Morgaon Ganesha Temple

As per the historical records, there was a prominent Ganapatya saint named Morya Gosavi. He worshiped at the Morgaon Ganesha temple before relocating to Chinchwad. There, he built a new shrine. This temple along with other temples near Pune enjoyed royal patronage from the Brahmin Peshwa rulers.

As per Anne Feldhaus, the date of this temple stands disputed. It does not go back to the seventeenth century when the Morya Gosavi popularized it.

According to Ganesha Purana, God Ganesh incarnated as Mayureshwar who had six arms and a white complexion. He was born in the Treta Yuga for the purpose of killing the demon named Sindhu. The demon caused hardship to the people of the Universe and Gods pleaded to Ganpati for help. The Lord came down on a peacock mount and waged a battle against Sindhu and later vanquished him.

Lord Brahma, the creator of the universe, installed the original image of the lord. Later, the Pandava princes installed a copper image during the course of their pilgrimage.

There is another legend which states that this place had a large number of peacocks. Hence the name is Morgaon or the Village of Peacocks. The presiding God is Moreshwar.

Another significant Ganapatya legend states that Lord Brahma along with Vishnu, Shiva, the Divine Mother Devi and Surya meditated at Morgaon to gain knowledge about their creator and the purpose of existence. Then Lord Ganesha appeared before them in the form of an Omkara flame and blessed them.

The significance of Morgaon ganapati Temple is that a huge stone boundary encloses the place of worship with minarets at four corners of the temple. The four gates which depict four ages face a cardinal direction with an image of Ganesha. Each form relates with an aim of life.

The main entrance of the shrine faces the north direction.

This beautiful courtyard has two Deepmalas and a 6-foot mouse that sits in front of the temple. An enormous structure of Nandi faces the Lord on the outside of the Morgaon Ganpati Temple gates.

Recently there is an assembly hall which is the home to the deities of Lord Vishnu and Lakshmi. This, in turn, paves a way for the central hall that was built by the Patwardhan Rulers of Kurundwad.

Morgaon Ganpati temple’s ceiling stone is made up of a single stone and the Garbhagriha houses a central image of the Lord facing the north direction.

The space around the assembly hall contains 23 different idols symbolizing various forms of Lord Ganesha. These idols include the images of the eight forms of the God as explained in Mudgala Purana.Here are some of the festivals celebrated at Morgaon Ganapati Temple:

• Ganesh Jayanti or the festival that celebrates the birthday of Lord Ganesha sees thousands of devotees assembling in the temple premises.
• Every year people from distant places gather in this place to offer prayers and seek blessings from the Almighty. It falls in the Hindu month of Bhadrapada and the celebrations last for more than a month. Devotees can offer a donation to the Chinchwad Deosthan Trust and collect the receipt. The Prasad can be sent to the pilgrims by post.
• The devotees also celebrate Vijayadasami with great fervor.

Some other festivals observed in this temple include Shukla Chaturthi, Krishna Chaturthi, and Somavati Amavasya.

The idol of this temple is Lord Mayureshwar or Lord Ganesha also called as Lord Moreshwar which is made of alloy of five metals and the trunk of lord Ganesha towards left and bounded with Goddess Riddhi and Goddess Siddhi. The other idol in this temple are Lord Shiva, Goddess Parvati, Lord Vishnu, Lord Rama, Lord Brahnma, Nagna-Bhairava, Nandi etc. There are 6 feet mouse idol on the entrance of the temple and other 23 idols of Lord Ganesha which all depicting different forms of Lord Ganpati. Ganesh Chaturthi, Magh Shuddha Chaturthi, Dasehara and Somavati Amavasya are major festivals are celebrated by this temple and lots of people visiting this temple on that days. On Sankasthi chaturthi of every month attract huge pilgrims from different parts. This is must visit the temple of Maharashtra.

As per Hindu mythology, Lord Ganesha is the God of prosperity and good will and is the remover of all obstacles that is faced by humans in their life. Hence before beginning any new venture people worship Lord Ganesha. The elephant faced God is prayed and loved by everyone who believes in Hinduism.

