We are roadies-Part IV-Mumbai-Nashik-Vani-Saputara-Trimbakeshwar-Nashik-Mumbai

 

30th November 2022

We are roadies-Part IV: Mumbai-Nashik-Wani-Saputara-Trimbak-Nashik-Mumbai

It has been a long-time wish to take the blessings of the goddess, Saptashrungi nivasini who dwells in the seven mountain peaks located near Vani in the district of Nashik. This temple is one of the “three and half Shakti Peethas” in Maharashtra. The others are Renuka mata temple at Mahur, Mahalakshmi temple at Kolhapur and Tulja Bhavani temple at Tuljapur. It is said that Sati (Shakti, incarnation of Parvati) who was Shiva’s wife, attended the yagna conducted by her father without invitation. Sati’s father, King Prajapati Daksha did not invite Shiva and Sati, because he disliked Shiva. On the contrary, he ridiculed Shiva during yagna. Saddened by this behaviour, Sati jumped in to the yagna and died. Shiva on knowing the death of his wife Sati became extremely angry, carried her dead body and walked all over the world. Sensing a grave situation in the form of loss of life or of universe, God Vishnu followed him and cut her body with sudarshan chakra [divine wheel] into fifty one pieces which fell on the earth and later became “Shakti Peetha” [abode of goddess Shakti] in different places. Her right arm fell on the Saptashrungi hills and hence, this place became holy and came to be known as Saptashrungi nivasini. Besides, this holy place, we planned to visit others on the way. Here is our itinerary.

 Pandav Caves at outskirt of city of Nashik

24^th November

We left Mumbai at about 8.10 am for Nashik with a car mileage reading of 9243 km and then reached Pandav Caves on the outskirt of Nashik at 11.45 am. It is about 144 km journey with two breaks, one for filling petrol and another for breakfast. Pandav Caves were built in solid rock during 1-2 century BC and 3^rd century AD and are holy places for Buddhists. We visited Caves 17-20, some had statues of Buddha, and prayer hall; others were vihara [residences] of monks with cubicles carved out for each to rest and pray. There were inscriptions in ancient language, probably in Pali.  These caves were originally called Pundru which in Palli means “yellow ochre colour”. Later, Pundru became Pandu and Pandav. Pandav caves have nothing to do with characters of Mahabharata. We left these caves at 1 pm and reached Sreekala nagar where we met our friend, Dr Suresh Borkar and his wife. We had lunch at the nearby restaurant and then at about 4.30 pm, we visited his startup called Soil, Seed, Plant Diagnostic and Research Centre briefly. We left for the Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University Guest house at Sawargaon on the Gangapur road. We stayed at VVIP guest house for a night, had a simple dinner which was hot and spicy.

25^th November

We left the YCMOU guest house at 8 am, took a tour of campus, clicked some photos of iconic spots and then left for Vani. We reached Vani by 10.45 am, covering distance of about 90 km with breakfast in between, and then Saptashrungi gad [hill] by 11.30 am. We had a good darshan of Saptashrungi mata, also called Brahmasvarupini. The Goddess in the form of Durga is called Mahishasura mardhani after she killed buffalo-demon, Mahishasura. We left the temple by 1.30 pm, and came down to Vani where we had lunch at Parijat Hotel at 2.30 pm. On the way, we saw fields of tomato, marigold, beans, and grapes.

At Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University, Sawargaon, Nashik

Tomato fields on the way to Vani for Saptashrungi mata temple

 

Township of Saptashrungi temple as seen from the above

Saptashrungi mata with devotees

We left Vani at about 2.30-3.00 pm and reached Saputara, hill station in Gujarat, by 4.30 pm, with distance between being about 60 km. Saputara was quite a picturesque with ropeway between two hills. We visited Nageshwar temple, a beautiful lake with colourful lightening, and then shopping area on the other side, and returned to the BAPS Swaminarayan temple complex by 7.30 pm. We had dinner at BAPS complex at about 8 pm. It was simple, less spicy and tasty. We stayed for a night at the temple yatri niwas [tourist guesthouse]. There were two huts with cows with herd men, which was quite a picturesque from our room that provided simplicity of these folks who were away from the modern life we lived in. Next morning, I alone had a good darshan and introduction to the Swami ji. In the Swaminarayan sect of Hinduism, ladies are not allowed in the presence of priest, Swami ji of the temple. It is anachronism of sort, a gender biasness, despite the fact that women have progressed so much in the state of Gujarat where this sect predominates.

Two huts with herd men and their cows seen from our residence-BAPS Swaminarayan temple complex in Saputara

 

Nageshwar temple in Saputara with lake in the background and colourful lightings. 

26^th November

We left Saputara at about 8.30 am, reached Trimbakeshwar by 11.30 am covering a distance of about 110 km. On the way, there were many farms of tomato and grapes with some of strawberries. Strawberries were being sold at Rs 40-50 per pack of 250 gm. At Trimbakeshwar, we had darshan of Shiva, one of the twelve Jyotir-lingas. Pind is not out as commonly seen in the most of Shiva temple and is supposed to be underground. This temple was built by the third Peshva, Balaji Bajirao [1740-1761] and later renovated by Ahilyabai Holkar. Temple is worth seeing as it is richly ornamented with cusped arches. We bought Manuka and Kismis [dried grapes-black and green] for the price ranging from Rs 250-280/kg. We then left about 2.30 pm and reached at the BAPS Swaminarayana mandir at Tapovan, Panchvati, Nashik by 4 pm, where we stayed overnight. We had a dinner at this BAPS Swaminarayan temple complex. It was awful.

Grape gardens on the way back to Trimbakeshwar

Trimbakeshwar temple 

 

27^th November

At about 8 am, we visited again the Swaminarayan mandir. The temple is beautiful worth visiting. It was less crowded unlike in the evening yesterday. We could visit at ease and photograph it from different angles. Then, at 9.30 am, we left for Kalaram Mandir and Sita Gufa which are located at Panchvati. Kalaram Mandir was called so because of black stone was used for statues of the deities. It was rebuilt in 1788 as the earlier one, about 2000 year-old was destroyed by the Mughals. As per ancient epic, Ram, lakshman and Sita stayed here on the bank of river Godavari during their tenth year of forest dwelling for about two and half years. This temple is an iconic spot where late Babasaheb Ambedkar, Bharat Ratna, led the protest outside to allow dalits into the temple in 1930. We visited Ram Kund which is a part of holy river where devotees take a dip to wash off their sins and most Hindus do pind-dan [offering to their departed beloved relatives] for their salvation. We left this complex at about 11.30 am and reached Dadasaheb Phalke Smarak at Bodh Vihar near Pandav Caves. This complex is worth seeing. At the Phalke Smarak, there were photos of late Dadasaheb Phalke who produced first movie, Raja Harishchandra. Dadasaheb Phalke is known as the father of Indian Cinema. Here we spent about 50 minutes. We left this Nashik outskirt, had our lunch at about 1 pm on the way back, and then we came to Viviana Mall at Thane where we bought a gift at Tanishq. We reached home [Mulund East] at about 5 pm. Car mileage showed 9862 km.

 

Kalaram temple at Panchvati, Nashik

Swaminarayan temple at Tapovan, Nashik 

Devotees taking dip in the holy river, Godavari at Panchvati, Nashik

During this journey, we travelled about 620 km, spent petrol worth Rs 4500/-, paid Rs 350/-toll tax, spent about Rs 5000/- on stay and food, about Rs 3000/- on donation at the temples, and gained insights as we saw, heard and talked with people.