Temples around Lonar Lake Buldhana, Aurangabad, Maharashtra

This post is a continuation from Interesting Facts of Lonar Crater Lake Aurangabad

“Scientists suspect that the meteor is still embedded about 600m below the south-eastern rim of the crater.”- Lonely Planet South India. We spent about 15 minutes exploring Lonar Crater. It was cool in every sense of the word!

Temples around Lonar Lake Buldhana

We explored around to discover few more wonders around it: several temples, some of which dating back to 13th century or older. There are 14 temples around the rim of Lonar Crater Lake. We could visit some of them.

Rama Temple in Lonar lake shore

Half submerged Shankar Ganesh Temple in Lonar lake shore

Shankar Ganesh Temple, Ramgaya Temple, Hanuman Temple, Waghmahadeo Temple Mor Mahadeo Temple are in a cluster just by the bank of the lake where we trekked to from the road. The path isn’t a well laid out one. By the time we reached it was past 11, not a single tourist around.

We explored the ruins of these temples at our pace. Building blocks scattered around; they gave the impression of some kind of loot or deliberate damage. There was no earthquake in the place atleast none recorded in the past one century.

Shankar Ganesh Temple

It really pained to see the state of the temples here. Shiva Linga of this temple in ruins is missing.

Ruins of Shiva Ganesh Temple

The extremely beautiful Shankar Ganesh temple… I stood here transfixed by the architectural beauty of this small shrine still maintained and preserved so well…

Entrance to Shankar Ganesh temple Lonar lake

Entrance to Shankar Ganesh temple Lonar lake

Ramgaya Mandir

It is believed by locals that Lord Ram had gone for his 14 years vanvas (stay in forest) in Panchvati after praying here. The wall had scribbling on it and inside  wall had the words ‘Ramgaya Mandir’ written on it.

The wooden idol of Rama… “It has been here for centuries”, said the boys, who were constantly accompanying us from the time we landed at the base…

It seemed as somebody was offering prayers at the temple. We found some flowers, some fresh, some withered ones. But there was no official board around.

More ruins of temples Lonar lake

Ramgaya Mandir Lonar Lake

Ramgaya Mandir Lonar Lake with wooden statue of Lord Ram

Hanuman Mandir

Where there is Ram there is Hanuman (monkey God) too! We stumbled on a centuries old Hanuman Temple, rather a small shrine. This was the idol of Hanuman in the shrine just opposite to the Rama temple.

Hanuman mandir Lonar Lake

Hanuman Mandir Lonar Lake

Idol of Lord Hanuman inside the temple

Mungala Mahadeo Temple

The Mor Mahadev temple, situated close to the water. Half of it gets submerged in water when there are heavy rains and Lonar water level rises.

Mor Mahadeo temple Lonar Crater Lake Buldhana

Mungala Mahadeo temple Lonar Crater Lake Buldhana

Kamalaja Devi Temple

A tiny white speck at the opposite end of the lake from where I stood.  It is the Kamalaja Devi Temple… the view is hypnotic.I wish I had more time in hand to get there and explore it.

Standing here I thought- “What if a meteorite hits us at this moment!” But such things do not happen out of the blue. Actually they do happen, read here, you get all news of Near Earth Objects and their predicted paths and movements.

Kamalaja Devi Temple Lonar Maharashtra

Gomukh Temple at Lonar Lake

One temple of Lonar Crater where pilgrims visit in large numbers is the Gomukh Temple. Its popularity is due to an eternal source of water flowing into the kund (water tank) of the temple. Locals call it dhar, hence the temple is also called Dhar Mandir or Dhar Kund by the devotees. They line up to stand under that falling stream of water, as if receiving blessings.

Gomukh Temple Lonar Lake

Gomukh Temple Lonar Lake

Tips to Tour Temples around Lonar Lake

  • Try and reach the place before 11am, after this the descent under the scorching sun can sap you of your energy.
  • Take decent amount of energy boosters and water especially if you are traveling with children.
  • Temples are scattered all along the rim of the lake. If you plan to tour all, arrive early.
  • We visited the place in the peak of winters, when the mercury read 32 degrees, it was HOT. Imagine what it can be in summers.
  • No tickets required.
  • No washrooms around these places, but you can find them in the hotels nearby.