Every year people set out for Ashtavinayak pilgrimage which means visiting the eight auspicious Ganesh temples. Moryeshwar or Morgaon Ganesha temple is the most special and auspicious of all the eight temples. This temple is visited first and last during the pilgrimage and the pilgrimage is said to be incomplete without visiting this temple.

Morgaon Ganesha temple is located in Morgaon in Pune in Maharashtra. Morgaon is about 80 kms from Pune city. Here the temple is located in the middle of a village and the temple resembles a fort with a 50 feet high dome and four pillars on all the corners. The temple is made of black stone and has four gates.  The devotees are greeted with a tall stone pillar of oil lamp, a flight of steps leads one to the main entrance of the temple. Inside the temple is a six foot tall mooshak, the mount or vehicle of Lord Ganesha. The idol of Ganesha is in a sitting position and wears silver headed cobra above the crown. There are diamonds placed on the eyes and navel of the idol. All the pujas are done only by the priests and people are not allowed in the sanctum.

There are eight idols of Ganesha, which are the incarnations of the Lord, are placed on the eight corners of the temple is very peculiar and attractive. Another attractive feature here is the tall black statue of ‘Nandi’, the bull. As per the Hindu mythology, the statue was being transported from a nearby Shiva temple. But as soon as it reached the present place, it couldn’t be removed from there.

There are many legends related to how the temple got the name and why is it so famous and auspicious. It is said that the Lord used his vehicle or mount, as peacock which he later gave it to his brother, Skanda and thus got the name. Another belief is that the place had a large population of peacocks hence its Morgaon.

Moreover it is believed that Brahma the creator - God has himself sanctified the place twice and hence it is very specialAn 80 km drive from Pune will bring you to a place that the Ganesha Purana states is the most important place for Ganesha on Bhuloka – Morgaon. Here, the Moreshwar Temple is the starting point of the famous Ashtavinayaka pilgrimage circuit. It is called an adhya pitha – the centre of worship for those who belong to the Ganapatya sect.

In the Treta Yuga, King Chakrapani and his queen, Ugra, ruled over the kingdom of Gandaki near Mithila. The royal couple did not have any children and so Ugra prayed to Surya Deva for a child. Her prayers were answered but the foetus was so brilliant and radiant that Ugra could not bear the light and heat that emanated from it. To get rid of the foetus, Ugra abandoned it in the ocean. Here the foetus developed into a brilliant baby and was cared for the sea god. The sea god then took the form of a Brahmin and reunited the baby with his bereaved father, Chakrapani. Chakrapani named his son Sindhu, for he had come from the sea.
Sindhu was clearly no ordinary boy. He had great ambitions and in order to realise them he performed intense tapasya to please Surya Deva. Surya Deva, impressed by Sindhu’s efforts, gave Sindhu a bowl of amrut that was guaranteed to make Sindhu immortal. Sindhu consumed the amrut and stored the bowl in his navel, as Surya had promised that this bowl would continuously supply Sindhu with more amrut and ward off death. With such a great boon, Sindhu became proud, arrogant and dominating. He picked fights with devas and troubled good people. All the Gods rushed to Ganesha for help and Ganesha promised to take birth on Bhuloka and put Sindhu in his place.

Thus Ganesha was born to Parvathi and Shiva during the Treta Yuga. Shiva named him Ganesha and instead of his usual rat, Ganesha used a peacock as his mode of transport. With the peacock as his vahana, Ganesha also came to be called Moreshwar. Astride his peacock, Moreshwar defeated Sindhu’s mighty army, killed his sons and finally came for wicked Sindhu, himself. Sindhu was so arrogant that he did not heed his father’s warnings and Moreshwar killed Sindhu by ripping his body into three. According to some stories, Sindhu’s head fell in the village of Morgaon. Here the locals built a temple dedicated to Moreshwar.

In other stories, after the great battle was complete, Moreshwar looked for a place to settle down and spend the rest of his avatarhood. He chose Morgaon, a lush green, beautiful home to peacocks; along the banks of the sacred Karha and this is where we still find Him today.

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