Trimbakeshwar Jyotirlinga

Trimbak, Nashik district, Maharashtra

Jyotirlinga 10/12
12 Jyotirlingas

About

Trimbakeshwar is the tenth jyotirlinga in the order of the stotra. It is in the town of Trimbak, about 28 km from Nashik, at the foot of the Brahmagiri hill, where the river Godavari begins. Its special feature is that inside the sanctum, in a small hollow, there are three small lingas, seen as Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. The fine black stone temple was rebuilt in the 18th century by Peshwa Balaji Bajirao, known as Nanasaheb. The Kushavarta Kund in the town is a holy bathing tank.

The story

Long ago, the sage Gautam lived on the Brahmagiri hill with his wife Ahalya. Through a trick by some jealous people of the ashram, a weak cow came into his field. When the sage gently tried to drive it away with a blade of grass, it fell down dead, and Gautam rishi was blamed for killing a cow. To be free of this blame, he did hard tapasya and worshipped Shiv with great devotion. He prayed that the Ganga would come to this place.

Shiv was pleased and said that Gautam was without fault. At his prayer, the Ganga began to flow down from Brahmagiri as the river Godavari, also called Gautami and the Ganga of the south. Gautam rishi also asked that those who had tricked him should not be punished. Then, at the request of the sages and devas, Shiv made his home here as Tryambakeshwar, the three-eyed Lord.

The present temple was rebuilt between 1755 and 1786, in the time of Peshwa Balaji Bajirao (Nanasaheb).

Visiting

In the monsoon (June to September) the hills turn green and very beautiful; summer is quite hot. You can climb Brahmagiri to see where the Godavari rises, and bathe at Kushavarta Kund. Nashik's Panchavati and Ramkund and the Anjaneri hills are also close by.