Kalaram Temple, is a

Hindu temple A Hindu temple, also known as Mandir, Devasthanam, Pura, or Kovil, is a sacred place where Hindus worship and show their devotion to Hindu deities, deities through worship, sacrifice, and prayers. It is considered the house of the god to who ...

in Nashik of Nashik district in Maharashtra, dedicated to the deity

Rama Rama (; , , ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Vishnu. In Rama-centric Hindu traditions, he is considered the Supreme Being. Also considered as the ideal man (''maryāda' ...

. It is a temple situated in Panchavati area of the Nashik. The temple derives its name from a black statue of

. The literal translation of ''kalaram'' is "black Rama". The sanctum sanctorum also houses the statues of the goddess

Sita Sita (; ), also known as Siya, Jānaki and Maithili, is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. Sita is the consort of Rama, the avatar of god Vishnu, and is regarded as an avatar of goddess Lakshmi. She is t ...

and the god Lakshmana. Thousands of devotees visit the temple every day.

History

The original temple dedicated to an unknown deity was very old, estimated to be of the Rashtrakuta Period from the 7th to 11th centuries. However, the claimed antiquity of the Rama idol, which was more than 2000 years old, has not been verified. According to an anecdote, during the early Turkish invasions, the idol of the deity was thrown into the Godavari River by the Temple Brahmins to save it. One Sardar Rangarao Odhekar funded the new temple which was rebuilt around the 1700s. It is claimed that once Odhekar had a dream that the statue of Rama in black color was in the

Godavari River The Godavari (, Help:IPA/Sanskrit, �od̪aːʋəɾiː is India's second longest river after the Ganges River, Ganga River and drains the third largest Drainage basin, basin in India, covering about 10% of India's total geographical area. It ...

. He carried out an expedition to revive the idol and miraculously got it. Odhekar took the statue from the river and requested a saint for the reconsecration of the statue as per the instructions of God in the dream. After that Odhekar built the temple. Odhekar's expedition is an important part of Nashik's history. There is a statue of Sardar Odhekar in the temple. According to ancient epic of the

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

, Rama was sent in exile for fourteen years. After the tenth year of exile, Rama along with Lakshmana and Sita, lived for two and half years on the northern bank of the Godavari near Nasik. This place is known as Panchavati.

B.R. Ambedkar's Kalaram Mandir Satyagrah

The temple came middle of the conflict caused by

Satyagraha Satyāgraha (from ; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone who practises satyagraha is ...

organised and led by B.R. Ambedkar. Now it is known as ''Kalaram mandir satyagraha.'' Ambedkar organised a large protest outside this temple on 2 March 1930, in order to enter into the temple. Many

Dalit Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...

protesters arrived to the town by trucks, they surrounded the temple and sat around it. They sang songs, often raised war cries, demanded to enter in the temple. The people of Nashik boycotted the protesters. On the day of Rama Navami 9 April 1930, the Dalit protesters tried to stop the temple ''

ratha yatra Ratha Yatra (), or chariot festival, is any public procession in a chariot. They are held annually during festivals in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The term also refers to the popular annual Ratha Yatra of Puri that involves a public process ...

''; fights and stone pelting began between the higher caste Hindus and the Dalit protesters, later Ambedkar reached at the riot spot, he and other all the protesters suffered minor injuries. Somehow a protester named Bhaskar Kendre broke the police cordon who were protecting the temple and enter in it and fell on the floor. This satyagraha ran till 1935.

Temple complex

The main entrance has a black idol of

Hanuman Hanuman (; , ), also known as Maruti, Bajrangabali, and Anjaneya, is a deity in Hinduism, revered as a divine ''vanara'', and a devoted companion of the deity Rama. Central to the ''Ramayana'', Hanuman is celebrated for his unwavering devotio ...

.There is also a very old tree that has Dattatreya's footprint impressions marked on a stone. Pilgrims visit the Kapaleshwar Mahadev temple near the Kalaram Temple. Hanuman's temple is designed in such a way that, Rama's idol can be visible from Hanuman's idol. Main temple of Rama has 14 steps, which represents 14 years of Rama's exile. Also, the temple has 84 pillars, which represents cycle of 84 lakh species one has to go in order to get human birth.

References

External links

* {{Hindu temples in Maharashtra Hindu pilgrimage sites in India 18th-century Hindu temples Hindu temples in Maharashtra Tourist attractions in Nashik Rama temples Buildings and structures in Nashik