Trimbakeshwar
Temple, Nasik
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Trimbakeshwar Temple is one of the
holiest and sacred place for Hindu pilgrims and is revered as a one of the 12
jyotirlinga shrines of Lord Shiva - Within a distance of around 32 kms from
Nashik is Trimbakeshwar Temple at the foothills of mountain called Brahmagiri
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The Trimbakeshwar Temple is one of
the 12 Jyotirlingas (Self manifested lingams of Shiva popularly known as the
Dwadasa (10th Jyotirlinga) of Shiva. There are accounts of Lord Rama having
made the Yatra at Trimbakeshwar.
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The porch of the temple is decorated
with beautifully carved and decorated pillars and arches. The temple walls are
intricately sculpted with floral designs and figures of various Gods and
Goddesses.
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The temple is unique in various
aspects which makes it one of its kind in the country. There are 2 idols of
Nandi in the temple, one in the courtyard and the other inside the temple
room in front of the sanctum. The sanctum has three “Lings”, of the size of a
thumb, identified as Lords Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh - the creator, the
organizer and the destroyer. They are placed in a square space positioned at
the three corners of a triangle.
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It is also the only Jyotirlinga
where the Lingas are in a hollow space beneath the floor. There is a huge
mirror placed strategically such that the devotees can get a clear view of the
lingas. Since there are three lingas, the place is known as Trimbakeshwar.
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One more amazing aspect is that they
are always submerged in the water of the Ganges naturally.
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This temple is built by Shri Nana
Saheb Peshawa in 1755-1786 AD took almost 36 years to complete it. It is built
with black stone and the Shivlingam is said to be emerged naturally. The temple
is bordered with around 20-25 stone feet wall in height. There is a big hall
whose roof is in dome shape from inside. The sanctum is not big and houses the
main Shivlingam and three lings residing in hollow structure. We were able to
see all three miniature lingam only through the mirror which I mentioned
earlier.
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On the left side of this temple
along the outer bordered wall, there are series of compartment built in
continuation each having a miniature Shivlingam. There are around 32 such
compartments out of which only four had Shivlinga. In all of them the Nandi
Idol is damaged and none of the 32 structure is in the complete shape. Though
the whole temple is built out of black stone but the roof top of sanctum sanatorium
is made out of white marble
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While approaching Trimbakeshwar, 20
km from Nashik
on the Nashik-Trimbakeshwar road, we spotted the Anjaneri Mountain, it is the
birthplace of Lord Hanuman. From the
Nashik-Trimbakeshwar road, one has to take a diversion from the Anjaneri Phata
towards the Anjaneri village, from where it takes around 2 hours to reach the
Anjaneri plateau on foot. Here you can visit the Anjaneri fort and the Temple
of Anjani Mata, the mother of Lord Hanuman.
Kushavartha
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Just a 5 min walk away is a
sacred pond called "Kushavarta" which is from where river Ganga takes
here route to the rest of India.
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As per Hindu mythology one gets rid
off of all its sin's if they takes bath here. Story has that, Sage Gautam
forced river Ganga to stall within the enchanted grass area he made and puts a
vow on her. This he done so to take a holy bath in this water and to get rid of
his sin for killing a cow.
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Sheemant Rao Sahib Parnekar built
the temple around the stalled water at this place which we are seeing today.
The walls inside all along the hall is inscribed by various Idols, and in all
corners are some small temple. The most important fact of this pond is that it
is the starting point of Kumb Mela which happens once in a 12 yea. Saints all
over the world come to this place on the occasion of mela to take a holy bath.
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Since Godavari (Ganga) flows from here and reaches at Ram Kund so
both are considered pious.
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Another attraction of this place is
the Bhramagiri Hill, which is the origin of the river Ganga and is named here
as Godavari. To reach the top of the hill one needs to go through some 700
steps and usually needs 4-5 hours to cover.
