Place · Ashtavinayak Ganesha temple · India
Vighnahar, Junnar
Also known as Junnar, Junnar, Pune, Ozar, Pune, Vighnahar, Vighnahar (Ganesha of Ozar), Vighnahar — Ozar
The Vighnahar Ganesha temple at Ozar in Pune district, Maharashtra, 90 kilometres from Pune — one of the eight Ashtavinayak Ganesha temples, on the Bhima river's north bank. The deity Vighnahar ('obstacle remover') is a seated east-facing idol with distinctive red colouring. The temple's gold-plated shikhara was commissioned by Chimaji Appa (Peshwa Bajirao I's brother) in 1785 after his successful Vasai campaign against the Portuguese. The temple is one of the three gold-plated Ashtavinayak shikharas (with Mahaganapati at Ranjangaon). The current structure is 17-century Peshwa-era with major 1785 Chimaji Appa additions. The temple's foundation is traditional 15-century. The annual Bhadrapada Ganesha Chaturthi festival each August-September draws over 150,000 pilgrims. The temple is managed by the Vighnahar Devasthan Trust.
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 19.164, 73.952
Connections (3)
- PatronageMādhavrāo I Peshwa
Chimāji Appā gilded Ozar's spire with gold taken at Vasai from the Portuguese in 1739, and his nephew's reign endowed the circuit further. A Konkan siege therefore paid for a roof on the Kukadi, which is as direct a link between Maratha war and Maratha temple building as the record offers.
- Companion in the same setMahaganapati, Ahmednagar
Rāñjaṇgāv and Ozar are the northern arc of the circuit, on the Ahmednagar road and the Kukadi. Both are equinox- or solstice-aligned so the sun reaches the image on fixed days — the same trick as Modherā and Konārk, done at village scale by eighteenth-century masons. Ozar's spire was gilded with gold Chimāji Appā took at Vasai from the Portuguese in 1739, so a Konkan siege paid for a roof on the Kukadi.
- Site adjacencyGirijatmaj, Junnar
Vighnahar and Girijatmaj are two of the Ashtavinayak Ganesha shrines around Junnar in the Pune hills; they are separate temple sites a short drive apart on the pilgrim circuit, not one inside the other.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Junnar”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
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