Nagpur: With a rich history of more than three hundred years, the city of Nagpur has many heritage sites, which are now lost sight of due to various problems. During the British period, a British officer mentioned the city of Nagpur as a beautiful city of lakes, temples and gardens. The city of Nagpur, situated on the banks of the River Nag, is still famous for its historical buildings and temples. The rich history of the Mahal area has been brought back into view due to the commercial establishments that have been displaced for the widening of Kelibagh Road in the Mahal area.
After Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) undertook road widening through Central Road Fund, the structures that hid the temples of yester years are suddenly visible much to the astonishment of citizens and heritage lovers. The temples bang opposite Kotwali Police Station depict the history of more than three hundred years. The city was dotted with many heritage sites and record of British era mentions Nagpur as a beautiful city of lakes, temples and gardens located on the banks of the river Nag.
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Nagpur’s history is correlated to tenures of Gond King Bakht Buland Shah and Raghuji Bhonsle wherein former built the city of Nagpur while under latter’s rule, it prospered and saw expansion in the horizons of the kingdom. Hence, Bhonsle period and British period structures are widely found in the city. Much of the historical structures got lost with time and what remained was not chronicled and citizens also lost interest, barring few enthusiastic who were passionate about heritage structures.
Nagpurkar Bhonsle Raja built various temples in the then city, now referred to as old part of Nagpur. But crass commercialisation and total disregard on the part of Nagpur Municipal Corporation led to these temples getting obfuscated due to the encroachment of commercial establishments that came during the last few decades. Due to high buildings and shops, establishments, the existence of these temples was almost forgotten. However, as planners pushed for widening of Kelibagh Road, as the commercial properties fell to blows of bulldozers, the ancient temples are now visible in the Mahal area.
A Riddhi-Siddhi Ganesha is an ancient temple adjacent to the protective wall of the Kotwali Police Station situated in Mahal. On the opposite side of this temple is Murlidhar, another ancient temple. Bhonsle’s Muralidhar Temple, Riddhi Siddhi Ganesha Temple, Mahadev Temple, Mahalakshmi Temple, Shirpurkar Ram Temple, Jain Temple were earlier not visible on Kelibagh Road as they simply disappeared behind towering shops. Both these temples are historical and fall under the heritage category and a look at them tells the sorry tale of heritage conservation in the city.
Locals say that these temples are about 3500 years old. Bakabai’s Wada i.e. the present Kotwali Police Station is adjacent to this temple. There is also an ancient temple of Lord Mahadev in the Riddhi-Siddhi Ganesha temple area. Locals also say that there is a Samadhi of Abaji Maharaj here.
Apart from this, there is a Bawdi well, step-well, which is hundreds of years old. It is further claimed that there is a secret door in the temple. The Muralidhar temple was built using black stones and it has artistic carvings done on all sides of the temple. Many idols are carved in stone. Also, there are Mahalakshmi temples on Kelibag Road which are now prominently visible post road widening.
