Yavateshwar, another peaceful place in the outskirts of Satara city where people of Satara and around can be found spending time. Most of the visitors are of two categories. The first one, preferring to take a walk up to the temple from Bogda (tunnel) or second are those, who are travelling to Kaas, Bamnoli and Tapola. This place is around 5km from Satara, as per records (I think they measure the distance from Satara main bus stand). Otherwise from Bogda (tunnel), it should be couple of kilometers. You can start smelling the Konkan and high altitude life style, and greenery as soon as you start climbing towards Yavateshwar.

I visited this place and the historical Shiva Temple mostly in early hours of day. Taking care of people coming for morning walk, you will have to find your way up hill on this comparatively less difficult Ghats. If you are coming in the afternoon, then many youngsters can be accompanying you on bike. In the morning, you can also take a beautiful view of Satara city, which gets up uncovering itself from the morning mist. There will be few monkey herds and a couple of peacocks on the way. Early morning view of city and this place is really beautiful, if you are visiting during rainy season and winter. But both the seasons are strong in this region. You can also feel the cold weather of high altitude (approx 2500 feet above sea level). You can also take nice photographs of Satara city, Ajinkyatara fort and few seasonal water falls on the way.

The Shiva Temple at Yavateshwar

So on the way to Kaas, this temple is on the left hand side of road. Surrounded by few houses, this place is isolated from the city crowd and noise. You can sit inside the temple as long as you want, and enjoy the quiet atmosphere. Generally there are more people on Monday. Festival days are Mahashivratri and Mondays in Indian Calendar month of Shravan. These are the days when this place attracts huge crowd for worship. On the back side of temple you can see the forest like greenery. I found this temple is different from other Shiva temples, as it has two Nandi idols at the entrace while you normally have one. I could find no body to tell me history behind it. But this is unique thing.

Overall it is a good place to stop over for few minutes on the way to Kaas. If you want to test your physical strength, then start walking up from Bogda. I am sure it will drain you out. I can definitely think of spending a couple of hours visiting this place early morning, especially in rainy or winter season.

Two Nandi Idols at Entrance

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