Shri Kondeshwar Temple is an ancient shrine, located 5 km east of Badnera along the hills of Pohara forest range, in Amaravati District of Maharashtra. The temple, built with carved black stones, conforms to the Hemadpanthi style architecture. The presiding deity here is Lord Shiva. The samadhi of Shri Khateshwar Maharaj is situated close to this temple.Shri Kondeshwar Temple is about 15 km south of Amaravati.

The main sanctum sanctorum is surrounded by several shrines. Mahashivratri is one of the main festivals celebrated in this temple. A pond and a waterfall are located in the vicinity of this temple.

Kondeshwar temple can be visited during timings 6:00 AM – 8:30 PM.

History

Kondeshwar temple is said to have been built during the reign of Vidarbha king. Vidarbha king, who ruled this region about five thousand years ago, was a devotee of Lord Vishveshwar of Kashi region. This Vidarbha king established a Shivalinga in his Vidarbha region on the request of Kaundiya Muni. This Shivalinga was named Kondeshwar.

History of the temple: 

In ancient times, sages, sages, Brahmins endowed with knowledge of Vedas, sages, saints, devotees and Shiva devotees used to come from Kashi, Prayagraj, Omkareshwar and other places around Kondeshwar. For this reason, the fragrance of Shiva worship is still prevalent everywhere in this area. Srikshetra Kondeshwar flourished during many empires. The prestige of the temple of Kondeshwar grew during the Vakataka and Gupta periods. Hemandripant, who was the Prime Minister during the reign of Ramdevrao Yadav and Krishnadevrao Yadav families, renovated many temples. Among them, he built the existing temple at Kondeshwar at the expense of the state government. Looking at the stone slabs and carvings of this original temple, it seems that it has the influence of southern art.

Manas Sthal of Kondeshwar: 400 years after the Yadav period, during the Mughal rule of Aurangzeb, like other temples, the temple of Kondeshwar also got destroyed. When the region came under the control of Amravatikar Bhonsle, Kondeshwar regained his composure. During the time of Madhavrao Peshwas, the glory of Kondeshwar once again increased with religious rituals like Abhishek, Shivalilamrit recitation, Annadan, Naam Sapta. This temple was constructed by placing black stone blocks one above the other. Built in Hemadpanthi style, the height of this temple was earlier 12 feet. Later this temple was renovated. At that time, like before, the height of the temple was increased to 75 feet by using black stone.

Specialty of the stone carved elephants: The elephants are carved exactly on the base of the stone carvings installed outside the Kondeshwar Temple. These elephants, which have very artistic designs, have one mouth in each of their two bodies and at some places, there are two mouths in which the elephant’s body is visible. This makes it difficult to know the exact number of these carved elephants. If these elephants are counted from one side, their number will be the same if counted from the other side.

Every Monday in the month of Shravan, crowds of devotees gather here to visit Kondeshwar. However, on the occasion of Mahashivratri, a grand procession is organized up to Kondeshwar.

On the way to the temple of Kondeshwar, a large Nandi is situated in front of the entrance gate leading to the temple. Nandi’s meeting with Agrapuja is as if he is doing penance. The temple complex of Kondeshwar also has a very ancient Ganapati temple and a Hanuman temple.