Trimbakeshwar Jyotirlinga

Lord Shiva is Supreme of all the Gods that is why he is known as Mahadev, who has the power to hold not only human beings but also the Devas.  Lord Shiva is the destroyer, the most powerful god and one of the Godheads in the Hindu Trinity. Lord Shiva, in temples is usually found as a phallic symbol of the linga, which represents the energies on this Universe. Lord Shiva is worshipped in the form of Shivalinga in temples across India. Shivalinga has occupied an importance place in Hinduism as there are 12 Jyotirlingaas of Lord Shiva which are considered to be the most sacred shrine which is the form of Lord Shiva.  A one who visits all the 12 Jyotirlinga gets the salvation from this cosmic world. In the month of Shrawan, lets try to know more about one of the 12 Jyotirlinga. 

Trimbakeshwar is one of the twelve Jyotirlingaas of Lord Shiva, which is located in Maharashtra near Nasik. The temple is considered to be most sacred and pious one as anybody who visits this temple attains salvation. Trimbakeshwar is the only Jyotirlinga where Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva s shrines are available in the temple. There is no pious place like Trimbakeshwar where the Godavari River originates, where the most sacred mountain Bramhagiri is situated. It is a place of Tri-Sandhya Gayatri, the birth place of Lord Ganesha, a place of the first Nath of Nath Samradaya consisting of Gorakhnath and others. The temple is situated in the foothill of mountain Bramhagiri which is the origin of river Ganga more known as Godavari River.     

Structure of Trimbakeshwar

This temple is considered to be the 10^th Jyotirlinga among 12 Jyotirlingaas. The place is also known for its Simhastha Kumbha Mela, which comes every 12 years. As per its structural over view,   the temple is built by Shri Nana Saheb Peshawa in 1755-1786 AD. An entire temple is built with black stones which enhances its architecture. The temple is edged with around 20-25 stone feet wall in height. But the most alluring part of Trimbakeshwar is presence of 3 lingams each representing Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. It is the only Jyotirlinga where all the three Supreme gods dwell in the main sanctum. All three resides in a hollow space within the Shiva lingam.  The Shivalinga is said to be emerged naturally. While entering in the temple, there is a Nandi temple which is built in front of Shiva temple, Nandi facing Shivalinga. Nandi idol is a sitting on a platform which is a foot in height and is carved out of white marble. The roof of Shiva temple is in dome shape from inside. The sanctum is not big and houses the main Shivalinga in a hollow structure.  

Story behind this Temple

There are two stories related to Trimbakeshwar Temple. One story is considered from Padma Puran. According to the story, after the churning of Ocean, Gods occupied immortal nectar from Demons by fooling them. When the demons came to know of this, they fought with Gods for Amritakumbha. In process drops of Amrit fell at four places – Haridwar, Prayag, Ujjain and Trimbakeshwar. And from that time, Trimbakeshwar is considered to be the holiest place on the earth along with Haridwar, Prayag and Ujjain.  Therefore, the Kumbha Mela is held on these areas in every 12 years.

According to other story, Sage Gautam used to live in the area of Bramhagiri Mountain. Once there was a miserable drought for 24 years. To rescue of people, sage Gautam worshipped Lord Varun (rain) and the god was pleased. And he blessed the sage with the gift of plenty of rains in the area. But this made other sages jealous of him. They sent a cow to destroy the granary of Gautam. When Gautam tried to shoo her away, she was injured and died. And by seeing this, other sages charged a sin of killing a cow. Gautam did a hard penance to please Lord Shiva who in turn asked Ganga to come to Gautam place. Sage Gautam and Ganga both prayed to Lord Shiva to come here with Parvati and stay with them. And Shiva pleased with the prayed and settled down. Here the Ganga appeared in the form of Godavari River.  Therefore, outside the temple, you can see few cows self feeding the grass or you can feed them the grass.  

One who arrives here gets salvation from all the sins. People worship Godavari as Ganga and Lord Shiva resides here in the form of Trimbakeshwar Jyotirlinga. It would be a good luck for a person to arrive and worship here.