Wai

Wai is a town in Satara District, in Maharashtra state, India. Located on the Krishna River, Wai was a town of some prominence in the days of the Peshwas. Wai has long been a cultural center. Locally prominent families built several architecturally significant temples in Wai. Wai has the epithetic name "Dakshin Kashi" (City of Temples) because of the city's more than 100 temples. Wai is known in Maharashtra for its ghats on the banks of the Krishna River and its temples, especially the Dholya Ganapati temple on Ganapati Ghat. The 17th century warlord Afzal Khan, representing Ali Adil Shah II of the Bijapur Sultanate, is said to have made his first halt here on his way to the fort of marahtha ruler Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

Wai is also a favourite tourist destination because of its scenic ambience and the fact that it can be a stop-over on the way to the hill-stations of Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar. With its more than 100 temples, it is rightly known as the ‘Dakshin Kashi’ of Maharashtra. And if that’s not all, it is also the place where some of the biggest Bollywood blockbusters have been shot.