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Courtesy:Sri.P,P.Ramachandran
MY SIXTEENTH GANESHA MESSAGE
SEVERAL FRIENDS HAVE REQUESTED ME TO WRITE ON "ASHTAVINAYAK".
DO READ AND REACT.
ABOVE ALL DO VISIT THESE TEMPLES.
PPR
Ashtavinayak Temples
Lord Ganesha has a special and exalted place in the Hindu pantheon of Gods. For success in all endeavours his name has to be invoked at the very beginning. He is the remover of obstacles and one who ensures success: Sukha karta dukh harta. Even his father Lord Shiva could not succeed in defeating the demon Tripurasura as he had forgotten to invoke the name of Ganesha.
In South India there are six houses of Ganesha's younger brother Karthikeya called "Aru Padai Veedu". Similarly there are eight houses of Ganesha located in and around Pune and these are known as "Ashta VinayakaTemples". They are located at Ozhar, Lenyadri, Mahad, Pali, Theur, Morgaon, Siddhatek and Ranjangaon. The temples are at a distance varying from 23 to 110 kilometres from Pune city. Excellent arrangements are available to visit the temples in two days. I shall deal with the temples as we covered them.
Sri Vigneshwara of Ozar
Abhinandana, a king at Hemawati was consumed by ambition and decided to perform a yagna that would lead him to victory over Indra, the Lord of heavens. When Indra learnt of this he invoked the demon Vighnasura whose main occupation was to disturb Vedic rituals and yagnas. The Gods went to Ganesha, who fought and defeated Vighnasura. While accepting defeat, the demon requested Ganesha to pardon him and align his name with that of the God. The place where this battle was enacted is Ozar and the Lord is known as "Vighneshwar Vinayaka" (the conqueror of Vighnasur).
Sri Girijatmaj of Lenyadri
Lenyadri connotes a cave and this temple is carved out of a mountain. One has to climb 307 steps. The temple has an impressive hall 54 x 51 feet with not a single pillar supporting it. The idol is not properly carved as it is believed that Ganesha sits with his back to the entrance of the hall and faces the other side of the mountain. Efforts to dig on the other side and get the full image of the Lord have proved unsuccessful. Thus one can see only the right half of the face of Ganesha. There are 18 other caves along with this but they have been found inaccessible.
The legend avers that Goddess Parvati desired to have a son and undertook a rigorous penance for twelve years at this spot. Vinayaka was pleased and agreed to be her son. He took the form of her son and since he is the son of Girija he is known as Girijatmaj - atmaj meaning son. Lord Ganesha spent 15 years here and destroyed the asuras who used to disturb the yagnas of rishis who resided in the wild forests of this mountainous region.
Sri Varad Vinayak of Mahad
This temple is carved out of stone. There is a small pond behind the temple and it is believed that the present idol was recovered from the pond sometime in 1690. The temple was constructed during the reign of the Marathas and renovated by the British rulers. In 1738, the Saint Harihar Gosavi attained samadhi in this place.
To cut to the legend, the King of Vidarbha - Bhim was very brave, but unfortunately had no children. His prayers to Ganesha endowed him with a son named Rukmangad. Once Rukmangad went to the forest to hunt and was very tired and thirsty. He reached the ashram of Rishi Vaishnavi. The wife of the Rishi Mukunda saw the handsome Prince and promptly became infatuated. The King turned down her request to fulfill her desire to marry him. Angry at being spurned, she cursed him to become a leper. Rukmangad performed penance for long years to free himself from the curse. Narada happened to meet him and advised him to bathe in the Kadamb Lake to restore normalcy. The King did so and was freed of leprosy. Indra who came to know of the infatuation of Mukunda disguised himself as Rukmangad and had relations with her. This union led to the birth of a son named Gritsamada. This boy grew up to be a learned, brave and noble person but some knowledgeable Rishis belittled him on the grounds of his birth. Completely shattered, Gritsamada retreated to the forests. He performed severe tapas for years, stood on one leg and ate only dry leaves. He recited the famous Ganesha mantra "Gananamtva ganapatim havamahe kavim kavinaam upamastra vasthamam". Finally Ganesha gave him a boon which made him such a renowned Rishi that his name came to be chanted at the start of Ganesha mantra. Since Lord Vinyaka gave the boon here he is known as "Varad Vinayaka".
Sri Ballaleshwar of Pali
The idol here is 3 feet high. A special attraction is the big bell in the temple made of "panchadatu"- alloy of five elements. This bell was manufactured in Europe and brought to India and installed in the church of Vasai-sasti in Konkan. Chimajee Appa - a Maratha who had defeated the Portuguese brought this bell from the church and installed it in the temple.
Before one enters the main temple, one finds a Dhundi Vinayaka which is said to be swayambhu .This Ganesha is typically worshipped first. The main idol wears a dhothi like a Brahmin and this is the only Ganeshatemple bearing the name of the worshipper. Let us turn to that story now.
A grocer named Kalyan had a son named Ballal who was so fond of worshipping Ganesha that he took his friends to the forest as well. When other parents complained of the bad influence that Ballal had, his father became wild and went into the forest in search of his son. He found him in deep contemplation and beat him mercilessly till he started bleeding. Kalyan tied Ballal to a tree and went home. He also smashed all puja materials and cast away the idol his son worshipped. The boy prayed to Ganesha who took the form of a Brahmin and restored Ballal to normalcy. Ballal recognized that the Brahmin was Ganesha and asked as a boon that the Lord stay permanently in the forest. The Brahmin disappeared and in his place a black rock appeared with the form of Ganesha carved on it. The idol came to be known as Ballaleshwara and wears a dhothi like a Brahmin. The idol Kalyan had cast away is known as the Dhundi Vinayaka.
Sri Chintamani of Theur
This is a temple originally built by Gosavi Moraya and renovated by Madhavrao Peshwa. Here again, one finds bells brought from Portugal. On the Ghats of the adjoining Mulla Mutha River, the wife of Madhavrao Peshwa committed sati.
To recount the legend, Prince Gana, the son of King Abhijit, was a very brave warrior. He went to the ashram of Kapila Rishi where he saw the diamond Chintamani - a magic diamond which could bring forth anything the owner wanted. Gana asked the Rishi to give it to him. When the latter refused he snatched it from him. Kapila worshipped Ganesha who was so pleased with his devotion that he got the diamond back for him after destroying Gana. By this time Kapila had lost interest in Chintamani and did not take it back. He requested Ganesha to stay in its place. Ganesha remained there under a kadamba tree and took the name "Chintamani Vinayaka". The village is called Kadamb tirth.
Sri Mayureshwar of Morgaon
"Mor" in Marathi connotes peacock and the village of Morgaon not only had lots of peacocks but its configuration resembled a peacock. The temple structure was built during the Mughal reign, though the idol is more ancient. A distinguishing feature of this templeis that a giant black Nandi is ensconced facing the idol of Ganesha. Nandi is the vahana of Shiva and is normally found facing a Shiva Linga. It is believed that the cart carrying a Nandi for a Shivalaya broke down just as it reached the Ganesha temple. It got stuck there and no efforts to take it out succeeded. The cart driver had a dream the next night that the Nandi wanted to remain there. So the Nandi continues to face Lord Ganesh.
The idol of Ganesha is in a sitting posture and has diamonds on its eyes. Due to constant application of sindur the original shape is supposed to have been lost. The vermilion comes off once in a hundred years - last in 1882. Now for the legend- Chakrapani, a King had no son for years. He worshiped the Sun God and was blessed with a son named Sindhu. The son also worshipped the sun and was blessed with immortality. He conquered the world, as also Indra and Vishnu. Thereafter, he proceeded to conquer Kailas. All gods prayed to Ganesha to avert this. Ganesha took an avatar as the son of Parvati. He fought a great battle and defeated Sindhu or Kamalasur and killed him cutting his body into three pieces. The head fell near Morgaon and the villagers constructed a temple here. Ganesha fought this battle on a peacock and he was known as Mayureshwar. This peacock was gifted by him to his brother Karthikeya.
