Harihareshwar: The Pradakshina You Walk Between the Tides

The circumambulation here is the reason to come, and it is unlike any other.

What it involves:

• A route around the Harihareshwar hill, at the level of the sea
• Steps down from the temple to the rocks, then a walk along the base of the cliff
• Sections over flat wet rock, sections through sand, and sections requiring a scramble
• A stretch where the sea is immediately beside the route and the rock is worn into shelves and pools
• A climb back up on the far side
• It takes most people around an hour to an hour and a half

What you pass:

• Rock formations pointed out by name and given significance
• Points where devotees stop, offer and take water
• The cliff face, the tidal shelves and a good deal of very striking coastline

Why this counts as pradakshina. Circumambulation is one of the most basic devotional acts in India, and it operates at every scale:

• Around an image in a sanctum, the smallest form
• Around a temple, along a designated path
• Around a hill, as at Tiruvannamalai's girivalam and Govardhan's parikrama
• Around a river, as in the Narmada parikrama

Harihareshwar's is a hill pradakshina where the hill happens to meet the sea, so the path runs along the tideline. The logic is the same as anywhere else. What changes is that here the route is only open when the water is out.

A circumambulation governed by the moon rather than by temple timings is a rare thing, and it is what makes this shrine worth the journey.

This section matters more than any other in this piece. The pradakshina at Harihareshwar has real hazards and people have been hurt and killed on this coast.

The tide

• The route runs along the tideline and is not passable at high tide
• Check the day's tide timings before you start, and ask locally at the temple
• Do not begin the circuit late in the low window. You will be caught on the far side with rising water and rock behind you
• If you are already on the route and the water is coming in, turn back the way you came rather than pressing on

The rock

• Wet basalt with algae is extremely slippery, and the surface is uneven with holes and pools
• Wear footwear with grip. Many people do the pradakshina barefoot as a devotional practice, which is a personal choice, but bare feet on wet weed covered rock is how ankles and heads get broken
• Move slowly. Most injuries here are ordinary slips, not dramatic events

The sea

• Do not go close to the water's edge on the exposed sections, particularly where waves are breaking on rock
• Waves on this coast are not uniform. A larger set arrives periodically and reaches further than the ones before it
• Never turn your back on the sea on a rock shelf

Swimming, separately

• The Konkan coast has strong currents and rip channels, and Harihareshwar beach has had drownings
• Swim only where local advice says it is safe, never alone, never after alcohol, and never in the monsoon
• Rip currents pull outward, not under. If caught, do not swim against it. Swim parallel to the shore until you are out of it, then come in

Generally

• Go in a group
• Carry water. There is no shade and no facility on the route
• Do not attempt the pradakshina in the monsoon or in rough weather
• Take a local guide if you are unfamiliar. They know the tide and the route and cost very little

None of this is a reason not to go. It is the reason to go at the right hour, in the right shoes, having asked somebody first.

The temple most visitors take darshan at is not the one the place is named after, which confuses people.

The arrangement:

• Harihareshwar is the Shiva shrine that gives the site its name
• The temple of Kalbhairav, with Yogeshwari beside him, is where the main body of daily worship happens
• Devotees generally take darshan at Kalbhairav, then do the pradakshina

Who Kalbhairav is here. As at Ujjain and at shrines across India, Bhairav is the fierce guardian form of Shiva, and Kalbhairav adds kala, meaning time and death.

A guardian deity on a coast makes particular sense:

• Coastal communities have always needed protection, from the sea and from what comes across it
• A shrine at a river mouth sits at a boundary, and boundaries need guardians
• The Konkan has a dense tradition of fierce guardian deities, including Ravalnath, Betal and others found across this coast and into Goa

The Peshwa association. Harihareshwar was patronised by the Peshwas, the ministers who became the effective rulers of the Maratha state from Pune in the eighteenth century, and their connection with this shrine is part of its standing.

That patronage is visible in the way the temple complex is built and maintained, and it explains why a coastal shrine at some distance from the Deccan power centres has the profile it does.

What this tells you about the Konkan. The coast was never peripheral. It was where the sea trade came in, where the Siddis and the Portuguese and the English contested the harbours, and where the Maratha navy under Kanhoji Angre operated. A shrine here with Peshwa patronage sits on what was, for a long period, contested and valuable ground.

Harihareshwar sits in a stretch of coast that rewards a longer stay, and the surrounding sites are close together.

What is nearby:

• Shrivardhan, a beach town a short distance up the coast, historically associated with the Peshwa family's origins
• Diveagar, further north, known for its beach and its Suvarna Ganesh shrine
• Bagmandla and the Savitri estuary, with a crossing to Bankot on the far side
• Bankot fort, at the mouth of the Savitri, with views over the estuary
• Velas, further south, known for the olive ridley turtle hatching, where a village conservation effort releases hatchlings each season

The turtle festival at Velas deserves a mention. Olive ridley turtles nest on this coast, the eggs are protected by a village run programme, and visitors can watch hatchlings being released, usually between roughly February and April depending on the season.

If you go, follow the rules exactly. No flash photography, no touching, no crowding the hatchlings, and no going onto the nesting beach outside the organised release. The programme works because it is disciplined, and casual visitors are the main threat to it.

The Konkan generally. This coast runs from Mumbai to Goa, and it is characterised by:

• Small beaches separated by headlands and creeks
• Sea forts at regular intervals, a legacy of the Maratha navy and its opponents
• Alphonso mango country inland
• A distinct cuisine, built around fish, coconut and kokum
• Villages with guardian deity shrines, and a religious culture noticeably different from the Deccan interior

It is one of the more rewarding parts of India to travel slowly, and it is very badly served by weekend itineraries that treat it as a beach with a temple attached.

Getting there

• Harihareshwar, Shrivardhan taluka, Raigad district, Maharashtra
• Roughly 200 km from Mumbai and about 180 km from Pune, by road
• The coastal route from Mumbai via Alibaug is longer but far more interesting than the highway
• There is no convenient railhead. Mangaon on the Konkan Railway is the usual transfer point
• MSRTC buses serve the town. A car gives you the coast

Timings

• The temples keep daily hours with aarti. Check locally
• The pradakshina is governed by the tide, not by temple timings. This is the thing to plan around

When to go

• October to February is best. Clear weather, calm sea, comfortable walking
• Mahashivratri, the temple's principal occasion
• Shravan Mondays
• Avoid the monsoon entirely for the pradakshina and for swimming. The sea here in June to September is not a place to experiment

Doing it properly

• Arrive the evening before and start early
• Ask at the temple about the day's tide timing
• Darshan at Kalbhairav first, then the pradakshina
• Wear shoes with grip, carry water, go in a group
• Allow an hour and a half for the circuit and do not rush the wet sections

Staying

• Harihareshwar and Shrivardhan have hotels, MTDC accommodation and a large number of homestays
• Homestays are the better option here. The food is the reason
• Book ahead on weekends and holidays, when the coast fills with visitors from the cities

Etiquette

• Families perform rites for ancestors at the water's edge. Give them space and do not photograph them
• Do not litter on the pradakshina route or the beach. Carry everything out
• The Konkan's beaches are village beaches, not resorts. Dress and behave accordingly

Combining the visit

• Shrivardhan and Diveagar to the north
• Bankot fort and the Savitri crossing
• Velas for the turtles in season
• Murud Janjira, the sea fort, further up the coast

A closing thought. Pradakshina is usually the least demanding part of a temple visit, a short walk around a building in a fixed direction. Here it is the whole thing, it takes ninety minutes, it involves a hill and the Arabian Sea, and the sea decides when you may begin.