Just one boring day, with my friends I decided to wander around Panshet backwaters (Pune). After we passed some time, while returning we found a hill which stated 'Neelkantheshwar' we didn't knew there was such a place up there. In that one impulse moment we all started to climb that hill which had 45° angle of elevation till some height and then 1000 or so stairs till the top.
We were shocked when we finally reached. View of Panshet Dam from up was so beautiful to believe. It is said that this temple is from Mahabharata era and co-existed along with the 'Bhuleshwar' temple which was build by the Pandavas when they were hiding in centuries-old Baneshwar (todays Baner) cave (Pune). There are also traces of Pandavas visiting the Neelkantheshwar Temple.
Neelkantheshwar temple was built by Sarje Mama, Once he came near this mountain and fell asleep. In his dream, Lord Shiva called him and asked for water from Panshet Lake. Sarje Mama checked this place after waking up and found a Shivling. Sarje Mama sold all of his wealth and gold, silver to build this temple.
Now there are more than 1200 idols made in this whole temple surrounding of Hindu deities and scenarios of ancient Prasangas like- Vastraharan of Draupadi, Birth of Navnathas, Awakening of Kumbhakaran, Rage of Kali maa, Krishna Leela, Vithhal and Janabai, scenes from Ramayan and many more.
Its sad that very few people (youngsters) know about this place (like even we didn't knew). This casual wander left a thought in me about many such historical temples in city/ jilha unknown to young people; which could be an exploratory and informative visit- more productively relaxing than netflix-ing !