15th August Heritage Walk

Varsha Sharma, head architect at the TOVP, celebrated the 75th year of independence by reminiscing and visiting places of legacy. Mysterious places are revealed if we genuinely seek them. Those most sacred places, the pulsating heart of Pune are alive today due to a handful of committed people.

Walking through the city on Aug 15th was a different feel altogether. Watching the spirit of unity held together by the tiranga was mesmerizing.

It's not only about us celebrating this day but about remembering the forsaken life breath of valorous souls. Not just remembering, but passing down the treasure of legacy of our motherland to the gen ex.

We visited the Khuniya Murlidhar Temple, Laxmi Narsimha Temple and the Tehsildar Office, so here's a glimpse of our celebration and a few short stories behind these places.

Naturally, these temples have always been a place of 'ashray' (shelter). The British cunningly wanted to eradicate these nodes of power in an attempt to kill the culture, and heritage of this motherland.

They were well aware that a new Murlidhar temple was planning to be established. The East India Company rushed to the place and caused tremendous bloodshed on the site of this sanctified courtyard. While the bloodshed was going on, Sr Murlidhar, the most powerful deity pran pratishtha was going on undeterred by the inimical attempt and stays here to all its glory until today. The Lord thus received His name as Khuniya (blood) Murlidhar.

We can pray there for that undeterred spirit to become powerful contributors to our self-growth and help others around us to grow.

The 250-year-old temple retains its most mysterious architecture with the Peshwe Kalin chandeliers, and wooden columns telling us stories from the past. The youngest Chaphekar Bandhu killed the Dravid brothers (traitors) near this temple.

Holding that monument in our hearts with pride and pain, we walked just a few feet towards one of the most vibrant ancient temples - Laxmi Narsimha Temple. The Pujari of that place is over the 8th generation serving the deity.

How did He manifest in this temple? Many centuries ago, the Lord came into the dream of a person, saying. 'Come to Kashi and I will be there waiting for you. Pick me up from here. That couple traveled by foot from Pune to Kashi and found exactly the spot described in the dream. They found this marble deity of Lord Narsimhadev to their delight. They tried to install the deity in the nearby areas of Kashi, but it just didn't work out. They started their return to Pune holding Lord Narsimhadev on their back. After a lot of endeavor and challenges, they finally reached Pune and He was ready to be installed at the spot where He still stands today.

This temple was the shelter of Vasudev Balwant Phadke, a very powerful freedom fighter, who would learn the Marshal art around that area which was then a forest. He had all his weapons' such as and patta and talwars are hidden here to fight the British forces. It was extremely heartening to hear of Indians preparing an army to fight the British invaders. He was one of the first ones. But polar to that, it was heart-wrenching to hear that later the British caught him captive and deported him to Yemen. When asked for his last wish, he said, 'I want just a handful of the soil of my Motherland', and took it with him. Nobody heard of what happened to him thereafter.

Yes, one more of the thousands of freedom fighters, who you never hear of was hanged here. Unheard, not because of chance, but because such powerful warriors have been intentionally obscured from the written pages of history books. We have wronged so much on Indian Soil. If the world knows what will they think of us - Britishers! That's how they were!

If there was another Shivaji Maharaj in the making it was Raje Umaji Naik. A ray of hope for Swaraj. He had armies, he had power, and he would not let the tax go to the Britishers. He was full of wisdom, strategy, power, and grit.

With utter disgust, the first thing you see as you enter the campus is the ancient Peepal Tree where Raje Umaji Naik was suspended on the tree after he was hanged - to scare the Indians, that if you try to rebel this is what you become.

This place was also a jail for his fellow supporters. The medical field says if anybody stays away from sunlight for a few days, he will become insane. Those men stayed in Andhra kothris, and retained their sanity to fight for Swaraj.