Triambakeshwar, Triambak, Nasik district, Maharashtra

 Trimbakeshwar  Shiva temple is in the  town of Trimbaka in  Nashik district, it is an ancient temple and is situated at the foot of Bharmagiri hills. We had visited the temple during monsoons and the rain drenched green hills with clouds looming over provided a scenic view. But could not spend much time inside the temple as it started pouring heavily.

This is one of the 12 Jyothirlingas of Lord Shiva. Inside the sanctum there are three lingams of Brahma,Vishnu,Maheshwara .

The Lingam is visible during the morning worship and gets adorned later for other worship and rituals. 

There are also deities of Kedarnatha, Rameshwara, Gangadevi and many other images inside the temple. The sacred pond inside the temple is the origin of  the river Godavari. The present temple was built by Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao.

The spire of the temple is very impressive with beautiful stone carvings.

There are free and paid darshan facilities in the temple.

This place is famous for Kalasarpa Shanti, Narayana Nagabali and Tripindi vidhi.

The temple is 30 Kms from Nashik and we did travel by road as we were visiting many other temples in Maharashtra. Check the link for more details

Shani Shignapur, Maharashtra

 Shanishwar temple is situated in Nevasa taluka of Ahmednagar district . It attracts lot of  devotees from all parts of the world. One finds Lord Shanishwar here as a big granite block under a tree in the open  courtyard without any  roof above . The deity is considered to be very powerful and is a considered as a swayambhu

Entry for women inside the temple was permitted only a few years back. Now women are  allowed to go near the idol to offer prayers and worship. Devotees offer flowers and do abhisheka with Til oil. No theft, burglary is reported in this village as they believe the Lord guards the temple and the village .

More details can be found here

Bhimasankar, Maharashtra (Jyothirlinga)

Bhimasankar, a 13 the century temple is nestled among the Sahayadri hills. This is one of the 12 Jyothirlingas of Shiva. I have already made a posts on other 2 Jyothirlingas-  Somnath Mandir of  Gujarat and Ramanatha  Swamy temple, Rameshwaram.

This temple is situated 120 Kilometres from the Pune city in Bhogiri village.This region is made fertile by river Bhima as it originates in these mountains. The journey towards the temple is very scenic  through the ghats fully carpeted in green and which is dotted with small rivulets and ponds. The place is blessed  by nature and is surrounded  by thick rain forest.

The temple is situated at a lower elevation and one has to climb down the hill to  reach the abode of Shiva.There are about well paved 200 odd steps to reach the temple.The temple is very simple in style but very graceful and the spire is in Nagara style.

Any devotee can perform worship inside the sanctum and that was a welcome change for us to touch and feel the age old sacred Shivlinga. 

As the hills abound in lot of medicinal plants it is easy to get lot of herbal medicines here.

Check my Pictures.

The rain and mist affected the quality of the picture. A few captures in heavy rain.

 

Siddhi Vinayak temple, Saras Baugh, Pune, Maharashtra

Pune is a beautiful city and there are many Ganesh temples here and one such popular  temple is Saras Baugh Siddhi Vinayak  temple , a temple set on a small elevated hillock and is surrounded by lotus ponds and well maintained gardens.

 Initially , this place which is situated at the foothills of Parvati was a lake and once it got dried up  it was developed into a park and was named as Saras Baugh. The beautiful setting here helps one to relax and also  connect with divinity at the same time.

This temple was constructed by Shrimant Nanasaheb Peshwa.