Trimbakeshwar

Trimbakeshwar lies in Nashik district at the foot of the Brahmagiri hill and is the eighth Jyotirlinga in the usual order. It is remarkable for its lingam, which is described as having three small faces or projections that tradition links with Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. The name Trimbak is usually read as three-eyed, an epithet of Shiva, and this combination of threefold imagery makes the shrine distinctive among the twelve.

The legend is intertwined with the origin of the Godavari. Tradition says that the sage Gautama was falsely accused of killing a cow, and to purify himself he sought the Ganga. Shiva is said to have caused the river to flow from the hill in the form of the Godavari, and at the sage's request he remained there as Trimbakeshwar. This is why the Godavari is sometimes called Gautami, and why the temple is tied so strongly to the river's source.

In regional religion Trimbak is among the principal places in Maharashtra for rites connected with ancestors, and the Kumbh cycle brings one of its great gatherings to Nashik and Trimbak. Compared with Bhimashankar and Grishneshwar, the other Maharashtra Jyotirlingas, this is the most river-focused of the three. Mahashivaratri, Shravan Mondays and the Kumbh period are the occasions tradition links with large crowds. Visitors will find the surrounding hill, with its own stories, is treated as part of the same sacred landscape.