The World Heritage Sites in Maharashtra as you all know are the Ajanta Cave Paintings and Verul (Ellora) Caves. These world famous caves are known for the paintings and carvings so we are not going to bore you by giving in the details about these caves.
Lonar Lake
At first lets get to know more about the lakes formed by Meteorite Impact. The World’s biggest Lake formed by Meteorite impact is at Ghana in Africa and is called Bosumtwi Lake. The Lake Bosumtwi impact crater is 10.5 km in diameter, slightly larger than the present lake, and is estimated to be 1.07 million years old. The Second Largest lake in world is situated in Canada known as New Quebec Lake (formally known as Chubb Crater). This lake is around 250 meters deep.
The initial reports we heard about Lonar Lake is that this lake has a diameter of around 1.8 Kms and a circumference of 6-7 Kms. Presently, the depth of this lake is around 24 feet. It is said by the researchers that the Meteorite may be around 60 meters in length and around 2 tons in weight and it hit the earth surface at a speed of 20 Kms/ second. On hitting the surface of the earth the meteor created a crater which is 2.1 kms in diameter on top and 1.4 kms diameter at the bottom of the crater. The first Geological survey of this lake was made by Mr. C.J. E. Alexander in 1823 who gave the analysis that this lake is formed due to Meteorite fall. Till 1823 it was believed that the lake is formed due to volcanic eruption.
Historic Value
The place has some ancient temples and hence the lake has a historic importance. The geologists are also conducting research on the magnetic fields generated by the rocks which is due to the Meteorite impact hence, we decided to be a part of the group which was visiting Lonar Lake.
Our Journey
Our Journey began from Mumbai by train. We reached Jalgaon where a bus was waiting for us. Our immediate destination was Ajanta and after having breakfast we moved to visit the caves. It was a bright sunny day in Marathwada Region. The information about the caves and the surroundings did not tire us and acted as a boost for us to climb on to the point on the adjoining hill where Captain Smith rediscovered the Caves in 1819. The view from the hill opposite to the Caves gave an excellent view of the horse shoe shaped Ajanta escarpment.
From Ajanta, we moved to the more exciting part of the journey to the Lonar Lake which was around 3 hours drive from Ajanta Caves. By the time we reached Lonar Village it was 7.30 p.m. We had to wake up very early as we had to leave around 6.00 a.m. for the walk to the most awaited lake. Lonar is around 130-150 Kms from Aurangabad.
The walk to the lake was a nice morning walk of around 15-20 minutes and we were astonished to see a huge crater and a lake formation in the crater. All of us were spell-bound but we had to listen to our knowledgeable guide, Mr. Anand Mishra who informed us that to make a crater of the size of Lonar lake in Basalt rock of thickness 600-700 mts. you would need a 6 mega-tonne bombs. He further told us that there are around 22 temples around the lake.
We started our tour around the Lonar Lake with the first temple which is the Shankar-Ganesh Temple. All of us assembled in this temple to hear about the construction of the temples and the era of the construction, the ancient history of the temples and all the details that we could hear from Mr. Mishra.
Mr. Mishra then explained to us type of Construction and the period during which the temples were constructed. The Style of Construction of the temples is known as ‘Hemadpanthi Temple’. The Construction style is named after the Prime-minister named Hemadpant in the Court of Seuna Yadav of Devgiri. The speciality of the construction was that no cement or lime-stone was used in the construction of these temples. The Temples were constructed by fixing the stones or the moulds one above the other. All these temples were built around 8th Century A.D to 11th Century A.D.
The Hemadpanthi Temples are divided into three parts the entry is called Sabha Mandap, the middle portion is Antrayal and the last is called the Gabhara.
The entrance to Gabhara (the carvings)
Another important way to recognize the Hemadpanthi Temple is the carvings on the entrance to Gabhara. There are a fixed set of carvings starting with ‘Toran’ on the innermost lining then the ‘Anand Sthar’ followed by ‘Kalash’ and lastly the carvings of ‘Vyaal’. Vyaal is an old animal, presently extinct but its said that tiger (Vagh) in its present form has evolved from Vyaal. The Anand Sthar is generally depicted on the entrance of the Gabhara or in the later stages of the carvings is on the Pillars of the temple. But Anand Sthar is most important part of Hemadpanthi Temple and has to be there in each and every temple built in the style of Hemadpanthi.
Temples around the Lake
After the initial discourse about Hemadpanthi temples we moved on to the next Ram Temple. The idol of Lord Ram is relatively new and is said to be placed by the locals. It is said that Lord Ram performed the last rites of his Father, King Dashrath at this lake. This temple is a nice place for meditation. Another speciality of this temple is that if any person standing in the Antrayal, one can see 7 shadows of the person standing. Our guide Anand Mishra also showed us the magnetic effect in the rocks by placing the compass on the floor and moving the compass on the rock. It was like magic, the compass changed the direction of north/ south. Leaving this temple we moved to the next temples, the Vagh-Mahadev Mandir, Bhor Mahadev Mandir and then to Kamlji Devi Mandir. The Kamlji Devi Mandir is the biggest of the temple at Lonar Lake. We took a little rest at this temple and enjoyed some light snacks and moved ahead to the other temples such as Ambarkhana Mahadev Mandir, Mungla Mahadev Mandir.
Shukracharya Shala
On the last lap of the temple visits we first sat at the temple which is called Shukracharya Shala (School of Shukracharya). It is said that at this place Shukracharya performed many yagnas and the hill adjoining this temple is called Bhasmachi Tekdi (hill of ashes). This temple is also an excellent spot for meditation. We all again spent a few minutes meditating and felt fresh and refreshing after a long walk around the lake. The rareness of this temple is that the sabhamandap is circular in shape as compared to the rectangle or square. The roof is also kept open which gives way to the stars for the person studying astronomy. This was made in view of the fact that Shukracharya used to study astronomy and astrology for which the open sky can be viewed from the temple. Just besides this temple one can hear a sweet noise of free flowing water which comes from the top of the hill adjoining the temple. This water continuously flows in the lake. On climbing the top we got overselves refreshed in the Sita-nahni and the whole group enjoyed themselves in the free flowing water at Sita-nahni.
Bio-Diversity at Lonar
The crater is rich in Bio-Diversity housing diverse population of flora and fauna. Home to variety of animal species and birds, most found are peacock, black crane, lizards, red wattled lapwing (tittwi), dung bettles, owls, millipedes, squirrels, langur monkeys, etc. Among the fauna you can find custard apple, eucalyptus, lemon grass, bamboo, teak, ram-fal, sitafal and many other trees can be seen.
The bio-diversity of the flora and fauna is divided into 5 parts. The First being area outside the crater, then slope of the crater comprises the second part, the flat land at the base of the slope is the third part, the muddy area around the lake is the fourth part and the fifth and last part being the lake part.
On the slopes you can see the trees of sitafal. These trees have survived for long as the cows, goats don’t eat the leaves of this tree. The forest Department has planted trees like teak, nilgiri, banayan, coconut, mango, etc. thus adding to the fauna around the lake.
The water in the lake has a very high salinity level of around 10 to 10.5 PH, which does not allow any marine life to survive inside the lake.
From Lonar we proceeded to our next destination the Verul Caves but Lonar still lingered on our minds and in our memories forever.
It’s a treat to be able to visit such a place for any nature lover or trekker and having achieved it once in our lifetime we are happy and content that one more place is off the bucket list.
Wow it's beautiful. Next time if you will go to see lonar, pl let me know.
ReplyDeleteVery good report. Thanks for this info.
ReplyDelete