BASARA TEMPLE – ABODE OF TRINITY

Located on the banks of river Godavari, the Gnana Saraswathi Temple at Basara situated in town of Adilabad district is about 100 kms from Nanded. The Saraswati temple at Basara is one of the two famous Saraswati temples in India, the other being in Jammu & Kashmir. Legend has it that Sage Vyasa during his stay here used to bring daily three handfuls of sand after a bath in Godavari and kept it at a place, which transformed as the images of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Kali. How ever, according to Brahmandapuranam, Adikavi Valmiki installed Saraswati and wrote Ramayana here. There is a marble image of Valmiki and his samadhi near the temple. It is believed that this temple is one of the three temples constructed near the confluence of Manjira and Godavari rivers by Ashtrakutas. According to another school of thought ‘Bijialudu’ a Karnataka king, who ruled the province of Nandagiri with Nanded as his capital in the sixth century, constructed the temple at Basara. The image of Lakshmi stands besides Goddess Saraswati in the sanctum sanctorum. Due to the presence of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Kali, Basara is considered as the abode of the divine trinity.
There is rush of pilgrims coming to Basara to perform “Akshara abhyasam” for the children before commencing formal school education. Since Maharishi Vyasa spent considerable time in prayers, the place was then called “Vasara” and turned into Basara due to the influence of the Marathi language in the region.

It is a must visit for people from Maharashtra when they visit on pilgrimage to Parli Vaijnath , Aundha Nagnath or Nanded

TEMPLE TIMINGS- Temple is open from 4:00 Am to 8:30 PM and closes in between from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM