Recently in the group some friend asked about arupadai veedu of Vinayagar in Tamilnadu. Generally it is told that Vinayaga came first to Tamilnadu from western part of India, and the first one was brought by the Chief Minister of Narasimha Pallava during 7th century after winning war against Chalukyas and the Vinayaga was named as ‘Vadabhi Vinayaga. Several scholars countered this theory but Lord Vinayaga was the basic point of devotion and integration for several crore Indians.
In western part, especially surrounding Pine, there are ‘ashta Vinayak Temples’ and most are old temples, but taken well care by devotees and all these temples are situated either on the banks of river or in the hills. Locations are wonderful to eyes.
1.Mayurghan – 40 kms from Pune: The Temple itself with unique architecture mixed with Islamic model of towers. Probably to avoid destruction from the then Muslim rulers. The Mushika Vahana is very attractive with a modern outlook (Mr.Vijay please note – may be useful for your blog).
2.Siddhi Vinayaga at Siddhatek (Pune-Sholapur Highways) – The Temple is situated in heights of small hill surrounded by Hima River. Here the Giri-pradhakshan is very famous.
3.Ballateswar in Paali (11 kms from Pune) Lord Ganapathi is swayampu roopam. Here Boondhi Laddu is offered as prasadham. Lord also has two roopams one as Dundi Vinayaga and another as Ballateswar.
4.Varadha Vinayaka at Mahaad (80 kms from Pune). Here, like other Shiva temples in North India, the swayam Pooja is allowed. No pundits in between devotee and God. Straight-to-Straight. This is also Navagruha Kshetram and a temple for Saneeswara is there,
5.Chintamani Vinayaga – Theiyur (28 kms from Pune): Kapila Rishi garlands the Lord with Chintamani Haar. The temple is situated in the banks of ‘Triveni Sangamam’ as three river, moola, mootha and Bhima rivers garlands the Lord.
6.Giridhathmuja Vinayaga, Lanyaadhri hills: (94 kms from Pune): This is a cave temple and probably one of the oldest Vinayaka. The Lord gets light from Sun rays during the day time.
7.Vignahar at Vhoja (100 kms from Pune): NEAR Upari River, also the Lord is called as Pushpa Vinayaga. The Name Vigneswara was derived from this temple Lord.
8. Maha Ganapathi (Ranjangav, from Pune – 50 kms): Earlier the Ugra Ganapathi was having 10 heads and 20 hands but removed, later a new statue was installed in the same place. Here too, during Dhakshinayan time Sun rays to adore the Lord.
In general all Vinayagas has sindoora colored statues.
The Ashta Ganapathi temple visits are arranged from Mumbai too by state Tourism Development Corporation.
Why not a trip to Ashta Ganapathi? When I read Siddhivinayak, I thought of the famous Siddivinayak, Prabhadevi near Dadar, Bombay. But that was a googly which I didnt read properly. Regarding Lord Ganapathi, this is my observation. We believe in Lord Ganapathi and have lot of love and respect. But when we think of exclusive temples for Lord Ganapathi, Pillarpatti comes in mind ... After that ....
But in Bombay there are atleast couple of temples which are very famous one is the one which I mentioned above and the other is @ Titwala outskits of Bombay. The kind of belief Bombay-ites have in something unimaginable. I stayed with my sister in Borivli / Khandivli which is 15 Km away from Siddhivinayak temple. Our servant maid stayed in Dahisar which is couple of Km away from our place. Every Sankashti (Sankadakara Chadurthi) they walk all the 20 Kms to Siddhivinayak, have HIS dharshan and come back to work.
The belief / faith they have in Siddivinayak ... Amazing!
> > > Recently in the group some friend asked about arupadai veedu > > > of Vinayagar in Tamilnadu. Generally it is told that Vinayaga came > > first to > > > Tamilnadu from western part of India, and the first one was > > brought by the > > > Chief Minister of Narasimha Pallava during 7th century after > > winning > > > war against Chalukyas and the Vinayaga was named as 'Vadabhi > > Vinayaga.
Hi divakar sir
Ws paranjothi aka sirthondar chief minister or general.
Secondly isn't the pillayar patti dated around 2nd century
Thank you Dhivakar. Yes Maharasthra has always been a great Ganapati worshipping state, as much as Murugan is for tamil nadu.And who can possibly forget the Siddhi Vinayak in mumbai itself? It got too crowded and commerical of late but when we were kids every visit to Mumbai would unfailingly include Siddhi Vinayak for passing exams and bright future. He was and is a huge favorite with kids.
Udanx, you touched a chord!! I did not read this before I wrote. Yes Siddhivinayak in Mumbai is a great guy, hot favorite with us kids too. Most of my summer holidays were spent in Mumbai as a child and this was a regular visit with all other cousins and family. The magic and simplicity is no longer there in the temple as well as in Mumbai, but is defintely a great memory for all times :))
As rightly said, as Muruga is to TN, Ganapathi is to Maharashtra.
I think the Vinayaka chaturthi took a new dimension in Maharashtra during the Independence struggle, when Tilak organized a mass rally in the cover of Vinayaka chaturthi. Can some one throw more light on this?
man's God and chose Ganesh pooja to rally people of all castes against the British. The Ganesh Pooja now in Mumbai and other places is crassly commercial and does not have any of the communal unity or bhakti or anything that he envisioned it to be, just large figurines and people competing madly against one another.
IT IS VERY INTERESTING TO KNOW HOW TILAK USED A FESTIVAL IN FREEDOM STRUGGLE. IT IS OBVIOUS THAT OUR CLEVER LEADERS HAVE USED EVERY THING AS A WEAPON (WHICH IS NOT ACTUALLY A WEAPON)AGAINST BRITISH. THANKS AND REGARDS, PRIYA