Kolhapuri Special…

Last weekend I had been to Mahalakshmi temple at Kolhapur which is in southern part of Maharastra. I was joined by two other friends. For them it was a business trip and to me it was a divine trip. This was my second visit to the temple after 7 years. The first one was when I was doing my Post Graduation in Belgaum.
I think the first thing that comes to everybody’s mind is the traditional Kolhapuri Chappals (footwear). There are many other things it is known for like…. Kolhapuri dishes (which are very hot and spicy), Kolhapuri jewels which are very artistic and people from neighboring states like Goa and Karnataka come here to buy these. Kolhapur is also known for Marathi film and drama, and of course, Padmini Kolhapuri who was the heart throb of 80s-90s ;-).
Above all, Kolhapur is known for Goddess Mahalakshmi temple. The temple and the statue of Goddess Mahalakshmi are so beautiful that I was in divinity for some time. The temple is very artistic and built of black stone, which we normally don’t find everywhere. The huge pillars outside the temple were meant for lighting lamps, which were also eye catching. The temple has four entries (North, South, East and West), which are very huge. The statue of Goddess Mahalaksmi is about 3-4 feet which was ornamented with Gold, Silver and the diamonds. The goddess looked so beautiful.
It is said that this temple has history of Tirupati, since the goddess is the wife of Lord Venkateshwara. There is also Venkateshwara temple in the temple premises. Its is also believed that after tirupati visit, people should also visit Kolhapur.
The temple premise is surrounded by shopping market. You can find anything and everything here!!! It is so crowded. I think shopping would be a great experience. Though I didn’t shop much, but yeah, I bought Kolhapuri footwear for myself. I also had vada-pav (local flavor of Burger).
It was nice and memorable trip. I also met couple of local people, who were business partners of my friends. We had lot of fun with them. Though we drove around 1500 KM in 2 days and 3 nights in Mahindra Bolero, it wasn’t tiring. Thanks that we were driving on Highways…