AT A GLANCE
Why go?
On the Pune–Solapur highway (NH 65), about two hours from Pune, the small village of Swami Chincholi keeps a centuries-old Shri Ram Temple that is as much a piece of Maharashtra's history as it is a living place of worship. Built in the Peshwa era and entrusted to the local Inamdar family, the temple draws thousands of devotees every year, swelling to a village-wide celebration at Ram Navami.
What makes it worth a stop is the layering of stories: local tradition binds the shrine to Sant Tukaram Maharaj and Peshwa Bajirao I, while the sanctum holds unusual marble idols of Ram, Lakshman and Sita, a self-manifest Hanuman, a rare five-faced Shiva and an image of Vibhishana. Visitors consistently describe a calm, spotlessly kept and deeply devotional atmosphere.
A Peshwa-era legacy tied to Sant Tukaram
The temple's origins are told through local tradition rather than a dated plaque. The story goes that some three centuries ago Peshwa Bajirao I, marching south toward an important battle, paused at Chincholi and met the saint Tukaram Maharaj. Blessed by the saint and victorious in the campaign, the Peshwa—on Tukaram's instruction—is said to have raised this Shri Ram shrine around the 1730s. The saint's association lingered in the village's very name: it became "Swaminchi Chincholi," and in time simply Swami Chincholi.
To secure the temple's upkeep, the Peshwas are said to have endowed five surrounding villages as an inam, or grant. From that arrangement the caretaking family took the surname Inamdar, and their descendants remain closely bound to the shrine today. It is a rare, intimate instance where a great 18th-century dynasty, a beloved saint and a single village all converge in one stone sanctuary.
