Ashtavinayak Darshan
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.
He sent his Ankush which caught hold of vighnasura & brought him before Gods. But the Asura assumed many forms like cyclones , flood, fire, etc. Finally when he found that his power & tactics will not succeed , Vighnasura fell at the feet of Ganpati & asked for refuge . He requested that Ganpati should take his name along with his own. Vinayaka accepted his request & hence is called as Vighneshwara or Vighnaraj.
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.
A caterpillar turning into a butterfly was synonymous with my stage in life at that point in time. If you don’t know about God Ganesha or Ganapati, you can first read the information at the end of this blog post. Even if you know about him, you should still find it interesting to read. I have also mentioned information about the Ganesh festival celebrated in India at the very end. Theur's Chintamani was the family deity of Shrimant Madhavrao I Peshwa.
After completing their worship, he and his friends would return home late in the evenings. As the name suggests, Lord Moreshwar portrays Ganesha riding a peacock('Mor' or 'Mayur' means peacock). Lord Mayureshwar is believed to have killed the demon Sindhu at this very spot. The idol has its trunk turned to the left, with the Nagaraja poised over it, protecting it. This form of Ganesha has his wives Riddhi and Siddhi accompanying him. Actually, Riddhi and Siddhi are the qualities of Capability and Intelligence.
It has an imposing main gate which is guarded by two statues of Jay and Vijay. The temple is designed in such away that during Dakshinayan, the apparent movement of the sun to the south, the rays of the sun fall directly on the deity. The temple of Maha Ganpati is very close to the centre of the town Ranjangaon. The temple was erected during the rule of the ashtavinayak mandir Peshwas. Peshwa Madhavrao had constructed the inner sanctum, to house the swayambhoo idol.