'Shiv-Bhakt' Rahul Gandhi prays at Nashik's famed Trimbakeshwar Jyotirlinga Temple

Nashik (Maharashtra): Congress MP Rahul Gandhi went to pray at the famed 268-year-old Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple here on Thursday evening, party leaders said.

Taking time off the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra (BJNY), the Congress leader visited the temple -- his fourth to a Jyotirlinga temple, in the past 60 days.

He was greeted by some priests and trustees and escorted inside the temple premises where he sat and was helped to perform the pooja for about 15 minutes, with a large crowd around witnessing it.

Located amid lush greenery at the base of three hills, Brahmagiri, Nilagiri and Kalagiri in Nashik, the Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga temples located around the country.

Earlier, AICC General Secretary, Communications, Jairam Ramesh said that during the BJNY, Rahul Gandhi had offered prayers at three other Jyotirlingas -- the Baba Baidyanath Dham in Deoghar (Jharkhand), Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) and the Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh). The Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple is located at the source of the Godavari, India's second-longest river after the Ganga, which flows from Maharashtra and drains into the Bay of Bengal.

The striking feature of the Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple is that the Jyotirling is three-faced, signifying Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva.

This temple was built by the Peshwa Balaji Bajirao-III on the site of an old temple and inaugurated in February 1756 during the Mahashivratri celebrations.

It has gates in all four directions, as East denotes the 'beginning', West symbolises 'maturity', North represents 'revelation' and South signifies 'fulfilment', as per the temple's official website.