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Martand ordered Gritamari to attack him. Her attack was so ferocious that several of the assistants of the daitya, and hundreds of his war elephants were killed and he lost one of his arms. Then Martand himself charged. The duel was terrific both the contestants receiving numerous wounds. Ultimately the daitya was brought down and then he like his brother begged that his name and image be associated with that of the god, hence the name Malhari and the representations of the heads ofMani and Malla on the pedestals of the Khandoba images. After the final victory the rishis and sages requested Malhari to stay on the Jayadri mountain, that is Jejuri. This he agreed to do in a ling form and is ever since seen and worshipped there.
The other equally popular shrine devoted to this god is at Pal in the Satara district. This place is a small village on the river Tarala, a small tributary of the Krishna river. This river divides the place in two parts, the one on the southern side is known as Pal and the one on the northern side as Rajapur. The shrine is located in the Rajapur area. Pal is approached from two places, Kashil and Atit, which are small villages on the Satara-Karad section of the Poona-Bangalore national highway. The route from Atit is no better than a foot track or at best a cart track and the distance is five miles. The one from Kashil which is nearer to Karad, is better and although there is no regular bus service between Kashil and Pal, during festival seasons the State Transport runs special buses between Kashil and Pal and between Karad and Pat. The place is now void of all its former glory, but in the eighteenth century various Maratha sardars had paid great attention to the shrine and its surroundings.
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