Puntamba | पुणतांबा is a market town with a very long history. The town is situated on the banks of the Godavari river in Rahata

Rahata

Rahata is a city and a municipal council in Ahmadnagar district in the Indian state of Maharashtra.-Demographics: India census, Rahata had a population of 19,024. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Rahta Pimplas has an average literacy rate of 72%, higher than the national...

 taluka, Ahmednagar district

Ahmednagar district

Ahmednagar district is the largest district of Maharashtra state in western India. The historical Ahmednagar city is the headquarters of the district. Ahmednagar was the seat of the Ahmednagar Sultanate of late medieval period . This district is also known for the towns of Shirdi associated with...

 in the state of 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...

 in 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 14th and the final resting place of the sage Changdev

Changdev

The town of Changdev is situated in Muktainagar Taluka of Jalgaon district in Maharashtra, India. The town gets its name from yogi Changdev Maharaj, an sant who is believed to have stayed here for 1400 years...

 is located in this village.It is village of Old Temples and also known for traditional schools that specialize in study of the Hindu scriptures or the Vedas.

History of Name

It is believed that the name of the village was formed by merging two town places 'Punyastambha' and 'Tambilindanapur'.The family name, Puntambekar

Puntambekar

Puntambekar is an Indian surname found amongst the Maharashtrian Deshastha Rigvedi Brahmin and Karhade Brahmin communities. Marathi surnames are created by adding the suffix -kar to the family's town of origin; therefore, people originating from the town of Puntamba take the name Puntambekar.-...

 comes from this town.

Transport

The village is served by a rail

Rail transport

Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...

 link between Manmad

Manmad

Manmad is one of the cities in Nasik district in the state of Maharashtra state in India. It is the third largest city in Nasik district, with a population of approximately 125,000...

 & Daund

Daund

Daund is a city and a municipal council in Pune district in the state of Maharashtra, India. In ancient times a sage, 'Dhaumya Rishi' used to stay here, hence people started calling this place after him: 'Dhaum'. Gradually 'Dhaum' became 'Dhoand', then 'Dhaundh', and before it getting corrupted to...

. There is also a train line linking Puntamba to Shirdi.

The town is enclosed by a Defensive wall

Defensive wall

A defensive wall is a fortification used to protect a city or settlement from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements...

 ('Tatabandi') There are also a number of traditional houses with large enclosed courtyards called "vada" in the village.

Economy

In modern times, large number of residents of the town are involved in Horticulture.
Facilities and businesses in the town include a State Transport bus-stand, a post and telegraph office, two commercial banks, six credit co-operative societies, a godown for storing grains and seven Doctor's offices, and veterinary dispensary. The weekly market is held on every Monday.
Wells and the Godavari river form the sources of water-supply. The educational institutions include an agricultural school with 200 acres of land, five primary schools, two high schools and three libraries. There is also a traditional gym called akhada or talim.

Religious institutions, Places of worship and pilgrimage

The town has two pilgrim guest-houses (dharmashalas), three Hindu monasteries (math), a Christian church, a dargah (resting placing of a Sufi saint) and four mosques.
Puntamba has sixteen temples of Maruti

Maruti

Māruti can be*Maruti is a Sanskrit word referring to Hanuman, son of Marut , the Hindu Wind God Vayu*Marut is said to have two sons: Hanuman the bachelor God and Bhima....

, six temples of Mahadev

Shiva

Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...

, three temples of Vitthal, two temples of Datta

Datta

Datta may refer to:* Datta, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa - a Union Council of Mansehra District in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.* Dutta - an Indian family name, common among Punjabis and Bengalis.* Datta - A Sri Lankan monarch who reign around 683 - 684....

, and one each of Laxmi-Narayan and Changdev Maharaj. There are low flights of steps or ghats to the Godavari one of which was built by Ahilyabai Holkar, the great temple-building Queen of Indore (1765–1795) and another by one Shri Shivram Dumal.

Changdev Temple

The main temple of Changdev was built in the middle 1700s.
Though very old, the temple of Changdev Maharaj is a simple structure with a mandap of 50'x30', open on all sides and covered with a roof of corrugated iron sheets having slope on four sides supported by a wooden frame and ten uncarved wooden pillars about eight feet in height. There is a small quadrangular gabhara wherein small idols of Vitthal and Rakhumai of black stone, facing east are placed. One can enter the gabhara through a small door. However, one cannot see the samadhi of Changdev which is just at the backside of the idol as there is no entrance from the gabhara to the samadhi. The samadhi is built in well-dressed black stone in a quadrangular form of 6'x4' and paved with marbles, at the centre of which two foot-prints of marble are placed on a little raised platform under a small dome of about 4 feet in height. One has to ascend a flight of steps to see the foot-prints. The temple including the samadhi is surrounded by a wall 100'X70' built in mud and stone at a distance of about 10' on all the sides of the temple. The Godavari river which flows to the west of the temple provides a delightful scenic background. The temple holds its annual fair in Kartik (October–November). It is attended by about twenty-five thousand people from all over the district.

Famous Personalities

Ramchandra N. Chitalkar, also known as C. Ramchandra

C. Ramchandra

Ramchandra Narhar Chitalkar was a renowned music composer in the movie industry of India. In the composer's role, he mostly used the name C. Ramachandra, though he also used the names Annasaheb , Ram Chitalkar Ramchandra Narhar Chitalkar(Marathi: रामचंद्र नरहर चितळकर /सी.रामचंद्र ) (1918–1982) was...

, the Hindi film Music Director

Music director

A music director may be the director of an orchestra, the director of music for a film, the director of music at a radio station, the head of the music department in a school, the co-ordinator of the musical ensembles in a university or college , the head bandmaster of a military band, the head...

who composed many all time favourites of 1940s & 1950s was born in Puntamba in the year 1918.