Temples of Lord Ganesh

(IPLTOURS)

Our visitors know that there will be no village without the temple of Lord Sri Ram. In practice there may be a village without the temple of Sri Ram but there will not be a village or town without the temple of Lord Vinayak. Any worship initiated by Hindus will not commence without worship of Lord Ganesh, the first worshiper. There are numerous temples of Lord Ganesh in the country. Hindus celebrate navratri every year starts from Vinayaka Chaturdhi and worship Lord Ganesh in different sizes, shapes and decorations. Lord Ganesh is known as Ganesh Maharaj in the north, Vinayagar, Ganapati, Vignaraja, Gananayaka, Ganadhyaksha, etc.in the south particularly Vinayaka in the Telugu states. There are so many temples of Lord Ganesh in different parts of our country and we are quoting the details of important Swayambhu Ganesh temples famously mentioned in the Legends.

Mundkatia Ganesh

Unlike the idols in the temples in the universe, Mundkatia Ganesh appears at Gaurikund near Kedarnath Jyothirling in the state of Uttarakhand with only torso and without head. The temple is not as popular with the headless Ganesh statue which is probably far away from crowds. At Gaurikund, Parvati made a doll out of the four flours on her body and gave life to the doll to take bath before the arrival of Lord Shiva. She placed the doll as her protector before the lake. Lord Shiva came to meet Parvati and was stopped by the boy. Parvati was saddened when Lord Shiva got angry and beheaded the boy with his trident. When Parvathi forced the boy to be resurrected, Lord Shiva resurrected the head of Gajasur attaching it to the torso of the boy as his head had been gifted with worldly reverence when he was killed Gajasur earlier. Mundkatia Ganesh is the headless form of that boy.

Adhisaya Vinayagar

Adishaya Vinayagar Temple located at Keralapuram in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu state is one of the temples famous for the miraculous properties of Lord Ganesha. The Ganesha idol in the temple is believed to be two thousand five hundred years old. The king of Keralapuram went to visit Rameswaram, the 7th Jyotirlinga. While the king was washing his hands and feet, an idol of Ganesh appeared in the river. The king presented the idol to King Sethu Mannan of Rameswaram. Sethu Mannan was happy to see that beautiful gift. He finds wonder in the Ganesha idol and requests the king of Keralapuram to keep the idol as he has found the idol. Sethu Mannan also presented a large emerald-encrusted Ganesha idol to the King of Keralapuram. The king left for his place Keralapuram with the idols. On the way, the king was attacked by robbers and stole the emerald-encrusted statue. The robbers failed to move the Ganesha idol found by the king in the river. Lord Ganesh is being worshiped by the devotees while the robbers left the idol and ran away.

Adi Vinayagar

Arulmigu Mukteshwar Temple in Poomthottam village in the state of Tamil Nadu has another unique temple dedicated to Lord Ganesh in the form of Adi Vinayagar. The temple was built around 1400 years ago. Unlike other temples, Ganesh appears in this temple with human face and without trunk. Lord Ganesh in this temple is known as “Adi Vinayagar”. The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva in the form of Mukteshwar but the temple is popularly known as Ganesh Temple. The site of the temple is now known with the name of Sitalapati rather than the former name of Tilatarpanapuri.

Swayambhu Lakshmi Ganapathi

The unique Sri Lakshmi Ganpati Temple located in the village of Bikkavolu, 33 km from Kakinada, 40 km from Rajahmundry in East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh. Sri Lakshmi Ganapathi in Bikkavolu is of great importance. According to inscriptions, the temple was built during the Chalukya period about fourteen hundred years ago became grounded in Muslim rule. The greatest miracle that can be observed in the temple is that the idol was unveiled about a hundred years ago and is growing year by year. Here it is said that Ganesh grew about an inch or two centimeters every year and that the Swami’s statue was about the size of a coconut initially and now stands a few feet high and is now 90 inch high and 50 inch wide.

Dodda Ganapati

Shakti Ganapati and Satya Ganapati Temple, located in the southern part of Basavagudi in Bangalore, Karnataka, is a unique temple dedicated to Lord Ganesh. Dodda Ganapati is growing towards right. When Nadaprabhu Hiriya, also known as Kempe gowda of the Vijayanagara dynasty, was on a voyage, he has found several rocks and on one of the rocks in the shape of Ganesh. He has ordered to be transformed the rock into a huge and magnificent monolithic statue. The largest idol of Lord Ganesh in Karnataka can be seen in this Dodda Ganesh Temple. Large means big in Kannada. Express the concept of Dodda Ganesh means big Ganesh. In the temple, Lord Ganesh appears eighteen feet high and sixteen feet wide.

