Nighoj village comes alive during Janmashtami when lakhs of devotees throng to witness a miracle, that of an earthern pot of water coming out of a well in the village. The rest of the year, it is just another sleepy village in the rural belt of Maharashtra. So, it is but obvious that the villagers find it surprising that tourists (mostly the ones with cameras on their necks and not the drunken ones who go for the waterfalls on the ghats) come to this village all year round.
The tourists are not interested in the village, but in a riverbed 3 kms away from the village. The river kukadi flows near the village. At one particular point , near a temple , the river forms a deep canyon which has resulted in huge pothole like structures carved in the rockbeds because of the natural erosive action of the water and the rocks carried by the river.
Route to Nighoj village from Pune: Go to the Nagar road, travel towards Ahmednagar. Cross Shikrapur, then Ranjangaon. If you have time, stop over at Ranjangaon and visit one of the Asthavinayak temples. After a while, you should see en exit for Shirur. Do not take that road into Shirur village. The Shirur bypass (the highway) goes towards the right. The moment you cross Shirur, you should cross a bridge over Khod river (Khodnadi or Ghodnadi). Immediately after the bridge, there is a junction where you take the first exit (left) which kind of looks like going back in the same direction you came from. Keep going on this road for around 18-19kms after which you will reach Nighoj. Just as you enter the village, you will see an arch on the left. Take the road under the arch and keep going for another 3 kms when you will hit a river (with a temple). This is the place you are looking for. In case you get lost within Nighoj, as for Kund (which is what the villagers call the potholes).
Summer is the best time to see these potholes as the water level goes down in the river. But i am sure that it will be equally impressive in early winter with many mini-waterfalls forming between the potholes. Have to plan a visit sometime in June/July for this.
There is a temple on the banks – Kund Mahuli Devasthan. You can even buy stuff to offer to the god at the only shop at this place.
Akshara seemed to like the place a lot and wanted to play in the smaller potholes. In fact, in the first pic below, we had to watch our step and take care in getting to that place as there were deep crevasses on either side. But, Akshara was not satisfied with this location and kept on mentioning “keezha” (“down”) asking her to take her further down!
Some more photos..
One Ping to “Potholes (Kund) in Nighoj village”
17 Responses to “Potholes (Kund) in Nighoj village”
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1. Anupama Says:
May 19th, 2010 at 2:24 pmSeems like a very interesting place Rajaram
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2. Chandrakant Says:
August 16th, 2010 at 3:59 pmKUND MALA – The River base pothole (KUND ) are also found here in the Rocky base of indrayani river.
Kund mala is behind Begdewadi railway station. 10 min walk from railway station can reach you the place. A small 2 wheeler bridge is constructed to cross the river. The place is very beautiful in mansoon.
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3. lucky pathare Says:
September 24th, 2010 at 8:02 pmgood
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4. Abhishek Deshpande Says:
November 12th, 2010 at 6:15 pmAmazing place to have a short weekend trip…a long drive plus a photography..!!
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5. Laxmanrao Balaseheb Mane Says:
April 24th, 2011 at 2:36 pmZakkash vatli!
Maharashtrachi Kund MauliMan prasanna zala.
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6. vatsu Says:
May 7th, 2011 at 3:33 pmMMM!!!QUITE INTRESTING & BEAUTIFUL////////THERE ARE SO MANY BEAUTIFUL PLACES IN INDIA SO MANY THING YET TO KNOW////////////REALLY INDIA IS INCREDIBLE////////////LOVE U INDIA
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7. ANIL LANKE Says:
July 8th, 2011 at 2:01 pmvery very nice
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8. ANIL LANKE Says:
July 8th, 2011 at 2:03 pmhe is my village………..okkkkk
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9. navnath dhawan Says:
November 8th, 2011 at 4:54 pmvery very nice day
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10. imran tamboli Says:
February 10th, 2012 at 7:15 pmDear all friends,
This is very butifull site,
i like this web site.
noghoj is my sweet wife village this is very butyfull village please come on time
this space and please see very nature pothos .Regards
imran tamboli -
11. imran tamboli Says:
February 10th, 2012 at 7:18 pmDear all friends,
This is very nice site,
i like this web site.
noghoj is my sweet wife villageRegards
imran tamboli -
12. nikhil lanke Says:
March 31st, 2012 at 4:26 pmhiiiii
its my nice village……..! -
13. Ravi Says:
April 13th, 2012 at 5:27 pmI have visited this place 5 times, each time it looked new and younger…Amazing destination for a day’s trip to Puneties.
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14. sachin Says:
April 14th, 2012 at 5:44 pmThis is very butifull site
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15. Shashank.... Says:
June 2nd, 2012 at 10:01 amIts wonderful ! There is one more place displaying such patholes, near Sakuri in Sangamner taluka . I shall be discovering the same today. Let us see.
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16. Indian Says:
July 19th, 2012 at 5:34 pmThis place should be declared a national park and a reserved area….just like in US they have declared Pinnacles national park.
These things dont form anywhere and everywhere.Maharashtra state Geological Dept. should take neccessary steps. -
17. sopanukande Says:
October 23rd, 2012 at 3:10 pmvery nice photo
June 3rd, 2010 at 6:17 pm
[...] These pothole formations are supposed to be the biggest in Asia. They can be seen near the village of Nighoj around 80 kms away from Pune. For more photos and information, visit my Pune blog. [...]