A historic city like Pune, is filled with legends, stories and popular folklore. From the lost treasure of the Peshwas to miracles performed by saints, we’ve brought you a list of most legendary places around Pune.
Disclaimer: None of the stories are written to promote superstitious activities. These are folklores, legends, and tales passed down from one generation to the other.
One of Pune’s holistic village is the historic and spiritual village of Dehu. Known have housed another famous saint, Sant Tukaram, localities of this village have a seemingly superficial but interesting tale to tell. Saint Tukaram was a man of virtue, kindness wisdom and above all, he was extremely compassionate towards every living being. This character and persona was not just limited to the land he lived on or the country he worked for, it was spread across the world and also to the likings of Gods above. It is believed that Vishnu (the Hindu god) was so impressed with Saint Tukaram that he sent his own vehicle, the Garuda, to escort saint Tukaram to Vaikunth (the Adobe of Vishnu), in his flesh and bone.
In the memory of this event, a temple was later erected on the banks of Dehu from where the Garuda took off to Vishnu’s home.
In the heart of the city lies Pataleshwar Temple, an ancient monument made during the Rashtrakuta period, which is rather controversial. If it was made by a Rashtrakuta king or one of his vassals. Also, the reason why Pataleshwar was made is also very much argued upon. But, the story we stumbled upon was quite interesting.
It is believed that Lord Shiv appeared in the dreams of a Rashtrakuta king and guided him to a land of ‘punya’ i.e., good deeds and showed him a way towards the Shiv-linga in the land of good deeds. When the king followed this dream in search of the Shiv-linga he saw in the dreams, he came to Pune city and established the stone temple of Pataleshwar and since it was a land of punya, he named the area around the temple as “punyaka” which later came to be known as Pune.
The landmark of Pune — Shaniwar Wada, does not only have a story of a ghost but also lesser known story of the lost treasure of the Peshwas. It is well-known that the structure of Shaniwarwada which is in existence now, is only 1/10th of the once 7 stored palace of the Peshwas aka the Prime ministers of the Maratha Kingdom. In the year 1828, a huge fire destroyed the glorious palace of Peshwas which was filled with riches of gold, diamonds, gems and impeccable jewellery. When the palace was on fire, a lot of the Peshwa women and children decided to take the secret passage that connected Shaniwarwada to Parvati hills. On their escape, they carried tones of gold, diamonds, pearls, silver, gems and jewellery which would otherwise have been burnt in the palace fire. Little was their luck, as the fire reached the secret passage, and all the people carrying the fortune of the Peshwas were burnt alive and the secret passage couldn’t be traced later. This means that probably the wealth of Peshwas, estimating around 1,20,000 crore rupees is still buried in the secret tunnel to Parvati.
Near Pune is the famous tourist destination of Panchgani Table Land where the legendary story of Pandavas goes back to the time when southern India was known as 'dandak aranya'. Legend says that when the Pandavas were on their Agyatvas (Hidden hermitage), they were believed to halt in the caves beneath Table Land and had also hid their weapons for a very long time over here. The story further continues that Draupadi, their wife, dropped a diamond earring in the lost water body inside the cave and since then, it hasn’t been found.
The caves now have a small cafe inside it which tries to offer a warm welcome to travellers.A famous saint in Marathi literature, Saint Dnyaneshwar, who lived in Pune, was extensively known for his enlightened state of life and was believed to have been blessed with the power of miracles. Legend says that once another well-known saint decided to test the powers and knowledge of Dnyaneshwar and was on his way to Alandi on a tiger’s back. When Dnyaneshwar got this news, he decided to counter this guy’s pride and simply tapped the wall surrounding his house and boom! The wall moved like a car and steered it’s way to the tiger riding dude!
The remains of this magical wall are still maintained in Alandi.