Ashtavinayak Ganpati: 8 most significant Ganesha temples in Maharashtr

Bhallal was a very ardent devotee of Lord Ganesh and his father Kalyansheth wanted to put a stop to it. One day, a very angry kalyasheth tied his son to the tree and told him to free himself with the help of lord Ganesha. The lord, after hearing the plea of his devotee came down in the form of a Brahmin and freed Bhallal. On Bhallal’s request, a temple with the deity was built on the spot. This is worth noting because this is the only temple in this circuit that is named after a devotee of his. Siddhivinayak Temple of Siddhatek is one of the Ashtavinayaka and the only Ashtavinayaka shrine in Ahmednagar district.

The temple is located on the northern bank of the river Bhima on a hillock, surrounded by thick foliage of Babul trees. The idol faces north with its trunk to the left, and has to be worshipped from the rear of the temple. This idol seems little different from the rest of the Ashtavinayak idols in a sense that it appears to be poorly designed or carved like the other idols.

The village Morgaon also gets the name from the large population of peacocks that used to live around this region. These were made to make it look like a mosque from a distance, to avoid constant attacks on the temple. This is the most important temple in all the Ashtavinayak temples.

The temples visited in descending order are Siddhatek, Pali, Mahad, Thevur, Lenyandri, Ozar, Ranjangaon. The pilgrimage is concluded with a second visit to Moregaon. The legend revolves around a special Gem called Chintamani. The sage Kapila had this Gem in his possession which has the capacity to grant one’s wishes.

Nodding His head Shri Ganesha made his permanent stay at Pali as Ballal Vinayak and disappeared in a large stone. Behind this temple is the temple of Shri Dhundi-Vinayak which is ashtavinayak mandir West facing. The story says that this idol was the same one which was thrown by Ballala's father (Kalyani-seth) while Ballala was worshipping it.

On being conquered, the demon begged for mercy and fell at the Lord's feet. Ganesha agreed on the condition that the asura should not go to any place where his worship was going on. The demon was saddened, but requested a return favor that his name should be taken everytime, before Ganesha was worshipped. Thus, the Lord also got the name Vighnahar or Vighneshwar . The Ganesha residing in this temple is called Shri Vighneshwar Vinayak. The Varadavinayak temple is situated 3 kms off the Mumbai-Pune highway, near Khopoli.

At this temple, I saw a caterpillar for the first time in my life. It had small wings which were just coming out of the cocoon. In short, the caterpillar was in the process of becoming a butterfly. My first reaction when I saw it was that it’s going to die soon, and it looks so ugly. But later when I thought about it then I realised it’s actually all set to be a beautiful butterfly.