LORD KHANDOBA OF JAJURI

SAVALAKSHA BHUNGA EPISODE

Near the Mahadwara lies a small niche housing a Sivalinga and it is called Savalaksha Bhunga, meaning thereby that a bee is worth a lakh and a quarter coins. It has a fantastic story and displays Lord Khandoba's glory. It exemplifies the truth that one should defend oneself heriocally and dependence of any kind must always be looked down upon. The story begins with Aurangazeb's visit here during his campaign, when he conquered the Daulat Mangal Fort, lying at a short distance to this. Soon after the conquest, it so chanced that he saw the Jejuri fort enclosing the temple. His iconoclast zeal and ambition for expansion at once ignited his greed; so he reached it with army, but found the gates closed. Deciding to blow up the fort, he ordered a hole to be made in the wall for putting dynamite exactly at the place where the Savalaksha Bhunga lies now. Would Khandoba tolerate such sacrilege? Does it not tantamount to his helplessness, if the zealot succeeded? So, he mounted a counter attack in an odd way. There emerged then from the hole honey bees one after another in quick succession. Numberless and timeless. They attacked the soldiers with great noice, covering the whole person of each soldier. Tried however much, they failed, for their numbers were increasing non-stop. So the bitten battalion, wailing told everything to their leader Aurangazeb. 

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