Trambakeshwar (Trimbakeshwar) is an ancient Hindu temple in
the town of Trimbak, in the Nashik District of Maharashtra, India, 28 km from
the city of Nashik. It is dedicated to Lord Shiva and is one of the twelve
Jyotirlingaas.
It is located at the source of the Godavari River, the
longest river in peninsular India. The Godavari River, which is considered
sacred within Hinduism, originates from Bramhagiri mountains and meets the sea
near Rajahmudry. Kushavarta, a kund is considered the symbolic origin of the
river Godavari, and revered by Hindus as a sacred bathing place.rimbakeshwar is
one of the holy places of not only Maharashtra but the whole India is near
Nashik. Trimbakeshwar is one of the twelve Jyotirlingaas of Lord Shiva.
The following verse shall explain the importance of this
sacred place and the next one gives names of the Twelve Jyotirlingaas in India.
This says that anybody who visits Trimbakeshwar attains salvation. There is no
sacred place like Trimbakeshwar, no river like Godavari, no mountain like
Bramhagiri etc.The reasons for its being so sacred are - Godavari river
originates in this place, its a place of Tri-Sandhya Gayatri, the birth place
of Lord Ganesha, a place of the first Nath of Nath Sampradaya consisting of
Gorakhnath and others, a place where Nivrittinath was made to imbibe the holy
knowledge by his Guru Gahininath, a place where Nivrittinath made his brothers
and sister attain the self by his preaching.
This is the holiest place to perform Shradha ceremony like
Narayan nagbali As per Nirnaya Sindhu - a religious book of
Hindus.Trimbakeshwar Temple is one of the holiest and sacred place for Hindu
pilgrims and is revered as a one of the 12 Jyotirlingaas shrines of Lord Shiva.
The temple lies in the foothill of mountain Bramhagiri which is the origin of
river Ganga (called here by name Godavari).
The most attractive part of this temple is presence of 3
linga's each representing Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. All three resides in a
hallow space within the Shiva lingam.
This temple is built by Shri Nana Saheb Peshawa in 1755-1786
AD .Its 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.
Temple is just 10 min walk from the bus stand and thus no
need for auto's. Entrance gate will lead us to the queue which has logical
separation of around 6-7 lines. The queue to the main temple passes through
Nandi temple which is built in front of the Shiva temple, Nandi facing
Shivlingam (as we know Shiva temple always has Nandi Idol where Nandi always
faces Shiva lingam .Nandi Idol is sitting on a platform which is a foot or two
in height and is carved out of white marble. Crossing this Nandi temple we step
in to the Shiva temple .Then we enter 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.
Outside the temple just in-front of entrance gate, one can
see few cows self feeding the grass. Kushavarta
Kushavarta TrambakeshwarJust a 5 min walk away from main
temple there is a sacred pond called "Kushavarta" which is from where
river Ganga takes here route to the rest of India. A dip in this sacred river
wipes off the sins, is the belief of people. The sage Gautam committed a sin of
murdering a cow and by taking bath in this river, wiped off his sin & gets
rid off of all its sin's if he 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.
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 year and next is on 2015. Saints all
over the world come to this place on the occasion of mela to take a holy bath.
There are certain time allotted by the government abiding
which Saints needs to take bath. They take bath in the sequence of their
seniority and once they are done then rest of normal peoples can proceed. As
per the rule the sadhus (Saint) belonging to "Vaishnav" sect will
take bath in Godavari at Ram Kund, Panchavati and those belonging to
"Shaiva" sect will take bath here. Since Godavari (Ganga) flows from
here and reaches at Ram Kund so both are considered pious. This rule was set by
Peshawa during the time where in one of the Kumb mela these two groups fought
with each other over who would take the holy bath first which resulted in
hundreds of death.
Bramhagiri
Brahmagiri TrambakeshwarAnother attraction of this place is
the Bramhagiri 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. Trimbakeshwar Temple is perched on
the picturesque lusting green Bramhagiri hills. River Godavari originates on
this hill and flows though the Bramhagiri ranges.
