The Place Of Peace-Tryambkeshwar

Trambakeshwar is an ancient
Hindu temple in the town of
Trimbak, in the Trimbakeshwar
tehsil in the Nashik District of
Maharashtra , India , 28 km from
the city of Nashik . It is dedicated
to Lord Shiva and is one of the
twelve Jyotirlingas.

It is located at the source of the
Godavari River , the longest river in
peninsular India . The Godavari
River, which is considered sacred
within Hinduism, originates from
Bramhagiri mountains and meets
the sea near Rajahmudry.
Kusavarta, a kund is considered
the symbolic origin of the river
Godavari, and revered by Hindus
as a sacred bathing place. The
current temple was built by
Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao (a.k.a
Nanasaheb).

Triambakeshwar Temple,
Nashik
Jyotirlinga
As per Shiv Mahapuran , once
Brahma (the Hindu God of
creation) and Vishnu (the Hindu
God of preservation) had an
argument in terms of supremacy of
creation. To test them, Shiva
pierced the three worlds as a
huge endless pillar of light, the
jyotirlinga. Vishnu and Brahma
split their ways to downwards and
upwards respectively to find the
end of the light in either
directions. Brahma lied that he
found out the end, while Vishnu
conceded his defeat. Shiva
appeared as a second pillar of
light and cursed Brahma that he
would have no place in
ceremonies while Vishnu would be
worshipped till the end of
eternity. The jyotirlinga is the
supreme partless reality, out of
which Shiva partly appears. The
jyothirlinga shrines, thus are
places where Shiva appeared as a
fiery column of light.
Originally there were believed to
be 64 jyothirlingas while 12 of
them are considered to be very
auspicious and holy. Each of
the twelve jyothirlinga sites take
the name of the presiding deity -
each considered different
manifestation of Shiva. At all
these sites, the primary image is
lingam representing the
beginningless and endless
Stambha pillar, symbolizing the
infinite nature of Shiva.

The twelve jyothirlinga are
Somnath in Gujarat, Mallikarjuna
at Srisailam in Andra Pradesh,
Mahakaleswar at Ujjain in Madhya
Pradesh, Omkareshwar in Madhya
Pradesh, Kedarnath in Himalayas ,
Bhimashankar in Maharastra ,
Viswanath at Varanasi in Uttar
Pradesh, Triambakeshwar in
Maharastra, Vaidyanath at Deoghar
in Jharkand , Nageswar at Dwarka
in Gujarat, Rameshwar at
Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu and
Grishneshwar at Aurangabad in
Maharastra.

In Mythology, history and present
close up of the top of
Trimbakeshwar Temple
Trimbakeshwar is a religious
center having one of the twelve
Jyotirlingas. The extraordinary
feature of the Jyotirlinga located
here is its three faces embodying
Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and
Lord Rudra. Due to excessive use
of water, the linga has started to
erode. It is said that this erosion
symbolizes the eroding nature of
human society. The Lingas are
covered by a jeweled crown which
is placed over the Gold Mask of
Tridev (Brahma Vishnu Mahesh).
The crown is said to be from the
age of Pandavs and consists of
diamonds, emeralds, and many
precious stones. The crown is
displayed every Monday from 4-5
pm (Shiva).
All other Jyotirlingas have Shiva as
the main deity. The entire black
stone temple is known for its
appealing architecture and
sculpture and is at th foothills of
a mountain called Brahmagiri.
Three sources of the Godavari
originate from the Brahmagiri
mountain.