Khandoba Temple, Jejuri

Khandoba, worshipped across Maharashtra and northern Karnataka as a warrior form of Shiva also known as Martanda Bhairava or Malhari, has his foremost pilgrimage center at Jejuri, a hill town roughly 48 km from Pune. Two temples stand on the hill: the older Kadepathar shrine, reached along a difficult path and less frequently visited, and the newer Gad-kot temple, approached by close to 450 stone steps lined with eighteen ceremonial arches (kamani) and around 350 lamp-pillars (dipmalas). Both are built in a fortified style typical of Deccan hill shrines, giving Jejuri its distinctive skyline of gates and towers.

Devotional tradition holds that Khandoba first manifested at a place called Premapur, on the day of Champa Shashthi, to do battle with two demons, Mani and Malla. After his defeat, Mani is said to have repented, offered his white horse to the god, and asked as a boon to be honored at every Khandoba shrine thereafter — which is why a horse commonly appears alongside images of the god. This account is folk-Puranic legend rather than documented history.

Beyond its religious life, Jejuri also has a documented place in Maratha political history: in 1752, the dowager queen Tarabai and the Peshwa Balaji Bajirao are recorded to have concluded a political agreement at the temple, an episode illustrating the shrine’s standing as more than a purely devotional site during the Maratha Empire period.