Ashtavinayak Temples are a group of eight Ganesh Temples situated in Maharashtra State around the city of Pune.
Ashtavinayak.Net has been providing free information about the Ashtavinayak Temples tour. Ashtavinayak Yatra is a famous pilgrimage tour in Maharashtra which covers 8 Svayambhu Ganesh Temples around Pune.
There are conducted bus / car tours from Mumbai as well as Pune for a visit to these temples. Most of these are on weekends. Hence the temples are usually crowded during weekends as well as holidays and festival times. So we decided to visit on weekdays. We hired a car with driver who knew the way around and included Alandi also where Sant Gnaneshwar’s Samadhi is located.
There is a prescribed order in which we are supposed to visit these revered temples.The order is as follows: 1)Moreshwar( Morgaon). 2) Sidhivinayak(Sidhitek). 3) Ballaleshwar(Pali).4) Varadavinayak(Mahad). 5) Chintamani( Theur).6) Girijatmaj(Lenyadri). 7) Vighnahar( Ozar). 8) Mahaganapati(Ranjangaon)
We started from Navi Mumbai on a Tuesday and visited Mahad first. Starting at 6 a.m we were at the temple around 8 a.m. The temple is situated in a scenic village. From Mahad we drove to Pali which is about an hour’s drive.The next stop was Alandi and we reached the place by about noon.After darshan at Alandi, we proceeded to Ranjangaon. On the way we stopped for lunch at a beautiful garden restaurant. Ranjangaon is about two hours drive. After darshan at Ranjangaon we returned to Pune for night stay signalling the end of our first day visits.
On the second day we started again at 6 a.m and headed towards Theur Temple about 25 KMs away. From Theur the next stop was at Moregaon about an hour’s drive.All the idols at the Ashtavinayak Temples are ‘Swayambhoo’ except the one at Moreshwar. The idol here is said to be created by Parvathi Devi using Pancha Bhoothas. From Moregaon we drive out to Sidhitek as the last temple on day two.There is a Vishnu Temple also here which does not have steps to reach the temple.A few stones are kept to step over and reach the top. This requires physical fitness.However the scenary is very beautiful. From Sidhitek we drove back to Pune for night stay.
We later found out that we could have stayed at Sidhitek itself, though we have not tested the staying conditions.
Third day started early and we headed to our seventh Ganapathy at Ozar. It took about three hours drive to reach Ozar. From Ozar we went to Lenyadri cave temple about 15 k.m away.
Lenyadri temple is at a height and one has to negotiate a climb of about 300 steps. Another important point to note is that the climbers encounter monkeys on the way and they grab any item that we human beings carry – like water bottle, hand bags, Prasad packets even flower plates for offering pooja. So be careful to leave all such items(including mobile camera etc) in your car or room before starting the climb. The Temple is situated in a cave and the view is breathtaking. After darshan we climb down with same care about the monkeys.
From Lenyadri we drove back to Navi Mumbai via Malshej Ghats appreciating the heavenly natural beauty of our country.
The above trip could have been done in two days also. But we decided to see all places and the routes also without any hurry and with adequate rest for self and driver. Another point that sticks to our mind apart from the divine experience of the Ganesh Darshan, is that all the temples and surroundings are maintained very clean. There are shoe stands available at each temple and clean toilets available just outside the temple compound. Inside the temples the priests are very polite and explain about the temple cheerfully. There are no touts and no VIP tickets. All are equal before HIM and the que moves smoothely.
Along with Ashtavinayak the trip also covers Jejuri, Balaji and Vaishnodevi Temples.
The food is delicious and prepared by their own cooks.
The guides are very soft spoken and provide information about each temple.
One should visit Ashtavinayak temples once in their life. It is said that your wishes come true if you visit Ashtavinayak.
Ashtavinayak.Net has been operating the tours since last 10 years. They also have a shopping cart online where you can purchase the E-Book of Ashtavinayak which has detailed map with distance calculator to help people who want to go for the yatra on their own from their private vehicles