Bulleteers spent another Sunday morning, exploring the narrow rural roads and tracks to reach a destination apt for a peaceful breakfast. This time, the destination was Nalkeshwar, a place known for its connection with Rishi Galav, an eminent sage in Gwalior’s history. He is said to have a dwelled here, near a cascade in the stream which now fills the tighra dam.

While of course, at the time of Rishi Galav, Tighra was not there. Instead this large wedge shaped valley in the rocky plateau must have been an opening towards a large flat grassy plain speckled by babul trees. Babul as we know is a type of Acacia, an apt tree to be in the company of, if you are aiming Godly interactions. Babul also makes for a beautiful forests, which are not too dense, but easy to navigate through.

Nalkeshwar, as I said, is a wedge shaped gap in the rocky plateau. At the narrow end, is a waterfall, which is a clean and beautiful. The water then falls into a small pond which has a gau-mukh (stone cow head) from which the water comes out. There is a also a shivling and a narrow cave, which I didn’t explore.

The water then falls further into the valley, from where at about 100 meters is the small ashram where Rishi Galav is a said to have a lived. The building is relatively new and the Rishi must have a lived in some cave nearby, I think. The stream then continues ahead, probably merging into the tighra reservoir.

There was another small cabin, built near the waterfall. In it lives a young saint, who told us more about the place. He also said that Mrignayani, the much celebrated queen of Gwalior lived nearby at one time and visited this place often. I don’t know how accurate that is, but thats what he said.

Now, for the route to Nalkeshwar. When we planned on visiting this place, the main issue was the route, which no one seemed to know about. Google had no results on it either. So, we had to find our way to it. Although, it was easy, as the villagers in the area know it well. The exact position of Nalkeshwar and the route is a shown below.

nalkeshwar-road

This route leads to the top of the plateau, which means you get right to the waterfall, but have to trek downhill to reach the ashram. There is another route, via panihar-mircha which leads to the ashram directly. We will be exploring that route later on.

You can see that the last leg of the route is a dotted line. That part is a trail. Its start is marked by a small black board on the left side of the road. Also, the trail is marked by stoned painted white. Be sure to follow those, as its easy to get lost. Oh and if you are wondering why there are no roads all through the route, this area is a part of a wildlife reserve and thus roads can’t be a built inside.

Overall, a good visit, with a beautiful destination, interesting roads/trails.