Shree MahaGanapati - Ranjangaon

[Guest guest]

Om Shree Ganeshaya Namah...

[Om Sai Ram - If anyone wishes to see the pictures of this sacred temple ,click

to this link http://ganapati.club.fr/anglais/asud/adetsud.html#ranjangaon ]

Yaha Shree Shambhuvarprada Sutapasa Namna Sahastra Swakam |Datwa Shree Vijay

Padam Shivkar Tasme Prasannaha Prabhu ||Ten Sthapit Eva Sadgunavapu Kshetre

Sada Tishtati |Tam Vande Manipurke Ganapati Devam Mahant Mudra ||

Meaning

God Shiva got a boon from Lord Ganesha to win all the battles, who has given a

boon to God Shiva, who is very pleasant, who is having all virtues, who lives

in Manipur(alias Ranjangaon). I salute that God with pleasure.

Maha-Ganapati means the powerful Ganesha. Maha Ganapati has 8,10, or 12 hands.

God Shiva did penance of this Maha-Ganapati and won the battle against

Tripurasur. That is why this is also called as Tripurarivarad Maha-Ganapati.

Lord Maha-Ganapati of Ranjangaon of the Ashtavinayaka place in Shirur Taluka of

Pune District. This is also one of the twenty-one places of Lord Ganesha's from

mythology.

Stories about Shree Maha Ganapati

Long ago in Treta-yuga there lived a great sage called Gritsamada. One day

Gritsamada sneezed and a boy of red colour came out from his nose. He accepted

him as his son, he said to his father, when I grow up I will rule all the

worlds [Triloka-Prithvi (earth), Swarg(heaven) & Patal (hell)]. Sage Gritsamada

told him to do penance with the mantra `Gananam Twam Ganapati’ (This mantra was

composed by Sage Gritsamada). He did penance for five thousand years. Lord

Ganesha gave him boon of power of strength. Lord Ganesha also gave him three

towns, which had plenty of iron, gold & silver. Lord Ganesha said `you will be

called as Tripur because you will own these three towns.(Tripur in Marathi

means three towns) Only God Shiva would be able to defeat you. You will live

happily till God Shiva will destroy everything in one arrow and then he will

kill you. Tripur conquered the universe and then he turned his evil eyes on

God Shiva and demanded mountain Kailas from him. God Shiva went to a mountain

called Mandar. All gods and goddesses were fed up of Tripur. Tripura came back

and defeated all Kings on earth and all Gods of heaven. He had two sons. He

gave kingdom of Brahmaloka (Lord Brahma's abode) to one son and Vishnulok (Lord

Vishnu's abode) to another son. Narada adviced grief-stricken Gods to worship

Lord Ganesh to get rid of the calamity because Tripur became powerful with Lord

Ganesha’s blessing, so only Lord Ganesha can tell how to kill Tripur. Lord

Ganesha was pleased with their worship and asked them for a boon. All gods and

goddesses requested Lord Ganesha to kill Tripur. Lord Ganesha told them God

Shiva would kill Tripur soon. In disguise of Brahmin Lord Ganesh went to Tripur

and told him that I know sixty-four arts So I am called as "Kaladhar". I have

come to meet you from far hearing your brave stories". Tripurasur replied :

"Hey, Kaladhar, you show me your art, if I am pleased, I will

give away my life also'. Kaladhar said :"O King, I will give you three

aeroplanes. You can go anywhere in the world by this planes. You will get

anything you desire. Except Lord Mahadev, nobody can destroy these planes".

Tripurasur on being pleased asked Kaladhar to demand anything in the world.

Kaladhar demanded idol of Chintamani which was in the possession of Lord

Shankar. Shiv Shankara refused to give it to Tripurasur and a war ensued

between Shiv Shankara and Tripurasur. All gods started off for the war in a

hurry forgetting to worship Ganesh before leaving. Therefore, the Gods lost the

battle and Tripurasur found the idol of Chintamani. While returning back to his

kingdom, Chintamani suddenly disappeared from the hands of Tripurasur. Thinking

it to be ill omen, he returned back with a heavy heart. Sage Narada told

Shankara the true reason of defeat of not worshipping Ganesh before beginning

the war. Lord Shankara on getting convinced went to Dandakaranya. He performed

Pranayam

and chanted six letters Mantra of Ganapati. Ganapati emerged at that time from

his face with a peculiar form. He had five faces, ten hands, moon on the crest,

garlands of heads on the neck and also the ornament of serpents. He looked both

Shankara and Gajanana. He told Shankara : "In future, when ever you will

remember me, I will appear to remove obstacles. After chanting my Bîjâmantra,

send an arrow on the aeroplanes of Tripurasur. By that time all these three

cities will be burnt. Then you can kill Tripurasur". He also gave Sahasranam

Stotra by chanting which one gets victory everywhere, enemies are destroyed and

wishes are fulfilled. At that place, Shiva established a Ganesh Temple and

around it a city called Manipur, which is presently called as Ranjangaon. The

deity here is hence rightly called as Mahaganapati. Shankara went to fight.

This time, Prithvi became the chariot, the Sun and Moon the wheels. Brahma Deva

was the charioteer. Meru became the bow, Vishnu the arrow.

Ashwinikumar become the horses. Shivshankara chanted the Ganesh Sahasranama. To

destroy Tripurasura when he released arrow, there was light everywhere.

Tripurasura fainted, fell down dead and his three cities were burnt. The demons

life came out of his body in the form of Jyoti and entered Shiv Shankar's body.

Thus, Gods got their posts and Sages started studying Vedas. All three worlds

were happy. .

The temple

Temple facing east has huge and beautiful entrance gate. Statues of two

doorkeepers namely Jay and Vijay are present near the gateway. Nagarkhana is

situated above the entrance gate. Main temple looks like temple from Peshwa's

period. It is so constructed that sun rays fall directly on Shri Ganesha's

image.

Idol

After entering into the inner pandal in the nave there is idol of Maha Ganapati

with its trunk on his left side. There are idols of Riddhi & Siddhi each on the

sides of the Maha Ganapati. There is an underground room below the idol and

there is one smaller idol of Maha Ganapati in that room. That is original idol.

That idol has ten trunks and twenty hands. The similar idol was with general

Peshwa’s Haripant Phadke. In the temple compound one can see old temple

pillars. From that it was confirmed that the temple was built in 9th-10th

century.

Programs & Festivals

In Ranjangaon the villagers do not celebrate Ganesha festival (which comes in

the month of Bhadrapada) individually. They celebrate it together in the

temple. There is big celebration in Ranjangaon from Bhadrapada Shuddha

Pratipada (the first day of the Bhadrapad month) to Shashthi (the sixth day).

During these days one can enter the nave and worship Lord Maha-Ganapati. On

fifth day there is `Mahaprasad’(big offering to Lord Maha-Ganapati).Temple is

open for visit from 5.30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

 

How to reach Ranjangaon

1)On Pune-Nagpur highway one can reach to Ranjangaon by

Pune-Koregaon-Shikrapur-Ranjangaon. The distance between Pune & Ranjangaon is

50 km.

2) One can reach by state transport buses from Shivaji Nagar bus stand of Pune.

 

Sai bhakt ,

Deepa

H

debu7366

for Good Click here to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

for Good Click here to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.