Kolhapur Mahalaxmi Temple

Mahalaxmi Temple and Bhavani Mandap Kolhapur

Kolhapur Travel Blog

So, I decided to start writing about Kolhapur by visiting the most famous and most visited place in Kolhapur. Yes, it’s none other than, Mahalaxmi temple of Goddess Ambabai  also called as Karveer nivasani. Mahalaxmi temple is considered to be very old at least 4000 to 5000 years old !

We decided to visit the temple early in the morning as there is always long queue for darshan specially on the weekends. Me and my wife already arrived to Kolhapur on Friday night from Pune and stayed at my in-laws place.  On Saturday morning at 6.45 am, we got ready. We took auto to reach the temple. As mentioned in my "How to reach Kolhapur" post, you can get auto in Kolhapur at early morning as well.

Mahalaxmi Temple is around 2-3 kms from Railway station and Bus stand. You can easily get an auto from there to the temple costing you around 60 to 70 rs. maximum.

We reached at temple within 5 minutes.

Way to Mahalaxmi Temple Gate - Auto dropped us here

Temple is situated in the heart of main City. So, there is car parking space crunch here as no dedicated parking space is available. If you are coming early here then you can get parking near temple. Else you will have to park the vehicle far away from temple and walk a little bit from there.

There are 4 gates to the temple entrance, each gate has a unique name  and main gate is known as “Mahadwar”. Roads reaching to 2 gates are one-way driving so ask to local people if you are driving and not sure about roads. They will be happy to help and guide you.

One of the Mahalaxmi Temple Entrance Gate

There are many Pooja Thali stalls available outside and inside the temple. We took  Pooja thali from one of the stall and went inside the temple.

Pooja Thali Stalls outside the Mahalaxmi Temple

To my surprise, there was already long queue in the temple. I came to know that this queue will become more longer as time passes and will be longest in the evening. Initially there is a common queue but once you enter in the temple then there is a separate queue for male and female.

Long queue of Mahalaxmi Temple Kolhapur

While you are in the queue and just going to get inside the temple,  you will find, small Ganesh idol carved in rock on the top of main temple wall as seen below. Local people from here first take darshan of this Ganesh idol before taking darshan of Goddess Mahalaxmi.

You can also see below, that now days Temple management has covered queue area by Clothes shed so people standing in queue will be safe from sunlight.

Ganesh Idol carved in rock

Ganesh Idol carved in rock - Closeup

Goddess Mahalaxmi idol is very powerful. It’s one of the three and half Shakti-Peetha from Maharashtra. There is a small open window on the west side of wall, through which the light of the sun falls on the face of the idol for three days around the 21st of each March and September. This event is named as “Kirnostav”.
It's also said that Goddess Mahalaxmi idol weight is approx 40 kilos.

Many new married couples from Maharashtra do visit here as per rituals to take blessing of Goddess Mahalaxmi.

When you go inside temple, you will see various idols carved inside rocks which will give you idea of architecture of that time.I have clicked one of the idol which I found very beautiful. Have a look below.

Photography is not allowed inside the temple but I requested them to take one photo to upload here. To my surprise they allowed it so here you can see photo of  Goddess Mahalaxmi. Everyday Goddess wear different color saree which is given by devotees coming here.

Photos of Mahalaxmi Idol Kolhapur

Photos of Mahalaxmi Idol Kolhapur

Photos of Mahalaxmi Idol Kolhapur

Also, If you don’t want to stand in the queue then there is mukh-darshan facility is also available from where you can see Goddess idol from little bit longer distance. So if you have time constraint then you can use this option. There is no paid queue facility available here.

View of Mahalaxmi idol seen from Mukh-darshan  section in Temple

Temple and area around the temple is very clean and security is also good. Temple has great ancient architecture where pillars and walls have great rock carving.

Ancient architecture carved on wall of Kolhapur Mahalaxmi Temple

There are many deep-malas in temple premises which looks very beautiful when decorated with light in the night.

deep-malas in Mahalaxmi temple premises - Kolhapur 

Palakhi (Procession) of the idol Goddess Mahalaxmi is carried out in Palainquin, daily during Navratri Ashwin pratipada upto Dasara Festival.

