Trimbakeshwar Temple, Trimbak,
Nashik – History
The present Trimbakeshwar temple
was constructed by third Peshwa Balaji Bajirao (1740-1760) on the site of an
old temple. It so happens that the Peshwa made a bet on whether the stone
surrounding the Jyotirlinga, is hollow from the inside or not. The stone was
proved to be hollow, and on losing the bet, the Peshwa built a marvelous temple
out of it. The work of constructing the present temple of Trimbakeshwar was
begun in 1755 in the first half of the Margashirsha month (around December) and
was completed in 1786. It took 31 years to construct the temple. It took 16
lakh rupees to complete the temple. In the year 1954 the Sansthan was
registered under public trust registration act.
Once this Shiva temple had the
world famous Nassak Diamond on Shiva's idol. This world-famous diamond also
known as the Eye of the Idol is a large, 43.38 carats (8.68 g) stone that
originated as a larger diamond in the 15th century in India. Found
in the Amaragiri mine located in Mahbubnagar, Andhra Pradesh. The diamond
adorned the idol of Shiva at least from 1500 to 1817 in the Trimbakeshwar
Shiva Temple, near Nashik (hence the name Nassak), It was looted by
the British in the Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817- 1818) and lies with one owner
or the other ever since. The diamond presently is with a wealthy American
family - Edward J. Hand, a 48-year old trucking firm executive, New York
for $ 500,000.
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