Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
to check out the section featuring ornate papier-mâché festival masks, to the rear of the
building.
Aga Khan Palace
(Ahmednagar Rd; Indian/foreigner ?5/100; 9am-5.45pm)
Set amid a wooded 6.5-hectare plot across
the Mula River in Yerwada, the grand Aga Khan Palace (housing the
Gandhi National Memori-
al
) is easily Pune's biggest crowd-puller. Built in 1892 by Sultan Aga Khan III, this lofty
building was where the Mahatma and other prominent nationalist leaders were interned by
the British for about two years following Gandhi's Quit India resolution in 1942. Both
Kasturba Gandhi, the Mahatma's wife, and Mahadeobhai Desai, his secretary for 35 years,
died here in confinement. You'll find their shrines (containing their ashes) in a quiet
garden to the rear.
Within the main palace, you can peek into the room where Gandhi used to stay. Photos
and paintings exhibit moments in his extraordinary career.
PALACE
Shaniwar Wada
(Shivaji Rd; Indian/foreigner ?5/100; 8am-6pm)
The remains of this fortressed palace of the Pesh-
wa rulers are located in the old part of the city. Built in 1732, Shaniwar Wada was des-
troyed in a fire in 1828, but the massive walls and plinths remain, as do the sturdy palace
doors with their daunting spikes. In the evenings, there is an hour-long
sound-and-light show
(admission ?25;
FORT
8.15pm Thu-Tue)
.
Pataleshvara Cave Temple
(Jangali Maharaj Rd; 6am-9.30pm)
Set across the river is the curious rock-cut Pataleshvara
Cave Temple, a small and unfinished (though living) 8th-century temple, similar in style
to the grander caves at Elephanta Island. Adjacent is the
Jangali Maharaj Temple
(
6am-9.30pm)
, dedicated to a Hindu ascetic who died here in 1818.
TEMPLE
Osho International Meditation Resort
( 66019999;
www.osho.com
;
17 Koregaon Park)
You'll either like it or hate it. A splurge of an in-
stitution, this ashram, located in a leafy, upscale northern suburb, has been drawing thou-
sands of
sanyasins
(seekers), many of them Westerners, ever since the death of Osho in
1990. With its placid swimming pool, sauna, 'zennis' and basketball courts, massage and
beauty parlour, bookshop and a luxury boutique guesthouse, it is, to some, the ultimate
MEDITATION
