Pataleshwar Caves on Jungli Maharaj Road in Pune are 8th century cave temples dedicated to Lord Pataleshwar, God of the Underworld. Believed to have been cut out from a single rock, the place has massive pillars, which are the grandeur of the temple caves. The shrine out there is dedicated to Shiva and the Nandi.
This religious shrine on Jungli Maharaj Road, housed in caves, that dates back to 700-800 AD has rather grand statues of Nandi, Sita, Ram, Lakshman, Lakshmi, Ganesh and an over-sized shivalingam under its roof. The attached museum is dim, dank and dusty and not worth wasting time over, apart from an exhibit that has made the Guinness Book of World Records - a grain of rice engraved with some 5000 characters. In front of the cave is a circular Nandi mandapa, its umbrella shaped canopy supported by massive square pillars. This mandapa is one of the peculiar structures of Pataleshwar.
The temple was left incomplete, possibly because of a fault line found at the back of the sanctum sanctorum, which made the further sculpting unsafe, or political upheaval resulting in loss of patronage. Still in use, the linga is anointed with ghee and yogurt. A brass temple bell hangs outside the basalt entryway.
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