trek to Sri Ramlingeshwara Devastana part-4

...continued from trek to Sri Ramlingeshwara Devastana part-3.

The previous three parts were about the 4 km trek through paddy fields, jungle path passing over hills and through jungle. Raamtheerth, a group of three shrines & a water pond, sits on the highest point of a rock hill which is accessible from one side i.e. the northern side. The other sides of the hill are steep and not safe for climbing. Adjacent to Raamtheerth hill, on the northeastern side is Machigad ~ a hill with a fort dating back to Chatrapathi Shivaji's time, probably even more older.

To the west are some plain land in between hills. Any plain land available here is mostly a paddy field because that's the only crop that grows in water-logged land. In the foreground is the western slop of Raamtheerth hill. That's one of the few massive boulders on this hill. The surface's dark color is due to dry moss. This is a part of the western ghats, when it rains here, it pours.

Even in dry season one needs to be careful while moving on these slopes. What appears to be rough enough may not be, especially when the rocks are warm under bright sun.

This is the southwestern slope. The mound seen on the right is the neighboring hill who's slopes are wooded and its summit is a plateau. On the left  hand side is a projecting rock. Its a huge rock, a number of people could actually stand on the overhanging part without disturbing the equilibrium.

About 60 meters from the temple are these two slabs. They seems like dressed stones. Probably the temple builder had planned to construct a small temple here. For that purpose a level surface was needed. Somehow the project was abandoned.

The slab as seen from above. More of the neighboring hill is visible here - it looks interesting, a place to be explore some day.

The rock with a overhang. During our previous visit, my companions stood on the rock for a photo. I could see they were not sure of the rock's stability, they were scared yet wanted a photo there. To see pictures of my previous visit click on Ramtheerth visit October 2010.

A natural niche and a pit. This pit would be filled with clean water during rainy season, a perfect home for tadpoles. Also a neat little pond for bird to bathe.

Of all the boulders here, this is the most prominent. The rock looks like a tortoise head, may be a lizard head. Its been sitting there for god know how many millennia. I don't think the temple builders tried to quarry stone from this boulder. Below the rock is a nice space for people to rest on a sunny morning. Also, the rock is scalable, one could clamber on to the top for a different view of the temple & surroundings.

Next to the tortoise rock are veins in stone. I've seen bands in granite in many places, seen wall like formations in igneous rocks at Sidlapadi, but I can't recall seeing anything like this before. These veins are about 2" wide and high. Similar veins were seen at a smaller rock formation on the trial leading to the temples. Those lines were random but here we have three long parallel lines and one short diagonal line. 

Close to the tortoise rock is this boulder which was targeted to be broken to make pillars or beams. The line of square holes is the first step in splitting a stone with a plain face. These holes are 3 to 5 inches deep. As I heard- hot water is poured into these holes which will create a crack connecting these holes and the boulder splits with an almost straight edge. This method of splitting stones is in practice even to this day.

That whitish rock in the center of the picture is the overhanging rock. 

The shelter created by tortoise rock. Its quite a big space, 15 to 20 people can easily sit here.

The pile of rocks on the right seemed to be broken by humans , probably for making blocks for temple construction.

The tortoise rock as seen from the opposite side. The main boulder and the pieces lying below might have been one huge piece. How is broke is something I'm pondering about. Did it split naturally or did humans intervene, May be a geologist would be able to get some clues by studying the pictures or visiting the site.

The tortoise rock is a part of a bigger cluster. Probably all these boulders was one huge unit ages ago. Stones, with time, breakup like families. One becomes two, two becomes five, five to ten, on and on. In the course they suffer erosion as well. A freshly split stone may have sharp edges which rounds off over time. Then they split, erode and roundoff. Philosophically speaking, when a change happens its looks different, sticks out. However with time the change normalizes.

There's a lot more to see here. One could spend an entire day looking around and taking pictures. BTW, I was the only human being on the entire hill. I think the closest human being would be at least a kilometer away. This, solitude, is something one needs to experience. I've experienced the same at Savandurga and Chandrgutti fort.

 I decided to call it a visit, and move on. I had two more places on the itinerary for the day. So, one last look at Ramlingeshwar Devastana.

The trek was easier since it was downhill most of the way until this point where the paddy fields begin. One more last look at the hill and the faintly visible temple. 

And I turned around to continue my trek, I saw a line of women with sickles in their hands. They had finished their morning chores at homes and now they are ready for working in the fields. Once they are done for the day at the fields, they go back home and take care of another set of chores. Oh man, do they ever rest!

I was famished when my car came into sight. I just grabbed the bag with food stuff, found a spot in a field and attacked. After the first chapati, my mind started functioning... where should I go next- Machigad or Halisi. Machigad means another hill climb. Okay, let me go to Machigad and find out how the climb is, then come some other day to climb the hill. So with that plan, I ended by morning meal, ready to head to Machigad.

.........