Original Ganges and Trimbak Tirtha are on Bramhagiri
mountain adjacent to Trimbakeshwar temple. Bramhagiri is considered as a huge
form of Lord Shiva and hence the mountain climbing was considered as a
sin.However in 1908 Seth Lalchand Jashodanand Bhambhani of Karachi and Seth
Ganeshdas built 500 steps of stone at a cost of Rs. 40,000 then this has
facilitated easy access to Bramhagiri. Godavari is flowing in three directions
on the mountain. The one flowing towards east is called Godavari, one flowing
towards the south is called Vaitarna and the one flowing towards the west is
called the west-flowing Ganga and meets Godavari near Chakra Tirth. River
Ahilya meets Godavari in front of the Trimbakeshwar temple. Childless families
worship at the Ahilya sangam and it is believed that they do get a child.
The first peak of Sahyadri is called Brahmadri. The story
associated with this is that Shankar was pleased with Brahmadev and said “ I
shall be known by your name”. Hence it is called as Bramhagiri. The mountain is
1800 feet high . Its height from sea level is 4248 feet. Five peaks of this
mountain are called Sadyo-Jata, Vamdev, Aghora, Ishana and Tat-Purusha and are
considered as five mouths of the Lord Shiva and they are worshipped.
Gangadwar
Gangadwar BrahmagiriGangadwar is half way to Bramhagiri
mountain. There is a temple of Ganga, now known as Godavari River. Ganga
appears first time here, after it vanishes from Bramhagiri Mountain. Godavari
comes to Gangadwar from Brahmadri. There are 750 steps to Gangadwar. These were
built by Karamsi Ranamull of Village Maska. The work was commenced on 1st of
Chaitra in Samwat 1907 and was completed on 5th of Chaitra Samwat 1918 by Seth
Hansraj Karamsi. Gangadwar is one of the five tirthas. There is an idol of
Ganga and near her feet is a stone of the shape of cow’s head through which
Ganga water is flowing drop by drop.
Nil Parvat (mountain)
Nilimba BrahmagiriShreemant Seth Kapol has built about 200
steps. On the summit is the temple of Nilamba Matamba Devi (Nilambika), further
on is an ancient temple of Nilkantheshwar Mahadev and an idol of Parashuram.
There is an old akhada or matha of the Gosavi sect and an ancient temple of
Sadguru Dattatraya.
Indra Tirtha
Indra Tirtha is to the east and near Kushavarta.This is
known as Shakra-Kupa for Indra wiped off his curse given by sage Gautam for
enjoying Ahilya, by a bath in this tirtha.This is built with cut stone in
octagonal form by Vishnu Mahadeo Gadre at a cost of Rs. 22000 in 1778.On the
bank of the tirtha is a beautiful temple of Indreshwar Mahadev with an idol of
Indra seated on an Airavata elephant.Besides this there are Vishwanath tirtha,
Nilambar tirtha or Moti-tank, Mukund tirtha, Prayag tirtha and Veni-Madhav and
other Mahadev temples on the bank of Prayag tirtha. Here is a matha of Nirvana
Sampradaya (sect) Nilganga tirtha and nilsangameshwar Mahadev temple are on the
north bank of Godavati.
Bilwa Tirtha
Bilwa Tirtha is to the north of Nila mountain. It is one of
the five tirthas. There is a temple of Bilvakeshwar Mahadev built by Naro
Vinayak Gogte in 1738 at a cost of Rs. 25,000.00.
Gautam Tirtha
Gautam Tirtha is to the south of the Ganges and the
Trimbakeshwar temple. Varun being pleased with Gautam gave this tirtha as a
permanent source of water. To the north is Gautameshwar and to the south is
Rameshwar Mahadev. This tank is 600 x 400 ft and is built by Shrimant Pandit
Zashivale at a cost of Rs. 50,000.00.
Ahilya Sangam Tirtha
To force Gautam to give up his penance, a friend of Ganga
named Jatila took the form of Ahilya, Gautam’s wife. Gautam could make it out
and cursed her to be transformed into a river. Then she begged his pardon.
Gautam granted her pardon and said that she will be freed of her curse on her
joining with Godavari river. This is the Ahilya-Sangam tirtha where Ganga and
Godavari join. There is a temple of Sangmeshwar Mahadev.
