Started from home at 6:30 AM and after parking our vehicles as close to Kasba Peth as possible, the walk for darshan began. This is a special year as we take Kirin for Pune Ganesh darshan for the first time, considering lockdown of last 2 eyars.
In this post, you will find that I have mentioned the order in which we took the darshan and a brief information about the various Ganeshas we visited.
1. Kasba Ganpati: When Raajmata Chh. Jijabai and Chh. Shivaji Maharaj came to Pune and started residing in Lal Mahal, there was a self-formed (swayanbhu) idol of Ganesha found in a nearby plot. Jijabai built the Kasba temple to host this Ganesha idol. Worshipped by many across generations including all Peshwa rulers, this temple is regarded as the Patron god (gram devataa) of Pune.
Ganesh murti established by the mandal (committee) of this temple was regarded as the most revered (maanacha pahila) by Lokmanya Tilak who started the Ganesh festival in the year 1893.
We started our journey by first visiting the Kasba Ganpati temple and then the Kasba Ganesh mandal maanacha pahila (first) Ganpati in their pandal outside the temple.
2. A year before Lokmanya Tilak decided to take Ganesh festival public, Bhausaheb Rangari started celebrating Ganesh festival outside premises of private compounds and without any restriction on visitors. While Lokmanya Tilak is attributed to make Ganesh festival public and on a national scale, eventually uniting people for cause of freedom struggle; Bhau Rangari is considered to be first person who celebrated the Ganesh festival publicly and made it accessible to the commoners.
This was the second Ganesh we visited. Reached here just in time for morning aarti and attended the entire aarti.
3. Regarded as Patron goddess of Pune for many centuries, Tambdi Jogeshwari is an ancient temple of goddess in Pune. Chh. Shivaji Maharaj started his Pune reformation after seeking blessings of this goddess.
Ganesh murti established by the mandal (committee) of this temple was regarded as the second most revered (maanacha dusra) by Lokmanya Tilak who started the Ganesh festival.
The Tambdi Jogeshwari goddess temple and the Ganesha darshan in the adjacent pandal was our third stop.
4. Third most revered (maanacha teesra) Ganpati by Lokmanya Tilak was the Guruji Talim Ganesha.
Guruji Talim as the name suggests was a gym, open to all religions and castes, and 5 years before Lokmanya Tilak decided to start Ganesh festival, 3 prominent members of the gym - Bhiku Shinde, Nanasaheb Khasgiwale and Shaikh Kaasam Wallad decided to start celebrating Ganesh festival in the gym. While this was a member's only celebration with the gym, it was and excellent example of people of different religions coming together to celebrate the Ganesh festival.
After Lokmanya Tilak made the Ganesh festival public, he designated this Guruji Talim Ganesha to be the third most revered in Pune, to honor the early inception and celebration of communal unity that the members were doing for 5 years already. Even today, this mandal represents the same spirit, although the gym is no longer in operation.
This was the fourth Ganesha we visited.
5. Next up was the Tulsibaug Ganesha, establised a few years after Lokmanya Tilak started Ganesh festival but soon gaining popularity and prominence due to participation of various factions of community, owing to the fact that Tulsibaug has been a popular market place for more than a century now. It soon earned its place as fourth most revered (maanacha chautha) Ganpati.
After visiting this Ganesha, we had our breakfast around 9:30 am.
A beautiful Ganesha surrounded by flower decoration that looks like Balaji face from a distance at entrance of Tulsibaug and the Jilbya Maruti Ganpati at the exit are also worth visiting.
6. It was now time to switch from Maanache (revered) Ganeshas to the popular Ganeshas.
First one after Tulsibaug was the Shaarda Ganesh in Pune Mandai i.e. central vegetable market. Popular among devotees and a very very beautiful Ganesha, with amazing decoration is a must-have experience.
7. After Shaarda Ganesh, it was time to visit the Hutatma Babu Genu Ganesha. This Ganesha is known to fulfill your wishes and people flock with threads to bind their wishes and coins to try their luck with wishing well here.
This was our next stop.
8. Soon after, we came to probably the most famous Ganesha of Pune in current times - the Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati. Took Darshan from a distance looking at the queue and moved on to our final stop by getting an auto from nearby road.
9. Fifth among most revered Ganeshas (maanacha paachva Ganpati) is Kesari wada Ganpati.
Started as part of making the Ganesh festival public in Kesari premises by Lokmanya Tilak himself, this Ganesha is a simple yet elegant representation of the festival and it's humble beginnings. You can sense the presence of Lokmanya Tilak around here with all the stories and pictures depicted within the Kesari wada.
With this we completed the most auspicious five Ganpati and also some popular Ganpati of Pune in our walk. Not to mention many more on the roads and alleys that we walked on.
It was 12:15 pm when we reached home.
