Dhamankhel

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Dhamankhel
—  village  —
Coordinates
Country	India
State	Maharashtra
District(s)	Pune
Nearest city	Naryangaon
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Coastline	• 0 kilometres (0 mi)
Climate Temperature • Summer	•
Codes • Telephone • +912132 • Vehicle • MH-12

Dhamankhel is a village situated at about 3 km from Junnar city of Pune district. There is a famous Dhamankhel kulaswami khandoba mandir at dhamankhel village. It is family deity of Konde family in this village.

Dhamankhel is located at 19.19°N 73.88°E / 19.19; 73.88<

Five kilometers away from this village there are the Lenyadri caves which is one of Ashtavinayaka temple in Maharashtra. Also about 3 kilometers away there is Shivneri fort a historic military fortification located near Junnar.

Festivals celebrated In "SHREE MARTAND BHAIRAV KHANDOBA" Mandir.

Annually 4 festivals are being celebrated with great enthusiasm & bhakti.They are as follows.

1.CHAMPASHASHTI(Wangasat) 2.MAGH POORNIMA 3.CHAITRA POORNIMA

Champashathi is a Day when Lord KHANDOBA take a big sword (Khadag) is his hand to kill demon "MANI & MALYA" therefore he known as "KHANDOBA".This is a day when Lord Shiva took a AVATAR of SHRI KHANDOBA. This celebration start from one week or 7 days before champashasti Day.Seven Day series known as "Saptah"where bhajans & Kirtans(enchanting of Lord Names)took place.Champashashti Day starts with a big Hoam & Havan at the temple place in the early Morning (4.00 A.M).Then holy bath of Lord KHANDOBA. As soon as Hoam & Havan finished Aarti of KHANDOBA is perform(6.00 A.M).Then temple is open for the darshan to all devotees.

After that a Lord KHANDOBA is been placed in the Palakhi & is been moved around the temple. After completing its journey it is kept in the middle of the temple for darshan purposes. Mahaprasad is distributed to all devotees after completion of "KALYACHE KIRTAN". The whole day devotes perform "Jagaran & Gondhal" in the temple rooms. This is a very joyful & holistic day of every devotees life.

Magh Poornima is celebrated on the full moon day i.e.poornima of the Magh(Marathi calender month, as per English calendar it generally falls in February or March) month of the year. Celebration starts with the holy bath of deity Shree Khandoba(Avatar taken by Lord Shiva to destroy the daemons Mani & Malla) in the early morning. After the pooja & other holy prarthnas temple is opened for darshan. People from surrounding areas & long distances visit this place every year and pay their offerings in the form of Aggarbattis,Gulal,Bhandar etc. Another important ritual of this procession is "HARTURE" (Har means Mala made up of flowers) starts form a specific point(generally from Valunj Baba Temple). Bullock carts are decorated for this procession. Bullocks carts that consist of 4 bullocks is treated like a "Rath" of deity (Shree Khandoba). Yellow flags are put on both the sides of the bullock cart. People gather in large crowds for this special occasion. The procession is followed by local musicians & dancers performing traditional lezim dances in front of Harture. These dances continue till the Harture reaches Khandoba Temple.

Another major attraction of this festival is the bullock cart racing competition that starts at 10.30am. This is one of the most famous activity among all the people gathered for the occasion, four bullocks have to reach the final destination within stipulated time alloted. The Bullock Cart which completes the race with the least time is be declared a winner. This is one of the most adventurous & interesting activity of the festival. The people gathered around are full of excitement,joy and enthusiasm. It is difficult to find out such levels of excitement anywhere else. The competition continues till night descends or sometimes next day too. While some people enjoy the race at one side, the other side of the temple is full of devotees taking the darshan of Lord Khandoba. The day is full of enthusiasm & happiness in the air.

CHAITRA POORNIMA :

Families Living There

• Konde
• Varpe
• Gunjal
• Raghatwan
• Jadhav

Getting there

One can reach Dhamankhel from Mumbai or Pune in the following ways:

• State transport buses are available for Junnar from the Shivajinagar bus stand of Pune, Kalyan ST bus stand in Thane district and from the Mumbai Central bus stand of Mumbai. Dhamankhel is 4 km from Junnar. Jeeps and buses are available from the Junnar bus stand for travel to Dhamankhel.
• On the Pune-Nasik Highway, Dhamankhel is 90 km from Pune.If direct bus To junnar is not available then you can reach at Narayangaon. From Narayangaon you can catch a bus . Also a mini bus facility is available from Narayangaon for every 15 minutes.