Karmarkar’s family deity:  Shri Harihareshwar
Shri Harihareshwar is a small town in Shrivardhan Taluka of  Kulaba, now Raigad district. This is located at about 16 kilometers from Shrivardhan.
There is a temple of Harihareshwar. It is a very beautiful temple located just on the sea shore. It is said that this temple was created by Agastya Rishi. Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh with Parvati stay here in the form of a human sex organ (penis). There is a Vishnupad (the foot of Lord Vishnu) and the traditional religious rituals such as annual remembrances and offerings to the dead ones,  etc. are performed here. Lord Ramchandra loved this place very much and performed the annual remembrance ritual for his father here only.   The history of this place is available from 1715 A.D. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj used to come to this place often to see the God here. There is a mention of Samarth Ramdas Swami’s visit to this place. A Mahapuja using Sandlewood (chandan) is performed here. This temple used to receive donations from the Peshwas. The family god of Peshwa is also Harihareshwar. The original temple and its surroundings were constructed by Raje Chandrarao More of Awali. Sambhaji Raje also used to come here to pray to God, and used take such precaution so that other pilgrims would not be disturbed. This temple was restored by the Peshwa in 1723. This place is regarded as the Kashi of the Deccan (south) There are many references in the Peshwa daftar  that  a number of people were freed  here from pain and sufferings. Shrimant Madhavrao Peshwa used to shout and scream in his illness, but it was stopped when he came to this place. His pains stopped because of the blessings of Harihareshwar. Men and women from the Peshwa family and members of a number of noble families used to come to see the God here, and used to spend a lot of amounts too. Harihareshwar and Srivardhan, the two towns are located on the north bank of Bankot channel, south of Mumbai. The rights of revenue (Deshmukhi) collection were with the Bhat family.

There are three high mountains to the three sides of the temple and they are known as Harihar, Harshanachal and Anandgiri. The waves of sea bang continuously on the shores at the feet of these mountains. This is a spectacular sight. In front of the Harihareshwar temple, there is a temple of Kal Bhairav. There are only two Kal Bhairav temples in India. One is at Kashi and the other at Harihareshwar. There is a system of asking the verdict (decision) of Kal Bhairav here. Those who come here for their pains and sufferings ask Kal Bhairav’s verdict through the priest here. Kal Bhairav relieves people possessed by the ghosts and demons too. It is experienced that the effects of the black magic and malefic planetary situations are also nullified here. As Hindus, the Muslims also come here for getting the verdict. The annual festival of Harihareshwar is performed on the day of Mahashivratra (13th descending moon day of Magha month). In majority houses here, the photo of Kal Bhairava is placed at the front side of the house. As soon one gets out of bed, he salutes the photo and recites the following shloka ( stanza).meaning :

Salute to the one living at Kashi, salute to the one living in the Dandak (forest)
Salute again to the one who enlightens, Salute to Bhairava.

It is already mentioned that Harihareshwar was the deity of Peshwas. It is found in the historical correspondence that when Shrimant senior Madhavrao Peshwa was ill, his wife Ramabai sahib had come to Harihareshwar to pray to the god. This pilgrimage was held in the year 1766. Balaji Vishwanath belonged to Srivardhan. The place where the Peshwas used to stay is now an open place where only the original plinth of the building is seen. First Bajirao and Chimaji Appa grew up and played in this place. However, our minds become extremely depressed to see the existing condition of this historical monument building. However, after independence, a meeting hall is constructed here and a full length idol of Balaji Vishwanath is also erected here. Samarth has said,

 Great in all is only one , the Almighty. Parmeshwar
And that one is Harihar.