Temples around Lonar Lake Buldhana

List of Temples I missed visiting:

Naradeshwara Temple,  Hatkeshwara Temple, Sita Nhani, Paphareshwara Temple, Nandi Mandap, Kumareshwar Temple, Yadnawalkeshwar Temple, Shukracharya Observatory, Kapilasangam Temple, Gaybee Pir/Dargah, Vishnu Bageecha Temple

CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICS.

Pin this for later…

Temples around Lonar Lake Buldhana Maharashtra India

(This post was first published on March 25, 2008.)

Panchakki: Water Wheel of Aurangabad, an Engineering Marvel
Interesting Facts of Lonar Crater Lake Aurangabad, Maharashtra

22 Responses to “Temples around Lonar Lake Buldhana, Aurangabad, Maharashtra

  • Thanks for the post, very interesting. Beautiful place and full of ancient culture.
    I like to learn before traveling and get to know the cultures I visit.
    A greeting

  • Really awesome… this place is truly mesmerizing. The interest it creates due to the whole astronomical aspect is something that lead me to mark this place on top of my list.

  • It is interesting to see the evidences of meteorite hit. kids must have been excited to see the crater. No?

  • Oh I went there just after monsoons so it was totally green and so beautiful.

    Good that you didn’t drink that water. Few people have fainted near the water because of the sulphur contents and the fumes.

    You brought back memories. 🙂

  • I’d love to see this crater!

    Thank you for telling me about it, Indrani.

  • very nice description of the crater. Wonderful temples.

  • Thanks for bringing to light places like these

  • Maniparna Sengupta Majumder
    8 years ago

    Good that you didn’t taste the water! The view of the temple is amazing indeed…

  • An amazing account of the place! Thank you for sharing 🙂

  • Thanks, Indrani, for the beautiful account of the place. Your advice is duly noted that one should truy to visit before 11am. 🙂

  • When did you visit? I have been wanting to visit Lonar this year too, waiting for the monsoons to get over…

    • Indrani Ghose
      8 years ago

      I visited long back The Untourists. It was Dec 2007.

  • Thanks Kari and yes we do worry about small problems in this big big world.

    Sure Lakshmi, any time.

    celine, Gil Thanks.

    Helmi, I do have dreams like you.:)
    May God give you a long life to fulfil all your dreams.

  • What an amazing place to explore. I am not sure whether it is but it should be included in one of my favorite books: “1000 Places to See Before You Die”.

    Perhaps it is even mentioned there but unfortunately I have no time to look it up right now.

    Indranim, do you also have a list of places you want to visit during your life time?

    My list has been National Heritage sites around the world, but I am afraid I won’t live long enough to see them all…

  • Came back to see it more closely. It’s an amazing crater. Will put it on my list… With all that I’ve seen in your and your visitors blogs, I must at least count with 4 more trips to India to have a short idea of the subcontinent… Difficult to manage!
    Thanks for your comments at Blogtrotter where I’m now strolling around Bilbao!
    Have a great weekend!
    Gil

  • Very interesting post. And you answered my question in Part I of your post in Part II. Thank you. 🙂

  • this is absolutely amazing…the temples, idols and of course the crater itself ..am going to get in touch with you when I go there

  • The story and pictures of this crator are fascinating. Looking at the world as a whole and thinking of the possiblities beyond our planet make even the most nerve wracking problems seem small by comparison.

    I have to kind of laugh at myself about the architectural pictures, though…my first thought when I saw your pictures was how they reminded me of some scenes from the Indiana Jones movies. Are you familiar with them? (I think maybe I should look to more academic sources for my visual education. lol)

    Kari

  • GMG: Thanks for the link.

    Raji: Thanks!

    Ajeya: It is 165km from Aurangabad, you can take a taxi or bus from Aurangabad to Buldhana. For those zipping across the country in bikes like you, it will take 2 to 2 and 1/2 hours??

  • Beautiful place. Where exactly is this?

  • Another nice post with good pictures. Thanks Indrani.

  • Hi Indrani! The answer to your daughter’s query may be: http://www.leo-parade.de/
    and then «PR & Images» and »Album». There are five albums… That’s what I found in Google… The lions on my post at Blogtrotter are pictures I took…
    The Lonar looks amazing. Closer is similar to one of the Sete Cidades Crater in Sao Miguel, Azores! The Green one…
    Have a great week!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.