Kolhapur City in Maharashtra, India - Religious Center of Attraction
Kolhapur is famous for being a centre of Art, education, industry and sports, particularly wrestling. Here the wrestling is called as "Kusti" and wrestlers are known as "Malla". This wrestling match is played on the square clay ground which is known as "Akhada". Similar to "The Operation Flood" project in gujrat, in Kolhapur the "Warna Project" was started and till date is famous for huge amount of generation of milk and milk products which are transported to the whole of india cities in Maharashtra.
Kolhapur comes under sugarcane belt and because of this people are very rich and live prosperous life. Kolhapuri chappals are renowned for their durability and beauty of make. Kolhapuri tobacco is also very famous. This is the reason that Tobacco companies are flourished well in this district.
It is an important centre of Marathi film industry. Kolhapur possesses historical as well as mythological importance. It is known as Dakshin kashi on account of its deity Mahalakshmi or Ambabai. The Ambabai temple was built by the Chalukya King Karnadeve in 634 AD. The Irwin Agricultural Museum of Kolhapur has some old Andhra coins. Bahubali, Jain Pilgrim centre, lies at a distance of 38 km from Kolhapur.
How To Get There:
The railway station is 10 minutes walk west of Bus station, close to the centre of town. The broad-gauge line connects Kolhapur via Miraj with Pune (8 hours), Mumbai (13 hours), Madras and Vasco da Gama. The daily Koyana Express or the Mahalaxmi Express goes all the way to Mumbai, taking 13 hours. The Maharashtra Express zigzags 1220 km through the state to Nagpur. Kolhapur is well connected to all major cities by road. For buses originating in Kolhapur, it is possible to book 24 hours in advance. There are daily departures for Satara, Bijapur, Mahabaleshwar, Pune, Ratnagiri and Belgaum. There are plenty of private bus companies around the square offering luxury coach services to Goa and other destinations.
Attractions in and around Kolhapur are as follows:
Ayyappa temple Kanjurmarg
Badrinath Temple
Balaji Temple, Nerul
Bhimashankar Temple
Birla Mandir
Chandi Devi temple
Dagdusheth ganpathi
Datta Mandir
Jagannath Puri
Kedarnath Temple
Narasimha Saraswati Swami Dattadeva
Ranchhodraiji Temple
Shani Shinganapur
Shree Krishna
Sri Venkatesh Devasthanam











