Places to See in Nashik
Muktidham
This popular tourist destination is located on the Nashik Road. It is a temple complex that honours many Hindu gods. Day to day operation of this marble temple is carried by a trust, which is privately operated.
Construction of Mukti Dham was mainly financed by a local industrialist, Late J.D. Chauhan-Bytco. You can find replicas of the famous and most auspicious 12 Jyotirlingas here. While creating them, original dimension of the deities were kept in mind. More importantly, these replicas were sent to their actual pilgrimage centers, where they were sanctified. All eighteen chapters of the Holy Book, 'Geeta', are inscribed on the walls of this marble temple. You will also find idols of other Hindu deities here.
Dhammagiri
It is a renowned meditation center that offers wide range of courses on insight meditation or Vipassana. This is a technique of meditation propounded by Gautam Buddha around 2,500 years back. Dhammagiri was founded by S.N. Goenka in the year 1976, an exponent in Vipassana meditation. The central theme of this unique meditation center is the golden pagoda. Dhammagiri has become a landmark of Igatpuri village, which is just 45 km away from Nashik town.
Ambience of the place is itself very beautiful, serene, and soothing. It is located at plateau and is surrounded by wide variety of trees. If you want to reach this village from Mumbai, you can reach by travelling 137 km on road. If you prefer train, you can board on the route of Mumbai-Nashik Central Railway. From the railway station of this village, it would take only 15 minutes to reach Dhammagiri.
Artillery Centre
It is the biggest Artillery Centre in entire Asia. After India and Pakistan became two dominions, Artillery Center was shifted from the later to the former and since then, military is in full charge of its supervision. Important training to Indian Army officers and soldiers are given here. Training for one of the most talked about artillery weapons, Bofors gun is also given at this centre.
Though the current artillery centre is present here since 7th April 1948, the first artillery depot was built in the year 1915. This center is one of the greatest contributors to Indian Army in terms of skilled manpower. Over the last 6 decades Artillery Centre has produced more than 2,60,000 trained armed force personnel and helped India in defending itself from foreign attack.
Pandavleni Caves
In Marathi these caves are called Pandu Leni, where 'Leni' means caves. There are 24 caves present each of which has been carved out of stone from the period starting from 3rd Century BC to 2nd Century AD. These caves are related to Hinayana of Buddhism. Except eighteenth cave (known as Chaitya), all the other caves are Viharas. Located on Trirashmi Mountain, these holy caves are 8 km to the south of Nashik.
One of the greatest aspects in their architecture is that some of them are connected by unique ladders, cut outs from stone. You can find legible inscriptions in eight caves including third, eleventh, twelfth to fifteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth. In the 15th cave you will also find inscriptions mentioning about the last ruler of Satvahana dynasty, Sri Yajna Satkarni.
Bhakti Dham
Around 2.5 km from the Central Bus Station of Dindori Naka, this renowned temple is located. Bhakti Dham is one of the most prominent structures among the various holy places present in that area. In fact, Bhakti Dham has come up as one of the must visit pilgrimages for people coming to Nashik. You can hear Vedic recitals over here. Other than poojas, religious discussions also take place here. t type='text/javascript'> googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1417419205614-0'); });