Sri Siddhivinayak of Siddhatek
Siddhatek means a place where one gets "siddhi" or success. This is the only temple in our itinerary where Ganesha's trunk turns to the right. The present structure of the temple was built by the Peshwas and Queen Ahilya Bai Holkar built the sanctum sanctorum. Maharishi Vyasa, Moraya Gosavi and Narayan Maharaj have prayed in this temple and obtained success. Even Lord Vishnu worshipped Ganesha here and obtained siddhi.
The legend has it those two demons Madhu and Kaitaba emerged from the wax in ears of Vishnu and created trouble for Brahma. Lord Vishnu - woken up from his cosmic slumber failed to defeat the two demons. He sought the advice of Shiva who asked him to worship Ganesha .Vishnu undertook a penance and uttered for the first time the prayer, "Om Sri Ganeshaya Namaha". Pleased by Vishnu's penance Ganesha fought and destroyed the demons. The place where Vishnu was blessed by Ganesha is known as Siddhatek and Ganesha is known as Siddhi-Vinayaka.
Shri Mahaganapati of Ranjangaon
The temple dates back to the 19th century and the sanctum sanctorum was constructed by Madhavrao Peshwa in 1768. It is believed that in the basement below the main idol there is another idol of Ganesha with 10 trunks and 20 hands.
Gritsamada, a devotee of Ganesha, had a son who wanted to conquer all the three lokas as he grew up. Advised by his father, he prayed to Ganesha who blessed him with extraordinary powers and said that only Shiva can defeat him. He also gave him three cities made of steel, silver and gold. This Prince became an Asura known as Tripurasura. He conquered all the three lokas and started humiliating all Gods. Finally the Gods rushed to Shiva who worshipped Ganesha and killed Tripurasura destroying the three cities. The place where Shiva worshipped Ganesha came to be known as Ranjangaon and the Ganesha as "Mahaganapati".
For those interested, there is an excellent book "Ganesha" by Shakuntala Jagannathan and Nanditha Krishna, with splendid illustrations, both in colour and black and white.
The main Ganesha legends are sourced from the Shiva purana, Linga purana, Brahmavaivarta purana, Skanda purana, Varaha purana, Matsya purana and Padma purana. Two Upapuranas - the Ganesha purana and Mudgala purana also have stories of Ganesha.
MY SIXTEENTH GANESHA MESSAGE
SEVERAL FRIENDS HAVE REQUESTED ME TO WRITE ON "ASHTAVINAYAK".
DO READ AND REACT.
ABOVE ALL DO VISIT THESE TEMPLES.
PPR
Ashtavinayak Temples
Lord Ganesha has a special and exalted place in the Hindu pantheon of Gods. For success in all endeavours his name has to be invoked at the very beginning. He is the remover of obstacles and one who ensures success: Sukha karta dukh harta. Even his father Lord Shiva could not succeed in defeating the demon Tripurasura as he had forgotten to invoke the name of Ganesha.
In South India there are six houses of Ganesha's younger brother Karthikeya called "Aru Padai Veedu". Similarly there are eight houses of Ganesha located in and around Pune and these are known as "Ashta VinayakaTemples". They are located at Ozhar, Lenyadri, Mahad, Pali, Theur, Morgaon, Siddhatek and Ranjangaon. The temples are at a distance varying from 23 to 110 kilometres from Pune city. Excellent arrangements are available to visit the temples in two days. I shall deal with the temples as we covered them.
Sri Vigneshwara of Ozar
Abhinandana, a king at Hemawati was consumed by ambition and decided to perform a yagna that would lead him to victory over Indra, the Lord of heavens. When Indra learnt of this he invoked the demon Vighnasura whose main occupation was to disturb Vedic rituals and yagnas. The Gods went to Ganesha, who fought and defeated Vighnasura. While accepting defeat, the demon requested Ganesha to pardon him and align his name with that of the God. The place where this battle was enacted is Ozar and the Lord is known as "Vighneshwar Vinayaka" (the conqueror of Vighnasur).
Sri Girijatmaj of Lenyadri
Lenyadri connotes a cave and this temple is carved out of a mountain. One has to climb 307 steps. The temple has an impressive hall 54 x 51 feet with not a single pillar supporting it. The idol is not properly carved as it is believed that Ganesha sits with his back to the entrance of the hall and faces the other side of the mountain. Efforts to dig on the other side and get the full image of the Lord have proved unsuccessful. Thus one can see only the right half of the face of Ganesha. There are 18 other caves along with this but they have been found inaccessible.