Nivruttinath Temple
The temple of Shree Nivruttinath is near Gangadwar
Sampradaya consisting of Gorakhnath and others. Nivruttinath was made to imbibe
the holy knowledge by his Guru Gahininath. A place where Nivruttinath made his
brothers and sister attain the self by his preaching.Every time a sin is committed, there must be penance, one way or the
other. While laying down rules of a mortal life, Gods ensured that pilgrimage
become a way to ease the burden of sins on conscience. Pilgrims repent their
wrongdoing even though not consciously being aware of them all the while until
they reach under the refuge of the deity they worship. Trimbakeshwar temple of
Trimbak, one of the 12 Jyotirlingas, is among the destinations where devotees
of Lord Shiva can rest shedding their burden of guilt on God's feet.
The
renowned city of Nashik in Maharashtra is said to be one of the place where
Gods came together to make it worshiped as a sacred destination and this is
where the story of Ganga coming down to earth in the form of Godavari is being
told followed by the reason of manifestation of Lord Trimbakeshwar, embodying
the holy triad- Brahma Vishnu and Mahesh.
Godavari
River also referred to as River Gautami after the name of the Sage Gautama is
one of the four rivers which are believed to be bestowed with the divine
nectar, Amrit and thus its banks become the hosting ground for Kumbha Mela. Its
presence adds to the charm of the holy town just as the simple natural beauty
characteristic of hills and mountains of Brahmagiri and Gangadwar that surround
it. Being a part of the place and the temple of artistic finesse carved in
black stone indeed feels like washing away all the sins.
Trimbakeshwar
Shiva Temple
The
temple is the prime reason of the popularity of the place which is now
generally referred by the same name as the temple. The Peshwas are credited
with the construction of the Shiva temple that now steals the show. It is also
said that the crown over the Linga made of gold and precious jewels was
installed by Pandavas of Mahabharata. The temple of the Lord is also associated
with the historical time when Neelmani or Nassak Diamond which was a part of
Lord Shiva's idol was seized by the British and taken away.
Different
mythologies point to one common incident of an extremely long famine, effects
of which could not affect Sage Gautama, one of the Saptrishi and his wife
because of his high merits. From here on two versions split. First version
tells about increasing merits of the sage because he chose to serve food
selflessly to the other sages which made Indra worried and thus he ordered for
the famine to be ended. However, the sage continued to earn merits by asking
the rishis to eat at his place, a request that was granted. When Jaya, a friend
of Goddess Parvati got killed by a sharp grass for grazing the field in the
form of a frail cow by the Sage Gautama, he had to perform penance of his sin
of 'Gau Hatya' - killing of a Cow to bring Goddess Ganga from the deadlocks of
Lord Shiva down to earth to wash away his sin. Lord Shiva after becoming happy
with the penance rewarded what was asked from him for greater good. And then
Lord manifested here on the banks of River Gautami to take care of the place
forever.
The
other version is about Lord Ganesha becoming the cow on the request of the
rishis and their wives jealous of the merits of Sage Gautama and dying forcing
the sage to please Lord Shiva with his penance and bring Ganga to earth.
Delighted Lord Shiva appeared with all the gods and goddesses and said to have
remained here since then in the form of Jyotirlinga of Trimbakeshwar, hence the
story of 33 Crore Gods and Goddesses staying here making it as popular as a
pilgrimage place could get.
There is
a small mythological story behind the pond Kushavarta. When Ganges appeared on
earth by the power of penance of Muni Gautama, she was sulking on getting
parted with Lord Shiva which made here appear in compulsion and disappear in
anger at one or the other places like Ganga Sagar Tirth, Varaha Tirth, etc.
Muni then bound her by Kusha (a grass) to bathe in her waters to purify
himself.
Attractions
Trimbakeshwar
Shiva Temple
Trimbakeshwar
Jyotirlinga Temple: Unique among all the Shiva temple and Jyotirlingas in its
appearance, the temple has a hole in place of Lingam inside which three
'pindis' (stone representing Gods) could be seen, one for each of the Holy
Trinity- Creator Brahma, Operator Vishnu and Destroyer Shiva. Carved in black
stone, temple unconsciously inspires devotion.
Kushavarta:
The place is among some of the picturesque regions near Nashik decorated with
greenery on mountains due to river. The temple of Kedareshwar is another
interest that people come for while in Trimbak. The nearby destinations of
Kanchan and Kanakhala Tirth are believed to be making the bones of the dead
disappear.
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