Shree Saptashrungi Mata Temple

Historical Significance of the place: Shree Saptshrungi Gad is situated at a distance of 60 km from Nashik. It is one of the most visited and religious places for pilgrims. As the temple is situated on a mountain, a
regular bus service is provided from the foot of the mountain to the temple.
Saptashringa Garh is a place where Goddess
Bhagawati dwells. It is one of the most important of the places of Goddesses in
Maharashtra. Saptashringa signifies seven mountain peaks. Nanduri village is situated at the foot of the Saptashringa Gad. In front of the temple there stands Markandeya Rishi's (sage) hill. The Saptashringa Gad is full of a variety of trees having medicinal worth. As per the story depicted in
Ramayana, Hanuman carried the herbal medicine for wounded Laxmana from this hill. There are about 108 water reservoirs on the hill, known as Kundas. Vani is situated at a distance of 60 kms. away from Nashik.(Source: www.nashik.nic.in).
Those who are traveling from Mumbai can reach Nashik by either through roads or railway.
For road journey, both ST buses and private bus operators are available from big junctions in Mumbai like Dadar, Vasi to mention a few. By roads it takes almost 5 to 6 hours to reach Nashik as there are ghat roads in between despite a distance of 200 kms.
For railways, there is a very good connectivity between Mumbai to Nashik Road (this is name for the railway station of Nashik).there is trains which can be boarded from different railway stations in Mumbai as per our convenience like CST, Dadar, Thane and all trains stop at Kalyan.(check railway inquiry for timing and availability). One of the benefits in opting for rail journey is one can save some time on journey; it takes only 4 hours to reach Nashik Road. From Nashik Road one has to go to Nashik central Bus stand (CBS) to catch a direct bus to mataji temple. To reach Nashik CBS, one can easily catch a bus from Nashik road railway station to Nashik CBS, one has to just come out of the railway station and in front of the station there is a local bus stand from where one can take bus to reach Nashik CBS (Buses are frequent in between and it charges only Rs.8 per adult passenger).After reaching Nashik CBS one has three alternatives to reach the temple. They are:
First, take a direct bus from CBS to the temple. It generally takes 2 hours 30 min. to reach there. However, Buses are after every 2 hours. To save time (if one has to come back to Mumbai on the same day) you can use second or third alternatives.

Second alternative is to catch any bus from Nashik CBS that is going towards Nanduri bus stand (it is the place where one can catch either a bus, taxi or a jeep straight up to hill top where the temple is located).

Third alternative is to catch a jeep from Nashik CBS to the hill top directly; it generally takes 1hours 45 mins to reach to the temple.
Return Journey: Same alternatives can be used while coming back from the temple to the Nashik Road (railway Station) if one has to catch a train to Mumbai.
To catch a bus to Mumbai one need not to come to Nashik Road to catch a bus. One can get a bus directly either from Nashik CBS or from Maha Marg local bus stand which is located 2 kms from the CBS. One can catch buses even for Shirdi Sai Baba which is almost having a journey of 2 hours from NASHIK. Beside this temple of Mataji, one can visit Trimbakeshwar joyatir lingam in Nashik.

There are some 470 step which take approximately 35 mins if one climbs the hill without taking rest in between.





Entrance to the temple(one can see devotees climbing steps)

While climbing steps to reach the hill top, one can find beautiful scenes of the entire landscape. For instance, I have taken some of the photograph on my way up to the hills (shown below). Generally, devotees offer Coconut, sari and meva (a sweet made of milk) to Goddess, one can also use the services of Priest readily available in the temple premises.

A must visit place for tourists.


Over all, it is both a religious as well as exciting trip which is worth try.


Please offer our comments to improve this article.
Date of visit 17 January 2010(Sunday).
From: Mumbai.