Mahabaleshwar

Mahabaleshwar, in the Sahyadri (Western Ghats) of Maharashtra, has a history that mixes ancient pilgrimage with colonial hill-station development. The plateau has long been sacred because it is associated with the source of the Krishna River and the ancient Mahabaleshwar (Old Mahabaleshwar) temple, where a natural spring and a stone lingam are worshipped. References to this area go back to early medieval times, and by the 13th century, under the Yadava rulers of Devagiri, the Shiva shrine here was already an established tirtha for local kings and devotees.

In the 17th century, the surrounding hills and nearby Pratapgad Fort became part of the strategic landscape of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s Maratha kingdom. The dense forests and steep valleys around Mahabaleshwar formed a natural barrier and a retreat zone above the Konkan.

Modern Mahabaleshwar as a town, however, really took shape under British rule in the early 19th century. The British “discovered” the cool plateau as an ideal sanatorium and summer capital for the Bombay Presidency. Roads were built, bungalows, churches and boarding schools came up, and viewpoints were named after colonial officials. After Independence, Mahabaleshwar remained a popular hill station, now serving Indian tourists as a monsoon and summer escape, famed for its strawberries, viewpoints and temples.