Chile Maharaj was a famous saint in the region surrounding Kolhapur.

He preached cultivation of pure thoughts, heartfelt devotion and

Passionlessness to multitudes of his devotees.

After his heavenly demise, his devotees decided to construct a tortoise shaped temple around his Samadhi, because in his discourses he asked his followers

to emulate the tortoise – which pulls itself in when confronted with any danger.

Theemulation for humans meant drawing yourself away from the worldly passions.

With this in mind the devotees decided to have a temple in a tortoise form,

in the year 1997. A renowned Architect in the region Ar. Pramod Beri

was approached and the temple work started based on his vision.

This unique tortoise shaped columless temple has a size of 25 metre x 35 metre (about 80 Feet x 120 Feet). The experience inside the temple is breathtaking with a ovoidal volume of 12 metre heighted (40 feet) ceiling which kind of represents the sky and the stars. In the walling there are planets like punctuations.

The Guru’s Samadhi proper is situated in a smaller sunken space inside the hall, which answers the devotee to deity one to one relation as per the Hindu tradition.

His Guru Garadebaba’s Samadhi is right behind the temple and is also worth

a visit. The external “pradakshina” (circulambutory) has ‘mini domed’ rooms for storage purposes.Pink sandstone is the dominant material of construction.

In the year 2005 the project won “Outstanding Structure Award” from the India Chapter of American Concrete Institute. Hence this is a must visit unique builtform just at 40 minutes drive from Kolhapur and 20 minutes drive from Panhala.