Brahma Temple
Legend has it that Brahma the creator of the Hindu holy trinity was to have just one temple at Pushkar, in Rajasthan. However, little known to many, there is another Brahma temple, this one tucked away in a remote village of Nagargao in Valpoi, Goa.“The Brahma statue in this temple stands tall and elegant. The statue of Lord Brahma blesses all those who come to see him. The beautifully chiseled image of Brahma is dated to the Kadamba period and belongs to the 12th century.The importance of this temple and Brahma idol lies in the fact that it is the original piece of sculpture chiseled out of a black stone during the Kadamba period. Inside the temple the idol of Lord Brahma stands at the center and wears a beard. Brahma is shown in Trimurti form that is the trinity of Brahma – Vishnu – Mahesh.
According to historians in Goa, it was in the 16th century when the island of Tiswadi was conquered by the Portuguese and there was a fear of destruction of the temple.Hence in 1541, the devotees of Brahma smuggled the deity out of Karmali village in Old Goa and in a clandestine manner, carried it to the Sattari taluka which then had not come under Portuguese rule.Sattari taluka came under the Portuguese rule as late as 1781. The devotees then took the idol to Valpoi village and from there to dense forest area of Nagargaon and installed the image in a small shrine on the banks of a stream. This small hamlet later came to be known after the deity Brahma and the village of its origin Karmali (in the Tiswadi taluka) and hence the name Brahma Karmali.
