Nashik - Trimbak

I began my journey to Trimbakeshwar on Saturday at around 10:45 PM in a Night Express bus (Fare INR 255) run by MSRTC from Shivajinagar Pune. After spending a virtual sleepless night in the sitting bus I reached Trimbakeshwar at 04:40 AM. After having a cup of tea I started to move towards the temple. Devotees are expected to take bath at Kusavarta filled with holy water from Godavari.

Kusavarta - place to take bath in Holy water of Godavari 

Trimbakeshwar Shiva temple is among one of the 12 Jyotirlingas. People are permitted in starting from 5:30 AM. After being in line for about half an hour i ventured in the temple compound.Photography is prohibited inside and mobile phones and any other belongings are prohibited inside the temple. The temple is an archaeological marvel created with black stone. 

Entrance to the Trimbakeshwar Temple

I sat down in the compound for a while in peace with the surroundings. Next I had breakfast (Poha) in a nearby restaurant. The good thing about such holy places is that one can roam around anytime of the day, talk with people, eat variety of things and can experience real natural beauty which is conserved because of the religious significance attached to it.

Brahmagiri - mountain was next on my list. It is considered to be the source of river Godavari. There are steps from the foothill to the top of the mountain. I started to ascend at around 06:00 AM. The whole path is surrounded by dense vegetation with few shops and huts present in between. I kept on moving up amid the cool breeze, bird's chirping and the rattling sound of the fallen leaves. It took me around 45 minutes to reach to the top.

Sunrise from Brahmagiri

  There are couple of temples situated at the hill. A narrow path connects them with one another. After paying visit to each of them i sat down on a corner and had a good view of Trimbak from the top.

Trimbak as seen from Brahmagiri

 Photography was not allowed inside the Trimbakeshwar temple, but Brahmagiri gave me an opportunity to do so.

Trimbakeshwar as seen from Brahmagiri amid morning mist

 After spending some quality time at the top i descended back and reached the base at around 08:00 AM

Reflection of Brahmagiri in GangaSagar Lake

I decided to head to Nashik next. Frequent buses are available from Trimbak to Nashik. The journey takes around half an hour and cost INR 30. I hired an auto and started my journey in Nashik from Panchvati - "garden of five banyan trees". As per Ramayana this is the place where Lord Rama lived with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana for some time during there exile. The whole area is very beautiful, it is filled with greenery. Kumbha Mela is organized here once in every 12 years. Next Kumbh Mela will be held in 2015.

River Kapila and Godavari meets at a holy place which is of great significance as per the Hindu mythology.

At the Sangam of River Kapila and Godavari

 The five Kundas,each having it's own story are of religious importance. The priest present there explains the story about the place.

Five Kundas near Kapila-Godavari Sangam

Lord Rama followed by Sita and Lakshmana

 The whole place has numerous places of religious importance. There are stories associated to each of them. I roamed around most of these places.

As per Ramayana - during the exile period Rama followed the path as shown in green in the map

Nashik got it's name from an incident which happened in Tapovan. As per Ramayana, Lakshmana cut off the nose of Surpanakha at this place and nose in sanskrit is called Nasika.

Tapovan - Lakshmana cut off nose of Surpanakha at this place as per Hindu mythology

 My next destination was Ramghat. It was a perfect blend of chaos and spiritualism. There were numerous temples and people all around. Everyone busy in there own work. I stood on one of the bridge for a while to look at the scene attentively and then headed on to explore few old temples, which were quite appealing due to there architecture and the soothing air around them. Photography is strictly prohibited in almost all the temples in Nashik.

Ramghat Nashik

A temple at the Ghat

At around 11:00 I went to a small restaurant and had a decent lunch.

Streets of Nashik near Sita Gumpha - Ravana abducted Sita from this place as per Ramayana

There are a variety of places to visit in Nashik. I hired another auto and headed towards Someshwar temple (at around 12 KM from Sita Gumpha) and a small waterfall (seasonal) nearby. The Auto driver was one good person. He took me to various other places which fell en-route to our destination, his enthusiasm to show and explain about various places of interest in Nashik was remarkable. Except for Saptashrangi and Pandavleni i covered almost all major places in the city.

India's second largest flyover on NH-3

Beautiful countryside at the bank of river Godavari

Flowers blooming with river Godavari in backdrop

At around 02:00 PM the auto driver dropped me at the Nashik bus stand. The city was very lively. There is lot to visit and explore in this ancient city which is important because of its direct relation to Ramayana. Time spent on top of Bramhagiri , in the streets of Nashik and at the banks of river Godavari was the best part of the trip. Nashik has a perfect mix of nature, religion and history associated with it.
I reached back Pune in around 5 hours journey from Nashik.