Trip to Kachner

This time my trip was very different from the ones I usually go for….. This was my first ever trip with my in-laws… So, it was very special and memorable…


It was a 3 day trip to Kachner (12th – 14th Nov 2010).


We started our trip on 12th Nov around 6pm or so. We had a caravan of 3 cars and 13 people (Aai, Papa, Raju kaka, Meena Kaku, Shyam kaka, Shama kaku, Amit dada, Revati vahini, Anuja, Rigved, Rutuja, Sia and me). That night it was decided that would halt at Pune for the night. We stayed at Anuja’s mama’s place in Wagholi.


The next day that is on 13th we started for Kachner (around 40 kms) around 10 am. The car journey was real fun…. We reached Aurangabad around 4 pm and had our lunch at Aahar (poli bhaji kendra). The food was really yummy…. We reached Kachner around 7 – 8 pm. The road to Kachner was beautiful. Though it was dark by the time we reached Kachner, but I could sense that the surrounding was beautiful….. We stayed at the dharamshala. After freshening up, we chit chatted for sometime, played cards and had lots of fum harassing Rigved.

The next morning we were to go to the temple for abhishek but we couldn’t manage to go coz of heavy rains and thundering. Instead we went late for the darshan. Ok, let me tell you about the importance of this place.


Kachner is a village sacred to the Jains. The temple here is dedicated to Parshwanath Bhagwan and the presiding idol is believed to have been excavated from the vicinity. The idol of Chintamani Parshwanath is very attractive, miraculous, and said to have powers to fulfill the desires of pilgrims and make them free from problems.

There is a story of how the idol was found. Long time back one old lady observed that a cow poured out her milk daily at one particular spot only. She kept on noticing this for sometime and one day she decided to tie the cow at her home. In the evening the cow broke the rope and went to that spot to pour out her milk. When told about this event, the villagers decided to search that place and on digging they found a hatch with a door under the ground. On entering the hatch, they found the idol of Parshvanath with seven serpent hoods. This idol was installed in the temple which was constructed at the very same place.
Few years later, it was seen that the idol was broken from the neck region and the head was fallen on the ground. The villagers saw it as a bad omen and decided bring new idol of Lord Mahavir to nullify the unfortunate incident and also decided to immerse the ‘Khandit’ idol into a pond. The idol of Mahavir was brought to the temple. On the day of immersion, a person named Lachiram Kasliwal saw a dream wherein Lord Parshvanath asks the villagers not to immerse the idol in pond but instead to be immersed in the pit dug in a room and filled with ghee upto the brim. The villagers obliged and immersed the idol in the ghee for seven days and prayed.

After 7 days, the idol was recovered from the pit and miraculously the head had been joined with the body. However, one can see the mark of severance on the neck of the idolThis incident freed the villagers of all their worries regarding the inauspicious incident.

Further, the idol gained the trust of the devotees as the one that listened to their pleas and ended their worries. Thus, this idol of Parshvanath was attributed the prefix Chintamani, the remover of worries.

Thats the story of Lord Parshvanath. I don’t know how well I could narrate the story but I tried my best. Must say the temple is beautiful and the idols there are magnificent. Aai, Raju kaka and Meena kaku explained me about the rituals one performs there and about the temple and also about Jainism. We started our journey back around 1ish. Reached back home late at night.


I must confess that the trip was very good and gave me a chance to know more about my inlaws. I am seeing forward to have many such trips. Missed Atul a lot during the entire trip. Wish he could be there too.