Maharastra Travel: Nashik - Temples, Godavari and a bit of Atheism

Nashik in Maharashtra is a city famous for it's temples across the country and outside as well. So when I was there, I decided to explore some of these by just walking through the old part of the city without a plan in mind. All I did was asked locals about their favourite temple and tried going to those :)

Art on the walls of Naroshankar temple

Nashik

Nashik is the third largest city of Maharashtra and forms the triangle with Mumbai and Pune. Nashik has special religious significance in India, especially because its is believed that Lord Rama stayed here during his exile of fourteen years. Nashik is one of the four cities in India where Kumbh Mela takes place. The other three cities are Allahabad, Haridwar and Ujjain. The mela takes place on the banks of river Godawari which originates close by at Trimbakeshwar.

The next Kumbh Mela in Nashik is planned to take place between August 15 to September 13 in 2015. Having attended the Kumbh Mela at Allahabad in 2013, I am extremely excited to attend this as well. More details on this will follow in later posts!

I loved the image of Hanuman looking rather sad in the middle of the river!

This was one of the most beautiful temples, especially the interiors...

Popular temples of Nashik

Nashik is home to more than one hundred ancient temples, out of which the most prominent ones are Shree Kalaram Temple and Trimbakeshwar Temple. Here are some details of these temples:

Kalaram temple - built by the Peshwas with black stones, it took workers 12 years to complete. Located at distance of about fifteen minutes walk from the banks of Godavari, its currently the most popular temples here. Kalaram temple even has a website and you can check it out here.

Trimbakeshwar temple - located at a distance of 30 km, the temple is worshipped as it houses one of the 12 Jyotirlingas in India. Godavari is as revered and worshipped here as Ganga in North India.

Naroshankar temple - built in 1747, the temple is located in Panchvati on the banks of Godavari. The temple is surrounded by a eleven feet fortification and the architecture style is called 'Maya'.

Sundar Narayan temple - this beautiful temple is located on the end of Ahillyabai Holkar bridge. I found this to be one of the most beautiful ones here, especially the wonderful light in the garbha-griha.

Some of the other famous temples in Nashik include Someshwar temple, Veda temple, Muktidam temple and Kapileswara temple. 

My temple walk...

While I was in the city, I skipped most of the prominent temples (except Kalaram temple where photography is not allowed and Naroshankar temple) and went into those which looked deserted and lovely. After I did some fun photography with kids playing in the Godavari waters, I walked up to the Naroshankar temple which was not just black and beautiful, but also almost deserted even on a holiday. In fact, most of the images in this post are from there. Perhaps the town comes alive during the Kumbh Mela, for now it was empty and you could go right into the heart of the temple, without even a priest in sight.

Nandi at the Naroshankar temple

One of the lesser known temples on the ghat...

I walked into the temple with my camera and still no one actually saw me or stopped me from taking pictures - the 'No photography' rule is applied strongly in many other temples. The overflowing Godavari right next to the temple made for a beautiful site and also a great setting for taking pictures. This was actually the only temple where I spent much time relaxing and chatting up with an old man. To my surprise he spoke Hindi really well and asked me more questions that I did :)

I asked him for directions to some of the other places on my list, but as soon as I got out I decided to skip the list altogether and just go with the flow. There was water overflowing close by and I decided to follow the kids who were jumping in and playing in water. 

I not just visited the Kalaram temple, the Sundar Narayan temple and a few more prominent as well as non-prominent temples. They were all beautiful...but did not stir me.

I walked around in the area visiting multiple temples, I realised it was almost a mechanical process for me. I hardly ever looked at the Gods but enjoyed the rocks used to build the temples more. I had always known that these were not the things that had much of an impact on me, but being there made me think even more about myself...

Am I an atheist?

As I was exploring my own personal beliefs, I came across some rally interesting writing on the concept of Atheism in Hinduism. For those who have not explored it deeply, I am quoting some writings below:

The Sanskrit term Āstika ("pious, orthodox") refers to the systems of thought which admit the validity of the Vedas. Sanskrit asti means "there is", and Āstika derives from the verb, meaning "one who says 'asti'". Technically, in Hindu philosophy the term Āstika refers only to acceptance of authority of Vedas, not belief in the existence of God. However, though not accepted universally, Āstika is sometimes translated as "theist" and Nāstika as "atheist", assuming the rejection of Vedas to be synonymous to the rejection of God. 

Hinduism has traditionally not just tolerated, but wholeheartedly accepted the philosophy of belief system where the concept of God is different. Mimamsa and Samkhya are two such schools of philosophy where while not rejecting Brahman, typically rejects a personal God, creator God, or a God with attributes. While Samkhya rejected the idea of an eternal, self-caused, creator God, Mimamsa argued that the Vedas could not have been authored by a deity. 

Mimamsa was a realistic, pluralistic school of philosophy which was concerned with the exegesis of the Vedas. The core text of the school was the Purva Mimamsa Sutras of Jaimini (c. 200 BCE–200 CE). Mimamsa philosophers believed that the revelation of the Vedas was sacred, authorless (apaurusheyatva) and infallible, and that it was essential to preserve the sanctity of the Vedic ritual to maintain dharma (cosmic order). As a consequence of the belief in sanctity of the ritual, Mimamsas rejected the notion of God in any form. 

Mimamsas argued that there was no need to postulate a maker for the world, just as there was no need for an author to compose the Vedas or a God to validate the rituals. They further thought that the Gods named in the Vedas had no physical existence apart from the mantras that speak their names. In this regard, the power of the mantras was what was seen as the power of Gods. Mimamsas reasoned that an incorporeal God could not author the Vedas, for he would not have the organs of speech to utter words. An embodied God could not author the Vedas either because such a God would be subject to the natural limitations of sensory knowledge and therefore, would not be able to produce supernatural revelations like the Vedas.

(Source: wikipedia)

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Today is Dussehra and a good day to think about God. What do you think? 

What does God mean to you? 

I know these are not regular questions that ones asks on a travel blog, but I am not in mood to follow conventions here. So do tell me :)