Madhi is a village in

Pathardi Pathardi is a town and a municipal council in Ahmednagar district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Geography Although politically/governmentally it is considered to be in the Western Maharashtra, geographically and according to climate i ...

taluka of

Ahmednagar Ahmednagar, officially Ahilyanagar, is a city in, and the headquarters of, the Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India. Ahmednagar has several dozen buildings and sites from the Nizam Shahi period. Ahmednagar Fort, once considered almost impre ...

district in

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

Importance

Samādhi place of Shri Kanifnath one of

Navnath The Navanatha (), also spelt as Navnath in vernacular languages, are the nine saints, Masters or Naths on whom the Navnath Sampradaya, the lineage of the nine gurus, is based.

s. The Kanifnath fair is held on

Phalguna Phagun () is a month of the Hindu calendar. In India's national civil calendar, Phalguna is the twelfth month of the year and corresponds with March/April in the Gregorian calendar.Henderson, Helene. (Ed.) (2005) ''Holidays, festivals, and ce ...

Vadya 5(

Holi Holi () is a major Hindu festival celebrated as the Festival of Colours, Love and Spring.The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) p. 874 "Holi /'həʊli:/ noun a Hindu spring festival ...".Yudit Greenberg, Encyclopedia of Love in World ...

) to

Chaitra Chaitra () is a month of the Hindu calendar. In the standard Hindu calendar and India's national civil calendar, Chaitra is the first month of the year. It is the last month in the Bengali calendar, where it is called Choitro. Chaitra or Cha ...

Shuddha 1(

Gudhi Padwa Gudhi Padwa is a spring festival marking the start of the lunisolar new year for Marathi and Konkani Hindus. It is celebrated in and around Maharashtra, Goa and Daman at the start of Chaitra, the first month of the lunisolar Hindu calen ...

) for 15 days in honour of the saint Kanifnath. The nomadic tribe-Gopal enjoys the honour of firing the sacred Holi at this place. The community

courts A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and administer justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law. Courts gene ...

of the tribes administered justice and solve the family disputes. The Bazar of Donkeys is held during the yatra., was believed to be the seat of one of the principal preachers and philosophers of the

Nath Natha, also called Nath (), are a Shaivism, Shaiva sub-tradition within Hinduism in India and Nepal. A medieval movement, it combined ideas from Buddhism, Shaivism, Tantra and Yoga traditions of the Indian subcontinent.

sect, Kanifnath, as mentioned in the

Navnath The Navanatha (), also spelt as Navnath in vernacular languages, are the nine saints, Masters or Naths on whom the Navnath Sampradaya, the lineage of the nine gurus, is based.

Sar (A composition that contains tenets of Navnath panth.) It is also a holy place for nomads of the Vaidu community from all over

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. More than 7 lakhs Nath-bhakt visits at "Madhi" on Phalgun vadhya panchami (Rangpanchami)

Location

It is 51 km away from

towards east. Madhi is east of Nivdunge village on National Highway 222.

is 10 km from Madhi. There are three roads to go to Madhi one from Pathardi, second from Nivdunge and third one from Tisgaon.

Temple

The

Samādhi Statue of a meditating Rishikesh.html" ;"title="Shiva, Rishikesh">Shiva, Rishikesh ''Samādhi'' (Pali and ), in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, is a state of meditative consciousness. In many Indian religious traditions, the cultivati ...

is in beautiful stones. The Temple was built by Muslim artisans under the supervision of Begum

Chand Bibi Sultana Chand Bibi (1550 – 18 April 1600) was the regent of the Bijapur Sultanate during the minority of Ibrahim Adil Shah II in 1580–1590, and the regent of the Ahmednagar Sultanate during the minority of her great nephew Bahadur S ...

's maternal uncle. Both Muslims and Hindus value and pray at the four temple complex. Located three hours drive from

Shirdi Shirdi (; also known as Sainagar) is a town and pilgrimage site in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Shirdi is located in the Rahata taluka of Ahmednagar District. It is most well known for being the home of the 19th-century Indian saint Sai B ...

, outside a small village named Madhi, it is a perfect example of Muslim architecture. On climbing approximately 70 stairs you would reach the Gadh as it is commonly known. Of the four temple complexes, the centre one is that of Samadhi. The

of the saint has approaches from three different directions. A flight of about 200 steps leads to the

. The

of the saint is made of stone in the shape of a turbat. At the four corners of the tomb there are minarets with a small-sized dome at the top of each. Over the

is a gold-plated pinnacle of brass. The shrine in which the tomb of the saint is located is a lofty building surrounded by a wall with twelve doors. There are also a few

of the disciples of the saint. A horse of brass is placed before the

of the saint.

References

* http://www.maharashtra.gov.in/english/gazetteer/Ahmadnagar/bank_fairs.html * http://ahmednagar.nic.in/html_docs/Madhi.htm * http://sadgurunarayanmaharajkedgaon.blogspot.com/2009/02/om-chitanya-kanifnath-maharaj-nau-nath.html?zx=869a5613157120fb * http://court.mah.nic.in/courtweb/static_pages/courts/ahmadnagar.htm - 90k * http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20090410142154/http://dacnet.nic.in/cipmcnagpur/ahemad%20nagar.htm * http://court.mah.nic.in/courtweb/static_pages/courts/ahmadnagar.htm * http://www.kanifnathmadhi.org {{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106123145/http://www.kanifnathmadhi.org/ , date=6 November 2012 * http://devendranathmaharaj.com/jeev_brahmaseva.htm Villages in Ahmednagar district Ahmednagar district Villages in Pathardi taluka