You can see Palakhi is made from Gold and it's kept in side mirror wall when not in use.

Golden Palainquin of Mahalaxmi Temple Kolhapur

There is flea market around temple selling variety of items and many interesting stuff like this. Some of those things which are sold here are very unique and you will not get them anywhere else in Maharashtra.

Pooja stalls near Kolhapur Mahalaxmi Temple

Flea market near Mahalaxmi Temple - Kolhapur

We came out side of the temple after darshan and but started feeling hungry. There were many food stalls available nearby temple which offers tasty home made breakfast at very reasonable rates. We had Pohe and tea at one of the stall which was very great.

Bhavani Mandap

We also visited Bhavani Mandap which is just beside temple which has very historical importance. On entry there is big monument like below called as "Bhavani Mandap Kaman" (Kaman meaning entrance gate).

Bhavani Mandap Kaman / Entry

After you passes above entrance you will come to Bhavani Mandap place which is also called as "Chhattrapati Shahu Maharaj Rajmahal".

It is a royal palace of the Chhattrapati Shahu Maharaja of Kolhapur. It used to be a durbar of the Chhatrapati Maharaja. It is also said that there is an underground tunnel leading to Bhavani Mandap from fort Panhala, the fort about 20 km away from Kolhapur built to allow an escape-route for warring Maratha soldiers.

This place also has a temple of Goddess Tulja bhavani inside the palace.

Bhavani Mandap Entrance and Hawkers seating outside

At Bhavani Mandap, we can find the very big size statue of Kolhapur's Chhattrapati Shahu Maharaj.  There are also display of stuffed animals actually hunted by Shri Shahu Maharaj including a giant bison , Panther and two deers.

We felt very proud to see such great place of our great Maratha warrior.

There is also place to sit and relax inside palace. We also sat there for 10-15 mins. 

Chhattrapati Shahu Maharaj Statue

Bison killed by Shahu Maharaj / King

You will find Bhavani mandap area is always busy area surrounded by various hawkers and lot of eateries.
Do not miss this great historic place.  Since this place is very close to Mahalaxmi temple, it gets overshadowed by many visitors considering this as one of the part of temple.

There is no queue here and you can easily visit all places inside palace peacefully.

Finally , We again took an auto from temple and went back to home.

Overnight Stay

If you want to stay overnight in Kolhapur for Mahalaxmi Temple visit, then there are many yatri / Bhakt Nivas available nearby like this with fares ranging from 700 to 1200 rs. per night as per amenities and location.

One of the Bhakt Nivas Near Temple to Stay

One of the neighbor at our in-laws building also have their Yatri Nivas stay very close to the temple. I am sharing their contact details. You can call them if interested. You can also tell them that you come to know about them from my blog if you want.

More Yatri Nivas (Rajendra More)
Address: 152, C, Kasar Galli, Near Mahalaxmi Temple, Gujari, Kolhapur-416 002
Phone - 0231-2549397
Mob - 7798819595

Location Map

Quick tips

• Kolhapur Mahalaxmi Temple timing : Opens at 6 am and closes at 10 pm ( though temple gates are opened at 4 am there is Pooja and Aarti take place after that)

• Kolhapur Mahalaxmi Temple Entry fee - Free

• No paid car parking. Have to park on roads. Car parking space crunch. Use local transport instead.

• Photography is prohibited inside the temple but you can take snaps in temple premises. Mobile is allowed to carry inside temple.

• Place get very crowded over the weekend, Tuesday and Friday so you may have to wait in the  queue more than 3 hours sometimes. So be prepared and come as early as possible or prefer to come on non-crowded days if possible.

• Do not miss to visit Bhavani Mandap Palace which is very close to Temple.

• Don't forget to shop some unique things which are sold by local hawkers and shop-keepers here. ( I am going to add famous things to buy from Kolhapur in another section soon)

That's it for now. I will share information about more places in Kolhapur as I visit. Meanwhile, Please share your suggestions or additional information you have in your comments. I will be happy to add that here.

Happy Traveling !

Go Back

#Kolhapur Travel Blog