Vaishnav Akhara Camps & Procession, Panchavati

Where the Godavari meets the little Kapila stream, on the open Tapovan flats just northeast of Panchavati, one of Nashik's great living traditions unfolds.

• Every twelfth year, when the Simhastha Kumbh comes to the Godavari, the Ramanandi Vaishnav akharas — the Bairagi orders of Digambar, Nirvani and Nirmohi — raise a temporary tent-city here, complete with flag-topped camps, community langars and akhara standards.
• From Tapovan they set out in grand peshwai processions of caparisoned elephants, horses, chariots and saffron-robed sadhus, winding through Panchavati to the stone tank of Ramkund for the shahi snan, the royal bath at the astrologically appointed hour.
• The arrangement has a documented history.
• By tradition, a bitter clash in 1789 between the Shaiva Sanyasi and Vaishnava Bairagi akharas was settled during the Peshwa period by separating the two sects: the Shaiva orders were given Trimbakeshwar and its Kushavarta kund as their bathing place, while the Vaishnava akharas were assigned Nashik's Ramkund on the Godavari.
• That division still governs the Simhastha to this day, and it is why Nashik-Trimbak is counted as a single Kumbh with two bathing centres about 28 km apart.
• Between the twelve-year gatherings, Tapovan is a quiet, spiritual expanse rather than a spectacle.
• By tradition this is where Lakshmana is believed to have kept watch during the forest exile, and where the episode with Shurpanakha is said to have occurred — the tale many link to the city's very name.
• Pilgrims come for the Godavari-Kapila sangam, small riverside shrines and the wide sky; photographers come at golden hour.
• It is best understood as heritage ground: the stage on which the Vaishnav Kumbh is periodically performed, and a peaceful riverside walk the rest of the time.
• Come with a sense of the history rather than expecting a permanent monument.
• For food, stay pure-vegetarian and close to the temples.
• The Panchavati lanes around Ramkund and the Kalaram temple are lined with vegetarian thali houses, sabudana-khichdi and misal counters, and dairy-sweet shops selling Nashik's famous dudh pedha — many are pure-veg, but at any misal counter it is worth asking for the pure-veg or Jain option before you order.
• A simple Maharashtrian thali, a plate of poha for breakfast, or a glass of hot milk with pedha makes the ideal accompaniment to a slow morning on the Tapovan grounds.