The legend avers that Goddess Parvati desired to have a son and undertook a rigorous penance for twelve years at this spot. Vinayaka was pleased and agreed to be her son. He took the form of her son and since he is the son of Girija he is known as Girijatmaj - atmaj meaning son. Lord Ganesha spent 15 years here and destroyed the asuras who used to disturb the yagnas of rishis who resided in the wild forests of this mountainous region.
Sri Varad Vinayak of Mahad
This temple is carved out of stone. There is a small pond behind the temple and it is believed that the present idol was recovered from the pond sometime in 1690. The temple was constructed during the reign of the Marathas and renovated by the British rulers. In 1738, the Saint Harihar Gosavi attained samadhi in this place.
To cut to the legend, the King of Vidarbha - Bhim was very brave, but unfortunately had no children. His prayers to Ganesha endowed him with a son named Rukmangad. Once Rukmangad went to the forest to hunt and was very tired and thirsty. He reached the ashram of Rishi Vaishnavi. The wife of the Rishi Mukunda saw the handsome Prince and promptly became infatuated. The King turned down her request to fulfill her desire to marry him. Angry at being spurned, she cursed him to become a leper. Rukmangad performed penance for long years to free himself from the curse. Narada happened to meet him and advised him to bathe in the Kadamb Lake to restore normalcy. The King did so and was freed of leprosy. Indra who came to know of the infatuation of Mukunda disguised himself as Rukmangad and had relations with her. This union led to the birth of a son named Gritsamada. This boy grew up to be a learned, brave and noble person but some knowledgeable Rishis belittled him on the grounds of his birth. Completely shattered, Gritsamada retreated to the forests. He performed severe tapas for years, stood on one leg and ate only dry leaves. He recited the famous Ganesha mantra "Gananamtva ganapatim havamahe kavim kavinaam upamastra vasthamam". Finally Ganesha gave him a boon which made him such a renowned Rishi that his name came to be chanted at the start of Ganesha mantra. Since Lord Vinyaka gave the boon here he is known as "Varad Vinayaka".
Sri Ballaleshwar of Pali
The idol here is 3 feet high. A special attraction is the big bell in the temple made of "panchadatu"- alloy of five elements. This bell was manufactured in Europe and brought to India and installed in the church of Vasai-sasti in Konkan. Chimajee Appa - a Maratha who had defeated the Portuguese brought this bell from the church and installed it in the temple.
Before one enters the main temple, one finds a Dhundi Vinayaka which is said to be swayambhu .This Ganesha is typically worshipped first. The main idol wears a dhothi like a Brahmin and this is the only Ganeshatemple bearing the name of the worshipper. Let us turn to that story now.
A grocer named Kalyan had a son named Ballal who was so fond of worshipping Ganesha that he took his friends to the forest as well. When other parents complained of the bad influence that Ballal had, his father became wild and went into the forest in search of his son. He found him in deep contemplation and beat him mercilessly till he started bleeding. Kalyan tied Ballal to a tree and went home. He also smashed all puja materials and cast away the idol his son worshipped. The boy prayed to Ganesha who took the form of a Brahmin and restored Ballal to normalcy. Ballal recognized that the Brahmin was Ganesha and asked as a boon that the Lord stay permanently in the forest. The Brahmin disappeared and in his place a black rock appeared with the form of Ganesha carved on it. The idol came to be known as Ballaleshwara and wears a dhothi like a Brahmin. The idol Kalyan had cast away is known as the Dhundi Vinayaka.
Sri Chintamani of Theur
This is a temple originally built by Gosavi Moraya and renovated by Madhavrao Peshwa. Here again, one finds bells brought from Portugal. On the Ghats of the adjoining Mulla Mutha River, the wife of Madhavrao Peshwa committed sati.
