A Photoblog: September 2007

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Ankai-Tankai-Gorakshanath

This region receives scanty rain & hence was an ideal spot during monsoons catering to the visual senses with the green of the emeralds and the blues of the sapphires. The cloud approached and backed away without disintegrating in to the rain drops spreading the fragrance of the wet mud. But the ambience was already propelled towards serenity with the lush green, cool n strong breeze and the wonderful location.
Dilapilated remains at the base of Ankai-Tankai. From the looks of it and the style of architecture it looks like a mosque.

One of the cave, rock cut from the series of Buddhist caves at the base of Ankai Tankai.

A pond in front of the cave-Temple

Satmala Range:

This range runs to the north of the Nashik-Manmad railway line. Running west to east it has many beautiful forts. It was known as the Chandor range and the Balgan area in the past. The Maratha and the Mughal forces captured various forts and fought bloody battles on these passes. The twin fort of Ankai Tankai nestles herein this range.

A Shiva idol lying is dilapilated condition at the foot hills of the AnKai, in front of the Buddhist caves.

Rock slabs arranged in Pecuilar pattern in the yard of the Buddhist caves.

A duplex cave. A stair way from the lower one leads to the upper alley. the caves is well ventilated and allows adequate light inside.

Ankai-Tankai (961m-3152ft) These twins hills form a part of the Chandwad range and are situated about 8 km south of Manmad. The fort of Ankai can be reached from the railways station of Ankai near Manmad.

A flight of steps leads to 8 Buddhists caves at the base of Tankai caves. Climb the steps further to reach a well fortified common entrance of the forts.

It has ancient caves and a temple of Agatsya, the sage who is credited with the achievement of the first crossing of the Vindhya Mountains. Both the twin hills are very attractive to visit, with Buddhist caves at their base.

These were said to be the strongest hill-forts. They command a wide view of the Khandesh and Godavari valleys. The rock is so completely eroded on all the sides that it presents perfectly perpendicular walls on all its four faces. There is a big temple, a mazar and the Agatsya tank.

To the left is Ankai, which is a beautiful place to visit. Regular steps leads to a number of fortified entrances, a cave with some sculptures and finally to the top where a domed building is located.

On top, one can see 5 caves, 7 water tanks, an arched enclosure at the end of the fort with a huge pond, a Dargah etc. A huge cave below the summit is now an Ashram, where one can have a night stay.