Alandi

Alandi (Marathi pronunciation: [aːɭən̪d̪iː]) is a town and a municipal council in the Pune district in the state of Maharashtra, India. The town is popular as a place of pilgrimage and for being the resting place of the 13th century Marathi saint Sant Dnyaneshwar.

==History== right|thumb|100x100px|Dnyaneshwar Alandi has a long history but gained prominence in the 13th century when Dnyaneshwar (1275–1296) decided to entomb, otherwise known as sanjeevan samadhi, himself in a samadhi, a form of shrine, under the then existing Siddheshwar temple complex in 1296. A temple was built over the Samadhi by Ambekar Deshpande in around 1580–1600. Further additions to the temple were made during the Maratha Empire era by Maratha nobles and the Peshwa. In 1778, Alandi was granted to Mahadji Shinde, the powerful Maratha statesman of the Maratha confederacy at that time, by the Peshwa. For two decades after that, the Shinde family were the main sponsors of various renovations of the temple.