Dutondya Maruti (Two-Faced Hanuman) Temple

On the worn stone steps that fall to the Godavari in Nashik's Panchavati quarter stands one of the city's most curious sacred images: the Dutondya Maruti, literally the "two-faced Hanuman." Where most Maruti idols present a single aspect, this one is carved so that a face and form emerge from both sides of the figure.

• By local telling one side shows Hanuman standing in humble devotion with folded hands, while the reverse reveals his fierce, protective form.
• Painted a deep, glossy sindoor orange and left entirely in the open air, the idol has become a familiar landmark on the Ramayana walking circuit that threads through Panchavati, the grove where, by tradition, Rama, Sita and Lakshmana are believed to have spent part of their forest exile.
• The shrine is closely bound to the rhythms of the river.
• Dutondya Maruti is regarded as the Kshetrapala, or guardian deity, of the Ramkund neighbourhood, and by long custom pilgrims arriving for a holy dip in the Godavari pause here to seek his blessing before descending to the water.
• The idol is said to have been established in the seventeenth century by the saint-poet Samarth Ramdas, who championed Hanuman worship across Maharashtra as an emblem of strength and discipline; where dates are uncertain, this attribution is best treated as tradition.
• Standing directly on the ghat rather than inside an enclosed sanctum, the image also doubles as a flood gauge in the monsoon: when the rising Godavari begins to lap at the idol, residents read it as a warning that the river is running high.
• The atmosphere shifts with the calendar.
• On Hanuman Jayanti the massive figure is freshly recoated with sindoor and oil, oil lamps line the steps, and crowds gather for the evening aarti; during the Simhastha Kumbh the entire ghat becomes a river of pilgrims.
• On an ordinary morning, though, it is a quiet, atmospheric stop between Ramkund and the Kalaram temple.
• For food, the Panchavati and Ramkund pilgrim lanes are lined with modest pure-vegetarian eateries geared to devotees, and vegetarian dining is the easy default across this quarter.
• Nashik's signature dish is misal, a fiery sprouted-bean curry topped with farsan and served with pav; it is usually vegetarian, but as not every misal house is strictly pure-veg, ask specifically for the pure-veg or Jain option before ordering.
• Around the ghats you will also find simple thali houses, poha and sabudana khichdi for fasting days, sabudana vada, and glasses of lassi and filtered coffee.
• For a heartier sit-down meal, the pure-veg restaurants along the Panchavati main road serve Maharashtrian and Gujarati thalis, South Indian tiffin and chaat within a short walk of the temple.