To recount the legend, Prince Gana, the son of King Abhijit, was a very brave warrior. He went to the ashram of Kapila Rishi where he saw the diamond Chintamani - a magic diamond which could bring forth anything the owner wanted. Gana asked the Rishi to give it to him. When the latter refused he snatched it from him. Kapila worshipped Ganesha who was so pleased with his devotion that he got the diamond back for him after destroying Gana. By this time Kapila had lost interest in Chintamani and did not take it back. He requested Ganesha to stay in its place. Ganesha remained there under a kadamba tree and took the name "Chintamani Vinayaka". The village is called Kadamb tirth.
Sri Mayureshwar of Morgaon
"Mor" in Marathi connotes peacock and the village of Morgaon not only had lots of peacocks but its configuration resembled a peacock. The temple structure was built during the Mughal reign, though the idol is more ancient. A distinguishing feature of this templeis that a giant black Nandi is ensconced facing the idol of Ganesha. Nandi is the vahana of Shiva and is normally found facing a Shiva Linga. It is believed that the cart carrying a Nandi for a Shivalaya broke down just as it reached the Ganesha temple. It got stuck there and no efforts to take it out succeeded. The cart driver had a dream the next night that the Nandi wanted to remain there. So the Nandi continues to face Lord Ganesh.
The idol of Ganesha is in a sitting posture and has diamonds on its eyes. Due to constant application of sindur the original shape is supposed to have been lost. The vermilion comes off once in a hundred years - last in 1882. Now for the legend- Chakrapani, a King had no son for years. He worshiped the Sun God and was blessed with a son named Sindhu. The son also worshipped the sun and was blessed with immortality. He conquered the world, as also Indra and Vishnu. Thereafter, he proceeded to conquer Kailas. All gods prayed to Ganesha to avert this. Ganesha took an avatar as the son of Parvati. He fought a great battle and defeated Sindhu or Kamalasur and killed him cutting his body into three pieces. The head fell near Morgaon and the villagers constructed a temple here. Ganesha fought this battle on a peacock and he was known as Mayureshwar. This peacock was gifted by him to his brother Karthikeya.
Sri Siddhivinayak of Siddhatek
Siddhatek means a place where one gets "siddhi" or success. This is the only temple in our itinerary where Ganesha's trunk turns to the right. The present structure of the temple was built by the Peshwas and Queen Ahilya Bai Holkar built the sanctum sanctorum. Maharishi Vyasa, Moraya Gosavi and Narayan Maharaj have prayed in this temple and obtained success. Even Lord Vishnu worshipped Ganesha here and obtained siddhi.
The legend has it those two demons Madhu and Kaitaba emerged from the wax in ears of Vishnu and created trouble for Brahma. Lord Vishnu - woken up from his cosmic slumber failed to defeat the two demons. He sought the advice of Shiva who asked him to worship Ganesha .Vishnu undertook a penance and uttered for the first time the prayer, "Om Sri Ganeshaya Namaha". Pleased by Vishnu's penance Ganesha fought and destroyed the demons. The place where Vishnu was blessed by Ganesha is known as Siddhatek and Ganesha is known as Siddhi-Vinayaka.
Shri Mahaganapati of Ranjangaon
The temple dates back to the 19th century and the sanctum sanctorum was constructed by Madhavrao Peshwa in 1768. It is believed that in the basement below the main idol there is another idol of Ganesha with 10 trunks and 20 hands.
Gritsamada, a devotee of Ganesha, had a son who wanted to conquer all the three lokas as he grew up. Advised by his father, he prayed to Ganesha who blessed him with extraordinary powers and said that only Shiva can defeat him. He also gave him three cities made of steel, silver and gold. This Prince became an Asura known as Tripurasura. He conquered all the three lokas and started humiliating all Gods. Finally the Gods rushed to Shiva who worshipped Ganesha and killed Tripurasura destroying the three cities. The place where Shiva worshipped Ganesha came to be known as Ranjangaon and the Ganesha as "Mahaganapati".
For those interested, there is an excellent book "Ganesha" by Shakuntala Jagannathan and Nanditha Krishna, with splendid illustrations, both in colour and black and white.
The main Ganesha legends are sourced from the Shiva purana, Linga purana, Brahmavaivarta purana, Skanda purana, Varaha purana, Matsya purana and Padma purana. Two Upapuranas - the Ganesha purana and Mudgala purana also have stories of Ganesha.
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