History, Importance, Timings, Festivals, Architecture, Interesting Facts and Travel Guide of Trimbakeshwar Jyotirlinga Temple, Trimbak, Nasik, Maharashtra, India
Trimbakeshwar Temple or Trimbakeshwar Jyotirlinga Mandir, located in small town Trimbak at just 28 km from Nasik, Maharashtra is one of the twelve Jyotirlinga of Lord Shiva and one of the major pilgrimage place of India for Hinduism. The location of temple is very unique and surrounded by pure natural environment as Trimbakeshwar temple is situated between three mountain namely Brahmagiri, Nilagiri and Kalagiri and also near the origin of sacred river Godavari at height of 3000 feet above sea level. The extra ordinary feature of Trimbakeshwar Shivlinga is its three faces symbolizing Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva – The Trinity or Tridev of Hinduism. The temple hold such importance and popular that the Trimbak is mostly known as Trimbakeshwar in devotee and tourist.
Thousands of devotee visits here during Sravan month, Mahashivratri and every Monday. It is believed that the Parikrama - circumambulation of this hill is treated as an extremely pious. Millions of devotee visits Trimbakeshwar during the Shihasth ‘Kumbh Mela’ which held every twelve years. The Shashisnan – holy bath in Kusavarta kunda - sacred lake which is located in temple premises during the Shihasth kumbh Mela is believed to be very pious.
There is interesting legend behind the Jyotirlinga temples, as per the Shiva Purana, once Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu had the tussle over their supremacy. To prove the supremacy, both Lord approaches Lord Shiva, then Lord Shiva takes the form of endless column of light and asked both Lord to find the roots. But Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma were not able to find the roots of columns. So, Jyotirlinga are the shrines of Lord Shiva where he appeared in the form of a fiery column of light.
Trimbakeshwar temple was built in Nagar styled architecture in black stone by Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao, also known as Nana Saheb, in the mid-18th century. Along with Shivlinga you can find idols of Lord Shri Rama, Lord Krishna, Goddess Ganga, Parasurama and Kedarnath among others. There are also several monasteries of saints within temple complex. The temple has a well called Amritavarshini.
One important legend behind the temple and region is associated with great sage Gautama and his wife Ahalya who lived on the Brahmagiri hills. Due to blessing of lord there was ample food grain in Rishi’s Ashram during the famine everywhere thus other rishis felt jealous of him and sent a cow into his fields. One of the cow was died when Rishi Gautama tried to terrify the cow away from his fields. Sage Gautama worshipped Lord Shiva to release the Ganga River and let her flow into his ashram to purify it and covered up the sin of killing a cow. Lord Shiva pleased with his devotion and released Ganga and told her to stay there. The Kushavarta or holy pond that exists now is the source of the Godavari. Sage Gautam had requested Lord Shiva to make the site his abode thus lord Shiva form of the jyotirlinga.
You can plan to visit here throughout the year but October and March, Mahashivratri, Monday are the best time to visit temple.
Shri Nivruttinath, the great saint, poet, philosopher and elder brother of Saint Shri Dnyaneshwar had taken sanjivan Samadhi at the age of 24 years at Trimbakeshwar. Millions of Varkaris gathered at Trimbakeshwar on the occasion of yatra which is held on saint Nivruttinath punyatithi.
Along with the Trimbakeshwar Jyotoringa temple, there are other sacred place nearby temple like Bramhgiri hill, Gangadwar, Kushawarta Tirth, Kolambika Devi, caves of 108 Shiva Lingas, paapa Haarini Theertham, Mahadeva and Ganga Matha Varah tirtha Bilwa Tirtha, Gorakhnath Gufa, Gautam Tirtha, Indra Tirtha, Parashuram temple and Ambika alayam Ahilya Sangam tirtha etc. attracts devotee around the year.
On every Monday, the Jyotirlinga is exhibited from 4:00PM to 5:00 PM with emeralds diamonds and many exquisite stones and it is said that this crown is from the age of Pandavas.
Important rituals – Puja Vidhi performed in Trimbakeshwar Jyotirlinga Temple, Trimbak, Nasik, Maharashtra
Trimbakeshwar holds special significance for performing various Pooja vidhi – rituals in Hinduism. Narayana NagBali Puja, Kaal Sarp Dosh Nivaran Puja, Tripindi Shraddh Puja, The Mahamrityunjaya Pooja, The Rudrabhishek, etc. are the main rituals perform here in temple campus. Thousands of people across the India visit here to perform these rituals around the year.
How to reach Trimbakeshwar Temple, Trimbak, Nasik, Maharashtra, India
Trimbak being one of the major pilgrimage center, houses one of the twelve Jyotirlinga and located at just 30 km from Nasik, Maharashtra, India, thus it is very well connected with all major cities of India via road, rail and air network. Ojhar Nashik International airport is located at just 48 kms away from the city. From where you can get flights to various cities like Delhi, Bengalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune etc. Nashik is major railway junction near Trimbak which quite important for the various key railway like like Mumbai to Kalyan or Delhi or Kolkata. Trimbak is very well connected with all other cities of the country by roads through national highway or the state highway. Trimbak is located at 170 km from Mumbai, 48 km from Ojhar, 30 km from Nasik, 130 km from Malegaon, 123 km from Shirdi, 175 km from Shani Shignapur, 233 km from Bhimashankar, 239 km from Pune, 265 km from Surat, 140 km from Kalyan, 225 km from Aurangabad.
