Siddhivināyak and the Aṣṭavināyaka

Śrī Gaṇeśa · Mumbai and the Pune region, Maharashtra

The Siddhivināyak temple in Prabhadevi, Mumbai, is one of the most visited Gaṇeśa temples in India; its image has the trunk turned to the right, considered especially powerful. Tuesdays and Saṅkaṣṭī Caturthī bring long queues.

The Aṣṭavināyaka are eight ancient Gaṇeśa shrines around Pune, visited as a circuit: Moragaon (Mayūreśvara), Siddhaṭek (Siddhivināyaka), Pālī (Ballāḷeśvara), Mahaḍ (Varadavināyaka), Theur (Cintāmaṇi), Leṇyādri (Girijātmaja), Ozar (Vighneśvara) and Rāñjaṇgaon (Mahāgaṇapati). Each image is held to be svayambhū, self-manifested. Gaṇeśa Caturthī is the great festival.

Each Aṣṭavināyaka shrine has its own story, mostly from the Gaṇeśa and Mudgala Purāṇas. At Moragaon, tradition says Gaṇeśa rode a peacock to defeat the demon Sindhu. At Pālī, he appeared to his child devotee Ballāḷa, whose faith survived his own father’s anger, and stayed there in the boy’s name.

Maharashtra · Śrī Gaṇeśa · Gaṇeśa Caturthī · Saṅkaṣṭī Caturthī

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