Fort : Raireshwar

Distance	82	Height	1400
Days	1 day	Difficulty	Medium
Base Village	Rayari	District	Satara
Shelter	10-12 people can be accomodated in the temple or in the village.

Overview

Raireshwar is situated in the Bhor Taluka near Pune, India. Raireshwar has a temple famous for it's historical importance.

Places of Interest

The huge plateau over the mountain is about 5-6 km. It looks beautiful in monsoon. There is a temple of Shambhu Mahadeo on Rayreshwar. This temple is situated rather deep in the interior, hence not seen in first glance. Recently a village has been situated on this plateau. We find many rice fields on this plateau. We can see Pandavgad, Vairatgad, Pachgani, Mahabaleshwar, Kolheshwar, Rajgad, Lingana, Rajgad, Torna, Sinhagad, Vichitragad, Purandar, Rudramal, Chandragad and Mangalgad from this fort.

History

Raireshwar is well placed in the Maratha History. The Raireshwar Teple houses a ‘Pindi’ and a brass mask of Lord Raireshwar (Shiva). When Shivaji was seventeen, he decided to transform what were till then simply games to a reality. He and his friends encouraged by Jijabai and his Guru Dadoji Kondeo; decided to take a formal oath to free the country from the shackles of Muslim tyranny. This was done in the year 1645 in a dark cavern housing a small temple to the Hindu God Shiva (locally called Raireshwar). Here Shivaji and his select band of teenaged Maratha friends slit their thumbs and poured the blood oozing from it on the Shiva-linga. By this act they declared a blood-feud against Mughal tyranny. This was the beginning of a long and arduous Maratha-Mughal struggle that went on for the next century and a half to culminate in the defeat of the Mughals and their replacement by the Marathas as the dominant power in India when the British came into the scene.

How to Reach

Distance from Pune is 82 km. Pune - Bhor 56 km. Bhor - Korle 20 km. Korle - Raireshwar 6 km.
All the ways to Rayareshwar go from Bhor.
From Pune via Bhor : Go to Ambavde from Pune via Bhor. From here, one can go to Rayreshwar by Titeghar and Korle route. Time required to reach is 3 hours and the way is difficult.
From Kenjalgad : We can reach at Rayareshwar from Kenjalgad via Sundara or Shwandara.
Via Bhor- Rayari : Board a bus at 11 am or 6 pm from Bhor for Rayari village. This way is also known as Sambardyachi Vat. This way takes us at Rayareshwar within 2 hours.

Food Facility

Make your own food arrangements. Villagers do rent out their place for staying at night and some even prepare food at extra charges ( which is not at all high). One can get a good local taste this way.

Drinking Water Facility

Available throughout the year.