgin pinnacle climb and their fellow trekkers.

In the night, with the help of villager and with Arun Sir’s initiative we got delicious food. We had fresh papdi bhaji on Bhogi day along with tandul-bhakri.
Santosh Jangam from the vasti came to collect the donation for temple even though personally I am opposed to such things we gave money to him.
Next day we had ready to cook Upma and started our trek from dense jungle. After 45 minutes we reached Jangam wadi and kept our sacks as Jivaji Jangam’s house. From there we crossed lot of ridges up and down. We also halt near water stream on the way and had some snacks. After an hour we reached the top of Parvat. Parvat as name suggests is huge in length and very isolated. It was very quiet and peaceful on both the forts. We celebrated Sankranti with Tilgul and Gulpoli. We took the same route to come back as our sacks were at Jangam wadi. Hira Sir and Jignesh left for Ambivali from Khind route.
The hired vehicle was waiting at so we got freshen up and had mini lunch. Bhagirathi Ajit gave us sweet tea but I enjoyed that
At Poladpur, we had yummy Samosa at Samadhan hotel thanks to Arun Sir. We also halt as Karnala Hotel for tea and other breaks. We were glad that we been to all three forts before it gets jam in forest departments restrictions.

Check out the snaps:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.333317353369095.87722.100000724990816&type=1&l=d01d9aad89