History, Importance, Timings, Interesting Facts, Ramayana Events and Travel Guide of Panchvati, Nasik, Maharashtra, India
Panchvati, the highly sacred pilgrimage destination of India as this is the place where Lord Shri Ram stayed in fiery forests of Dandakaranya for few years with Lord Lakshaman and Goddess Sita during their 14 years of exile period. Panchvati is associated with many important events of the great epic – Ramayana and lots of ancient place and evidence can be found here. Panchvati is located in Nashik city, at the left banks of holy river ‘Godavari’. The name Panchvati is derived from the couple of words panch and Vati. ‘Panch’ means five and ‘vati’ – Vat or Vad means banyan tree. It is said that near to the kalaram temple there are many Banyan trees which arise from these five Banyan trees as its name is ‘Panchvati’. It is believed that these Banyan trees are stand as it is from the Treta Yuga – Ramayana period.
Panchvati is the region of lot of holy place and temple including the Sita Gumph or Sita’s Cave, Kalaram temple, Kapaleshwar temple, Ganga Godavari temple, Tapovan, Sunder Narayan temple, Talkuteshwar temple, Naroshankar temple, Ramkund, Gandhi Memorial, Panchmukhi Hanuman temple, Bhadrakali temple etc.
Previously Nashik was well known as Panchvati. In the duration of Ramayana lord Lakshman had slashed the nose of surpanakha by taking consent of Lord Ram who was the sister of devil king Ravana tried to seduce Lord Ram, in cause of this incident this city is called as Nashik. In result of this king Ravana had abducted Goddess Sita which leads to horrible battle between Lord Shree Ram and demon king Ravana.
How to Reach Panchvati, Nasik, Maharashtra, India
You can easily reach Panchvati from any corner of Nasik via auto, cab or bus. Nasik being one of the major city, district and major pilgrimage center of Maharashtra, India, thus it is very well connected with all major cities of India via road, rail and air network. Ojhar Nasik International airport is located at just 24 kms away from the city. From where you can get flights to various cities like Delhi, Bengalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune etc. Nashik has major railway junction which quite important for the various key railway like like Mumbai to Kalyan or Delhi or Kolkata. Nashik is very well connected with all other cities of the country by roads through national highway or the state highway. The national highway of Mumbai-Agra passes via city Nashik and it is also well connected to city Pune with highway NH-50. Nashik is located at 170 km from Mumbai, 30 km from Ojhar, 30 km from Trimbak, 105 km from Malegaon, 210 km from Pune, 235 km from Surat, 135 km from Kalyan, 195 km from Aurangabad.