Being from Tamilnadu, we are used to temples which are humungous in size, intricate in its beauty and revered for its holiness. We moved to Mumbai around 3 years back and must say, we had a struggle getting used to the smaller temples over here. Not just that, the way of worship is quite different. In temples of TN or for that matter anywhere in South, you don't get a chance to get too close to the main deity, leave alone touching it. Things were different here. People hug around a Shiva lingam which if I had done in my grand mother's sight, she would have screamed her head off. Its a lot up close and personal over here. It took some time to get used to. When we visited some of the temples here, we obviously stuck to the practice of praying from the distance which some priests here even looked at us as though we had done something disrespectful. Sorry boss - I have been told that ummachi kanna kuthidun ( God will poke your eyes ) since childhood and am not gonna change that in a hurry.
So, it was more out of desperation, that I searched online for old Shiva temples near Mumbai and voila. Ambreshwar Shiva temple is an ooooooooollllllllldddd temple situated in Ambernath within 50 kms from Mumbai. The temple is said to be built around 1060 AD. So that's almost as old as the Brihadeeswarar temple at Tanjore, Tamilnadu. Once we learnt of the place, we were itching to go there. So we took off on a Saturday morning after looking into the Panchangam ( a book which lists out the important religious days, good times, bad times etc ) whether its any day remotely considered to be sacred for Shiva as then we end up loosing the peace and tranquillity of the prayer and the exploration which we were after. Thankfully it was just a dull day as per the book.
We started off pretty early and the place was quite easy to find, except the final km or two which were through narrow lanes and bumpy roads which were almost about to test my skill of changing a flat car tyre. Thankfully Ambreshwar was quite powerful and we ended up safely at the temple. It was a real beauty.
Its a very small temple but with highly intricate carvings which were fighting hard to survive the test of time. Some of the carvings were too hard to even make out but that only added to the beauty. To reach to the Shiva lingam, you need to climb down a very narrow flight of stairs. Actually its just enough for 2 small guys to go in side by side but the temple had put a support right in the middle - one side each for onward and return which meant for jumbo kings like me, it was a slight tight squeeze. Luckily being early morning there was hardly any crowd and the embarrassment was more short lived. Its that time when you think - from tomorrow I am gonna work out.
We had a quick prayer - South Indian style and climbed back out to enjoy the temple a bit further. There is a small flight of stairs at a distance where you can just sit and gaze at the beauty of the temple which is just what we did. There is also a small pond behind the temple where there were turtles and my daughter was all excited on seeing them.
On the way back, we visited the Kidkaleshwarar temple near Dombivali as well. The temple is quite small ( though considered very popular ) but it has a huge pond adjacent to it which makes for a pleasant viewing. A good half day trip overall.
Some pictures of the temple.
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