Gangadwar on Brahmagiri, Trimbakeshwar. Photo: Pradeep717, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsNashik–Trimbakeshwar Simhastha · Places
Brahmagiri is the hill above Trimbakeshwar town where, according to tradition, the Godavari rises. Gangadwar, a cave shrine on the hill, is held to be the first point where the river can be seen.
Pilgrims climb to it on stone steps.
Not published yet.
Not a bathing centre; the Trimbakeshwar bath is at Kushavarta. Any 2027 rule for the hill is not announced.3
On a Kumbh day
According to tradition, the sage Gautama did penance at Trimbakeshwar, and Shiva released the river that became the Godavari, Maharashtra Tourism notes. The Nashik district describes Brahmagiri as the mountain from which the Godavari flows, and calls the river Dakshin Ganga, the Ganga of the South.
Tradition holds that the river disappears on the hill and comes out again at Kushavarta in the town below. This is why Kushavarta is the Simhastha’s bathing centre at Trimbakeshwar.
Gangadwar is a cave shrine on Brahmagiri. Maharashtra Tourism describes it as the first visible point where the Godavari emerges. The Trimbakeshwar temple stands at the foot of the hill.
Photo: Coolgama, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsBrahmagiri hill, Trimbakeshwar. Photo: Coolgama, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsPilgrims climb Brahmagiri's stone steps to Gangadwar, the cave shrine Maharashtra Tourism describes as the first visible point of the Godavari. Start early and come down well before dark.1
A barefoot walk of about 40 km around the Brahmagiri hills in Shravan, starting from Kushavarta kund, Incredible India says.2
There is no Kumbh bath on Brahmagiri. The Simhastha bathing at Trimbakeshwar is at Kushavarta, on Monday 2 August, Tuesday 31 August and Sunday 12 September 2027, according to the Kumbh Mela Authority’s plan of 15 June 2026.
In the calendar used in Maharashtra, the month of Shravan in 2027 falls between the first and second Amrit Snans. Shravan is also the month of the Brahmagiri pradakshina, the barefoot walk around the hill that starts at Kushavarta. Expect the hill and the town to be very busy.
The plan lists forest department works at Anjaneri and Brahmagiri. What these are, and whether any path or rule on the hill will change for 2027, is not announced.
This is general advice, not an official rule. No official safety notice for the Brahmagiri steps was found.
Trimbakeshwar gets very heavy rain in the monsoon. On 8 July 2026 the Free Press Journal reported 245 mm of rain in 24 hours in Trimbakeshwar taluka, and landslides on roads nearby, one of which partly blocked the Trimbak–Palghar road.
Before and on the climb
A guide to where places are, not a route plan. During the mela, roads and ghats open and close by the official plan; follow police and mela directions.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Some temple locations from Wikidata (CC0). openstreetmap.org/copyright
