Satara Kumbeshwar Temple, Maharashtra

Address

Satara Kumbeshwar Temple, Maharashtra

Satara,

Maharashtra – 415004

Moolavar

Kumbeshwar

Introduction

Satara Kumbeshwar Temple is dedicated to lord Shiva, located in the Satara, Maharashtra. There is an ancient Patteeswar Shiva temple at Satara. The Shiva lingam in the temple is known as the Kumbeshwar Bind.

Puranic Significance

There is a historical book about this temple called Sri Kshetra Pattiswarar Darshanam. The temple was built around this ancient Shivalinga in the 16th century AD. This temple has 8 cave temples. There are more than 1000 Shiva Lingams.

There are Shiva Lingams under the ground inside this temple. The pillars in the cave temple are decorated with carved snake and small shivlingams. There is a Maha Shivalingam with intricate carvings. The many deities in this temple are uniquely beautiful. The names of these deities are still not fully identified.

There is a sculpture with the body of both Agniswar and the Lord’s vehicle, the bull. In this sculpture, the face appears to be the same face, but if you look closely, you can see the face of Agneswarar and the face of the bull. The sculpture has seven arms and two legs of Agneswarar and the four legs of a bull.

These caves also have sculptures of Navagraha. A four-faced Shiva lingam is present in the courtyard among many other sculptures. At the entrance to the main chamber, on either side of the door, male deities hold tridents and female deities hold Ganga and Yamuna water pots.

There are sculptures ranging from tiny thumb nail sized carvings to 2m long sculptures. Outside the temple there is a Shiva Lingam with Trimurti and two huge lamp pillars made of stone. There is a Mutt here called Satguru Govindanandaswamy Maharaj Mutt. The temple is maintained by a few sadhus who have been living here for many years. There are around 52 types of medicinal plants on the hill surrounding this temple.