July 29, 2018

My TripAdvisor Review No.350: Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple, Nashik.

One Of The Twelve Jyotirlingas Of India.

The Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple is located about 30 km from Nashik city. It has one of the 12 Jyotirlingas of India, one which became manifest after a bolt of lightening thrown by the Lord Shiva, as the legend goes.

Trimbak itself is an overcrowded and not so clean temple town. We had to pay an entry tax for the car parking which is a 5 minute walking distance from the temple. Cameras, cell phones, large handbags and even coconuts are not allowed inside. We deposited our phones for a Rs.10 fee at the stall outside.

We stood in a long queue to enter the temple, as we did not want to pay the Rs.200 donation fee for the express darshan. We waited patiently in the orderly queue outside, but were finally pushed in by the surging crowd at the temple door. We got a quick darshan of the underground lingam which is dedicated to the holy trinity; Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Ladies are not allowed to enter the sanctum sanctorum. There is a TV screen where we can watch the lingam from outside the sanctum. We were pushed aside by the security guard after barely a minute, to make way for the incoming rush of pilgrims.

I would not say that we had a peaceful darshan. It would be better to visit early in the morning, or pay the exorbitant donation fee to have a special worship. One can also engage a priest if one wants to perform certain specific pujas.

The temple structure, however, is very good and the architectural black stone design is very imposing. The temple is located at the base of three hills; Brahmagiri, Nilagiri and Kalagiri. The River Godavari originates in the Brahmagiri hill and trickles down to a sacred tank in the temple premises, called the Kushawarta Kund, before flowing onwards to Nashik and emptying out in the Bay of Bengal in Eastern India.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

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