Ashtavinayaka Tour - Moreshwara Temple Story

Last year I had gone to a long-awaited and long-dreamt Ashtavinayaka tour in Maharashtra. As the name suggests, it signified visiting of 8 ancient Ganesha temples, which houses 8 ganapatis, in their own magnaminous avatars and grandiose poise.

I would be narrating the significance and the story behind each of the Ganesha's avatars. The 8 ganapatis in their religious significance are :

Temple	Location	District
Moreshwar	Morgaon	Pune
Siddhivinayak	Siddhatek	Ahamadnagar
Ballaleshwar	Pali	Raigad
Varadavinayaka	Mahad	Raigad
Chintamani	Theur	Pune
Girijatmaja	Lenyadri	Pune
Vighnahar	Ozar	Pune
Mahaganapati	Ranjangaon	Pune

According to Shastras, we have to visit the temples in the order as mentioned above to finish the Ashtavinayaka yatra. It is said that some of these idols are swayambhus or self-existent effigies.

Mayureshwara (or Moreshwara) Temple

This is the the most important temple of the tour because it marks the beginning and the end of the tour. The temple is surrounded by 4 minarets which makes it resemble as if it is a mosque from a distance.

There is a Nandi (Shivas bull mount) in front of the temple premises, which is quite surprising as usually we would find Nandi's in front of Shiva's temples. It is said the Ganesh idol along with the Nandi was being transported to a Shiva temple and the carriage broke in between. And then afterwards, it was not possible to remove the idols from the current place.

The Mayureshwar name came because Ganesha, riding a peacock, killed a demon named Sindhu at this spot. The idol's trunk is turned towards left and has a cobra poised over it to protect it. The idol also has 2 other murtis beside i.e. Siddhi (which means capability) and Riddhi (which means intelligence)

It is said that Moregaon used to have lots of peacock and hence the name, Mayureshwar came into being.