Sri Sunder Narayan Temple

This is one of the oldest temple in the Nashik. It is situated at the edge of the Ahilya Bai Holkar bridge. It is the only temple in the world where Lord Vishnu is present along with goddess Tulsi and goddess Lakshmi. Goddess Tulsi was Vrinda, the queen of demon Jallandhar in the previous birth. The demon had a boon that he will remain immortal till his wife remain chaste(Pavitra). It was necessary to kill the demon to save the earth from his havoc. So, Lord Vishnu appeared in front of Vrinda in disguise form of her husband Jallandhar. By mistake she could not able to reveal the identity of Lord Vishnu. Thinking him as her husband , she touched him. So her promise to remain pure was broken. When she realized her mistake she cursed Lord Vishnu to turned into a black stone called Shaligram. After this curse the complexion of Lord Vishnu turned into black. Lord Vishnu rushed to the bank of Godavri river and took a holy bath. Instantaneously, he regain his divine complexion.

My guide told me the unique feature of this east facing temple. On 21st March when day and night are equal, the first ray of the rising sun fall on the feet of deity

The Kapileshwar temple

This is the only temple in the world where Nandi ji is not present in the sanctum sanctorum. It is located at the bank of river Godavri at Ram kund in Nashik(Maharashtra).My guide told me an intresting legend behind it. Once Lord Shiva punished Brahma for his mistake and cut his 5th head. But at the same time , a sin incurred to Lord Shiva for killing the 5th head of Brahma(Brahm hatya dosh). This perplexed Lord Shiva . He tried every method to get rid of this sin. Despite wandering every place on bhu-lok(the earth), there was no respite. Then nandi ji suggested one escape route. He took Lord Shiva to the bank of Godavri. He guided him to a secret spot. This was the point where the 3 rivers, Godavri,Aruna and Varuna met. Here Lord Shiva took a holy dip. He was librated from the sin after this bath. Since Nandi ji guided him so Lord Shiva treated him as a Guru (not as a follower)at this place. This is the reason that there is no idol of Nandi ji here.

Exactly at this point Lord Shiva took bath at the confluence of Godavri river,Aruna river and Varuna River

At the backdrop, its Kapileshwar temple where Lord Shiva treated Nandiji as his Guru

The Holy Pond - Kushavrat

The word 'Sarovar' means a pond or a water body. The water is one of the most important subtle element in hinduism. Bathing in a pond in a pilgrimage is one of the important ritual which includes tarpan(offering water to the departed souls) also. In Triambak town, there is such holy pond where bathing is considered as one the dream of hindu due to its holiness. This is "Kushavrat sarovar" or "Kushavrat teerth". As per legend after the boon given by Lord Shiva to Sage Gautam, the river Godavri appeared at Brahmgiri hills(in Triambak town near Nashik) for the first time. But after a short while it again disappears as she was not willing to stay on earth.. Sage Gautam couldn’t able to bath in it, which was necessary for removing his sin accrued to him because of killing of a cow accidentally. Now it was a great cause of concern for Sage Gautam to prevent river Godavri from disappearing. He took 4 blades of kusha-grass and energized it with his divine power and threw at the 4 corners. This worked like a trap for river Godavari. Since then it is believe that this pond where sage Gautam placed 4 kusha (a kind of grass) at the four corners is the source of river Godavri. After that this pond was named as “Kushavrat” means surrounded by kusha(a grass)

The Legend of Kumbh Mela

“Kumb mela “ is a holy fair which is one of the greatest festival in the life of a hindu.There is a legend behind the occurance of this fair. As per legend once Gods and demons churned the cosmic ocean for the search of amrit(the divine nectar for immortality). At the end of churning, the pot (kumbh,in hindi) of amrit emerges from the ocean. At that moment the fight broke between Gods and demons for the possession of the pot. The battle for the possession of pot continued for 12 days which are equivalent to 12 human years. During that battle few drops of amrit fell on 4 places- Prayag, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik. During the war, 3 planets Sun,Moon and Jupiter played significant role in protecting the pot from breaking. To commemorate this holy event Kumbh Mela is celebrated in every twelve years at the four sacred places where the drops from Kumbh were fallen. Since then it is believe that according to particular planetary position of Sun,Jupiter and moon respectively these places acquires special divine powers and bathing in these pilgrimage sites in the sacred river helps to ward off the sins. This fair,kumbh mela occurs four times every twelve years and rotates among four locations: Prayag, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik. Each twelve-year cycle includes one Maha Kumbh Mela(GreatKumbhMela).
Following are the planetary combinations for each site for Kumbh festial.
1) At Prayag, the Maha Kumbh Mela is held in the month of Magha (January/February in the Gregorian calendar). when Jupiter is in Taurus and both the Sun and Moon are in Capricorn.
2)At Haridwar, the Kumbh Mela is held in the months of Phalgun and Chaitra, when the Sun passes to Aries, the Moon is in Sagittarius and Jupiter is in Aquarius.
3)In Ujjain, it is held in the month of Vaishakha, the Sun and Moon are in Aries and Jupiter is in Leo.
4) At Nasik, the Kumbh Mela takes place in the month of Shravana, when the Sun and Moon are in Cancer and Jupiter is in Scorpio.It takes nearly one year for Jupiter to transit through one zodiac sign.Thus,for each site Kumbh Mela comes in every 12 years.