Shree Siddhivinayak Temple

The story

The first small shrine was built in 1801 by Laxman Vithu Patil and Deubai Patil. Prabhadevi was then full of shrubs and coconut palms, and there was a pond beside the temple. Slowly the fame of this Ganpati grew. Temple tradition tells of a saint, Shri Ramkrishna Jambhekar Maharaj, who lived in Prabhadevi and was a dear disciple of Shri Swami Samarth of Akkalkot. Once Swami Samarth asked him what he wanted. Jambhekar Maharaj asked nothing for himself, only that his Siddhivinayak should become widely known. Swami told him to plant a mandar sapling at the temple; as the plant grew, so would the glory of Siddhivinayak. The saint did so on his return. In 1936, on his advice, Govindrao Phatak began regular daily puja. As devotees grew in number, the old shrine became too small. On Akshaya Tritiya in 1990 the foundation of a new temple was laid. Keeping the murti in its place, a many-storeyed temple was built around it, topped by a gold-plated main dome, and on 13 June 1994 the Shankaracharya of Sringeri performed the kalash ceremony. The wooden doors of the sanctum are carved with the eight Ashtavinayak forms. Note that this temple is not one of the Ashtavinayak; the Ashtavinayak Siddhivinayak is at Siddhatek in Ahilyanagar district.