Dhamankhel

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Dhamankhel
—  village  —
Coordinates
Country	India
State	Maharashtra
District(s)	Pune
Nearest city	Naryangaon
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Coastline	• 0 kilometres (0 mi)
Climate Temperature • Summer	•      Expression error: Unrecognised word "to"
Codes • Telephone • +912132 • Vehicle • MH-12

Dhamankhel is a village situated at about 3 km from Junnar city of Pune district. There is a famous Dhamankhel kulaswami khandoba mandir at dhamankhel village. It is family deity of Konde family in this village.

Dhamankhel is located at 19°11′N 73°53′E / 19.19°N 73.88°E / 19.19; 73.88<

Five kilometers away from this village there are the Lenyadri caves which is one of Ashtavinayaka temple in Maharashtra. Also about 3 kilometers away there is Shivneri fort a historic military fortification located near Junnar.

Festivals celebrated In "SHREE MARTAND BHAIRAV KHANDOBA" Mandir.

Annually 4 festivals are being celebrated with great enthusiasm & bhakti.They are as follows.

1.CHAMPASHASHTI(Wangasat) 2.MAGH POORNIMA 3.CHAITRA POORNIMA

Champashathi is a Day when Lord KHANDOBA take a big sword (Khadag) is his hand to kill demon "MANI & MALYA" therefore he known as "KHANDOBA".This is a day when Lord Shiva took a AVATAR of SHRI KHANDOBA. This celebration start from one week or 7 days before champashasti Day.Seven Day series known as "Saptah"where bhajans & Kirtans(enchanting of Lord Names)took place.Champashashti Day starts with a big Hoam & Havan at the temple place in the early Morning (4.00 A.M).Then holy bath of Lord KHANDOBA. As soon as Hoam & Havan finished Aarti of KHANDOBA is perform(6.00 A.M).Then temple is open for the darshan to all devotees.

After that a Lord KHANDOBA is been placed in Palakhi & which is been moved around the temple which kept in the middle of the temple after moving for darshan purpose.Mahaprasad been given to all devotee after completion of "KALYACHE KIRTAN".All the day devotes organised "Jagaran & Gondhal" in the temple rooms.This is a very joyful & holistic day of every devotees life.

Magh Poornima is celebrated on the full moon day i.e.pornima of the Magh(Marathi calender month of the year as per English it generally come in between February or March month).Celebration starts with the holy bath of deity Shree Khandoba(Avatar of Lord Shiva to Destroy the demon Mani & Malla) in the early morning.After the pooja & other holy prathnas temple is open for darshan to all the people.Peoples from surrounding & long distance areas come for the darshan. After that "HARTURE".Har( Har:Mala made up of flowers),flowers,Aggarbattis,Gulal,Bhandar etc.From the decided point(Generally from Valunj Baba Temple)this Harture starts.For Harture Bullock cart is decorated.Bullocks cart consists 4 bullocks is treated as "Rath" of deity.Yellow flags are put on the two sides of the bullock cart.People gather the occasion.special local music & dance(lezim) performed in front of Harture.Dance is performed till the harture reaches Khandoba Temple.

At 10.30 AM the main event starts.This is a very famous among all the people.People gathered from various places to view it.This is "Bullock Cart Racing"competition.Where four bullocks has to reach the final destionations within perticular seconds on runway.The Bullock Cart who complete the race with the least time will be declared as a Winner.This is very adventurous & interstresting race of bullock.We never find such kind of enthusiasum anywhere.This competition continues till night or sometimes next day too.While people enjoy the race otherside of temple devotees taking the darshan of Lord Khandoba.This is a day of enthisisum & happiness.

CHAITRA POORNIMA :

Families Living There

• Konde
• Varpe
• Gunjal
• Raghatwan
• Jadhav

Getting there

One can reach Dhamankhel from Mumbai or Pune in the following ways:

• State transport buses are available for Junnar from the Shivajinagar bus stand of Pune, Kalyan ST bus stand in Thane district and from the Mumbai Central bus stand of Mumbai. Dhamankhel is 4 km from Junnar. Jeeps and buses are available from the Junnar bus stand for travel to Dhamankhel.
• On the Pune-Nasik Highway, Dhamankhel is 90 km from Pune.If direct bus To junnar is not available then you can reach at Narayangaon. From Narayangaon you can catch a bus . Also a mini bus facility is available from Narayangaon for every 15 minutes.