|
Page2
Tuljapur or Turajapur and Kolhapur or Karvirnagar are selected here for a detailed description, the
latter be cause of its great antiquity and the vast number of devotees the goddess commands-, the former because of the immense popularity it enjoys as the guardian of the great Shivaji. Historically and culturally these two easily stand out as the most prominent shakti-piths of Maharashtra.
Kolhapur, the headquarters of the district of the same name is an important political centre for a very long time. In the twelfth century it was the capital of the Shilahars; during Islamic rule Panhala, the fort that commands this city was an administrative centre; in the eighteenth century the Junior branch of the Bhosales, that of Tarabai established a 'gadi’- an independent kingdom, at Kolhapur.
The city has road, rail and air approaches. Kolhapur lies some hundred and fifty miles south of Poona on the Poona-Bangalore national highway, State buses constantly ply between the two cities. Direct bus connections exist between Bombay and Kolhapur, and the tatter is similarly linked with all the surrounding district places. A route branches Off due north-east from Miraj on the Poona-Bangalore section of the Southern railway. There is no regular air-service, although a good airport exists at this place.
|
