Kinhai is a village located in Koregaon

Koregaon

Koregaon is a small town and surrounding tehsil in the Satara subdivision of Satara district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is situated on the Satara Pandarpur road about 18 km east of Satara, about 120 km from Pune and 267 km from Mumbai. The Koregaon railway station,...

 taluka

Tehsil

A Tehsil or Tahsil/Tahasil , also known as Taluk and Mandal, is an administrative division of some country/countries of South Asia....

, Satara district

Satara district

Satara District is a district of Maharashtra state in western India with an area of 10,480 km² and a population of 2,808,994 of which 14.17% were urban . Satara is the capital of the district and other major towns include Wai, Karad, Koregaon, Koyananagar, Rahimatpur, Phaltan, Mahabaleshwar...

 in Maharashtra

Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. The village is divided into Pantanchi Kinhai and Peth Kinhai. It is located seven miles (11 km) north of Koregaoa, at 2320 ft (707.1 m) above sea level.

History

Kinhai was a village of the former princely state

Princely state

A Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...

 of Aundh

Aundh State

Aundh State was a princely state in British India, in the Deccan States Agency division of the Bombay Presidency. It was one of the Satara Jagirs, and was founded in 1699. It was founded by Parshuram Tryambak Pant Pratinidhi who was warrior during the period of Sambhaji Raje and Rajaram Maharaj...

 and was included in Koregaon taluka after the merger of the princely states.

The Pratinidhi family were hereditary kulkarnis or accountants of Kinhai and several of the neighbouring villages and it was from that position that Parashuram Trimbak raised himself till he was appointed the third Pratinidhi in 1,700.

Geography

The village lies on the banks of a feeder of the Vasna river. To the north and north-west is a spur of steep hills at the end of which rises the ancient fort of Nandgiri (3,537).

On the south-east are two small hills divided by a gorge to the east of which is the temple of Yamnai Devi, the patron goddess of the Pratinidhi family. This temple of Yamnai Devi has a fortified appearance and with its battlements and towers is visible for many miles on all sides throughout the Koreganv taluka. The village consists of a broad street running north-west and south-east and crossing the stream into the Peth or market quarters and thence continuing to the road mentioned up towards the temple and on through the small gorge between the two hills to Koreganv. The Pratinidhi had a handsome mansion or vada in the village, the lower part of stone and the upper part of brick with an enclosure or court surrounded by strong walls. The mansion contains some reception rooms of handsome size and proportions in the local style. Usually one of the wives and a son of the Pratinidhi resided there. The mansion now houses the office of the vahivatdar of the Kinhai Wards' Estate and a District School Board School.

Features

On the right bank of the stream behind the Pant's mansion is a small temple of Mahadev about thirty feet by fifteen with a flight of steps leading down to the stream. It consists of an open sided mandap and an image-chamber with a spire. The pillars are imitations of the early Hindu style. The spire is of brick with stone ornamentation. The temple of Yamnai Devi lies on the summit of a somewhat pointed hill about 350 to 400 feet (121.9 m) above the plain. The way up to it is by the road before mentioned which close to the gorge is left on the right for a flight of 300 steps with a stone balustrade on each side. The temple court, irregular and nearly oval is entered from the west by a pointed archway with a music chamber or nagarkhana on the top. The rock is fenced with a solid masonry wall about twelve feet high from inside, and outside in places from thirty to forty feet high. At the eastern end is a small entrance from a path communicating with a spring half-way down the south slope of the hill. There are cloisters with a terrace on the left or south side of this entrance and on the north a large solid but plain lamp pillar or dipmal. The pillar was broken years ago by lightning and as this was said to be the third time of its being struck, it was thought ominous to repair it. The temple is a plain structure about forty feet by twenty feet with a flat roofed hall or mandap supported on three rows of four pillars about eighteen inches square at the base and plain imitations of the early Hindu style. The image-chamber or gabhara is square and contains an image of devi in black stone ornamented with jewels and embroidered apparel and displayed with much pomp by means of a mirror casting light upon it from outside. The courtyard is paved and immediately in front of the mandap is a stone embedded in the pavement and containing vents made to receive coins to be laid in them for presentation to the goddess. A yearly fair is held, in her honour from Kartik Paurnima onwards for 15 days, when about 10,000 people attend.