Swayambhu Siddhi Vinayaka

Swayambhu Sri Siddhi Vinayaka Temple is located in the village of Ainavilli in the East Godavari District of the state of Andhra Pradesh. It is said that the temple is in existence from Krutha Era before the present Kali Yuga. This field is not described in scriptures.It is mentioned in the book History of Sripada Srivallabha, the incarnation of Dattatreya written by a Sanskrit scholar Shankar Bhatt 800 years ago. The Swarna Maha Ganapati Yajna was performed in the village of Ainavilli under the patronage of Malladi Bhava Narayana. At the end of the Yagya, Local Pandits argued that Ganesh should receive the incense with his trunk and that Ganapati should appear with golden lights. Legend is that Ganesh then incarnated as a Maha Ganapathi in human form from the ashes of the Homa Gundam and received the Homa intence with his trunk as golden Ganapati according to the wishes of the scholars.

Swayambhu Varasiddhi Vinayaka

Swayambhuh Varasiddhi Vigneswara Temple, popularly known as the Kanipakam Vinayak Temple, is one of the most historic temples in the country, located at a distance of 75 km from Tirupati in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The history of Kanipakam Varasiddhi Vinayak is closely related to the history of Siddhi Vinayak who died on his own in Ainavilli in Konaseema, East Godavari district. Both the temples are Swayambhu temples. According to local mythology, three blind, dumb and deaf brothers were born in the village of Kanipakam. These three are the Pandits cursed by Lord Ganesh in Ainavilli. They live modestly, cultivating water from the foothills of the lowlands near Kanipakam. Two of the three brothers fetched water from the well while the third poured water into the ground. One year there was a drought and the rains subsided. The ground water receded and the water in the well dried up. They became depressed. The dumb went down to the well and started removing the sand with a shovel while the other two went to carry the sand to the ground. Afterwards the dumb shovel hit the underwater rock hard. Bleeding from the rock mixed with water from the well. The blood touched to the dumb man and he began to speak pictorially. The deaf man’s body was drenched with water and he was freed from his deformity. With the help of his brothers, the blind man descended into the well and touched the stone His blindness disappeared. The news reached the villagers and they tried to pull the stone out of the well. Their attempt to move the stone was in vain, the stone emerged as Swayambhu Varasiddhi Vinayaka.

Kamandala Ganapati

Kamandala Ganapati Temple is a small temple located in Kesave Village of Koppa taluk in Chikmagalur district of the state of Karnataka has historical significance and was built thousand years ago. According to local mythology, Maa Parvathi wife of Lord Shiva faced many problems due to Saturn’s distortion. Hence Parvati considered the afflictions caused by Saturn to be burdensome. The gods advised Goddess Parvati to meditate on Saturn on earth. Parvati was looking for a suitable place on earth to perform penance. She considered the place ‘Mrigavadhe’, 18 km from the present temple, to be suitable for her penance. Legend has it that Ganesha was then created in the form of a bachelor. Goddess Parvati enshrined Ganapati to get rid of the error of Saturn without interrupting her penance. The ‘ Saturn error’ of Goddess Parvati was solved by this temple.

Swayambhu Ganapati Ratnagiri

Swayambh Ganapati Temple is a tourist destination located on the Arabian Sea, at a distance of 1 km from the town Ganpatipule in Ratnagiri District of the Konkan region in Maharashtra State. According to the legend of the temple, a Brahmin named Balbhatji Bhide lived in the area 1600 ago where the temple is now exists. Bhide had to face a problem and decided to fast to get rid of the problem. Bhide performed penance about Ganesh in the forest. Ganesh appeared to Bhide in a dream and told him that he had come to Gule to fulfill the wishes of his devotees. He said that the hill is his counterpart and that all the hardships would be removed with worship him. One of the cows of Bhide stopped milking. The herdsman kept an eye on the cow and was amazed to see it milking from the udder at the place where the idol of Ganesh. The herdsman told the incident to Bhide. Bhide cleaned the area, saw the idol of Ganesha, built a shrine and started worshiping. In Ganpatipule, ‘pule’ means sand dunes. The name Ganpatipule came into use for this place as Ganesh originated from the sand dunes.