Shiva's Blessings and Picnic at Saputara
Trambakeshwar Shiva Temple is located in Trimbak City about 28 Kilometres from Nasik (Maharashtra) & 108 Kilometres from Saputara Hill Station on the bank of Godavari River. It is one of the twelve Jyotirlings which each hindu should visit during his life. This Jyotirling is special as there is Lord Brahma & Lord Vishnu surrounding Lord Shiva in the Jyotirling itself. It is ancient stone temple covered all around with mountains from all it's sides. Significance of this place is that it is surrounded by mountains of different cuts like rectangle, pointed as pyramid etc. Even the Godavari River is considered to be originating from nearby mountains at Trimbak. It is one of the major rivers of India. Plenty of Dharmshala's & Hotels are there according to your preference.
Saputara is located in Dang District of Gujarat and is about 160 Kilometres from Surat. It is only Hill Station of Gujarat. There is a lake in Saputara & a place called Table Top above a mountain, reachable with vehicle. There are several activities carried out at Saputara like Para Gliding, Boating in the lake, Ropeway from Sunset Point, Camel Riding, Horse Riding & Bike Riding at Table Top Mountain. It is advisable to visit this hill station during Rainy Season else in Winter Season. In Summers it is sometimes pleasant & hot. This hills are covered all around with forest. Route to Saputara from Gujarat is also viewable with scenic beauties. There is also waterfall which can be viewed in Rainy Season. There are many hotels for stay like Lords and Lake View with close proximity to lake.
About the Journey :
We started our journey to Trimbak from Surat about 240 Kms at 2.30 PM. Entire streatch to the place is lush green & covered all with mountains after few kilometres from Surat. Recommended route to Trimbak for good roads is via Saputara Hill Station from Gujarat. On the route there were several farms of Grapes, Orange etc. We purchased this fruits for our journey. The route from Surat to Trimbak via Navsari-Chikhi-Dharampur-Trimbak is not advisable, as it was under construction & the road was not upto the mark. It took much time to reach Dharampur. Locals advised that Road directly to Trimbak is not good, hence we opted to move to Nasik & from there we continued our journey to Trimbak. It is good to take route from Surat via Waghai-Saputara-Bypass to Nasik-Trimbak, which we took in return journey. We reached Trimbak at 9.00 PM. We moved directly to the temple but were disappointed with the crowd & time left for the temple to be visited. Hence we opted to visit temple early in the morning & moved to take our dinner & take rest. Market of Trimbak were open till 10.00 PM. We hired a Priest for the next day pooja in temple.
Next Day early in the morning at 6.45 am sharp, we went to priest's residence to take him along with us. We came to know that without Dhoti (Kind of Indian Male dress), you are not allowed to touch the jyotirling, Moreover Ladies are not allowed to enter the main khand (Main area where jyotirling is placed). We were made to wear Dhoti at priest residence itself & moved along with him to the temple. We offered all the pooja's (worship) as precribed by priest. Childrens and Ladies have to do worship from the outer corrider from where the jyotirling is visible. After performing the pooja, we went to have some breakfast which was available near the temple. Then we went to Hotel cum Dharmshala to pick up our luggage and move to our next destination Saputara.
Route to Saputara was beautiful with extraordinary scenic beauty. It passed from Forest Area. As we reached to Saputara, directly we went for boating in the lake. We took pedal boats for 30 minutes. We found activities like Ropeway, Rolling Balls over the lake with persons inside it & Paragliding activities seen from the boat. After boating we went to take lunch at Sugar & Spice Restaurant in Hotel Lake View which was near the lake. There was also Hotel Lords which was much nearer to lake. Food was tasty and we took it according to our choices. After taking lunch we went to Table Top Mountain with our vehicle, where we found activities like Horse Riding, Camel Riding, Motor Bike riding in the sand etc. Table Top Mountain was on the top of the hill, hence it was nice atmosphere then the atmosphere found near the lake. There were places from which you could click photos from the top. There was also Sunset Point & other Points which we were unable to cover due to time constraint, though we enjoyed a lot. Finally we left for Surat as to reach by evening.