Ashtavinayaka Yatra - Part 1

The plannings and preparations for this ride started way back in September 2008 . It was Prasad and me who decided that this ride is to be done on 24-26 of January . Initially the plans were in place for a three day ride there were some guy's who were in the ride but never confirmed their status . I had informed my parents that I am going for Ashtavinayak Yatra but they didn't know that it was a ride and it was not hard convincing them as both were religious and gave me thumbs up for the ride . Immediately got my bike serviced from my mechanic .

Now, Ashtavinayaka means "eight Ganeshas" in Sanskrit. Ganesha is the Hindu lord of prosperity and learning. Ashtavinayaka Yatra is pilgrimage to the eight Hindu temples in Maharashtra, India that house eight distinct idols of Ganesha. Each of these temples has its own individual legend and history, as distinct from each other as the statues in each temple.
The following are the eight places where the temples are located; Ozar, Theur, Pali, Mahad, Morgaon, Ranjangaon, Lenyadri, and Siddhatek. Out of these eight places, Theur, Morgaon, and Ranjangaon are around Pune City . Ozar and Lenyadri are near Junnar Town . Pali and Mahad are in Raigad district whereas Siddhatek falls under the Ahmednagar district.

A day before the ride , on the 23rd of January , Prasad calls me and asks if we can do this ride in two days and before he finished speaks I said " Okay, No probs . " That night called my granny in Mulund and said her that I am going on the yatra tomorrow on bike . I was expecting some advices from her or she persuading to drop the plans but to my surprise nothing as such happened and the wished me a happy and safe journey . Expecting the same advices from my maternal grandparents called them to inform them and no advices again just good wishes . Soon packed my bags and kept everything ready .

It was 24th morning 4 Am and Prasad called me to wake me up and by 5:15 Am I was ready to hit the roads and was at Centre One, Vashi by 5:30 Am after taking the blessings of my grandparents . Within a couple of minutes Prasad arrived on his Pulsar 150 with him was his friend Sandeep on his Bajaj Discover 125 with Sailesh as pillion .Resetting the trip meter to 0 and wasting no time we started for Pali our first temple on the list .I have never before had a ride on this roads when dark , even though it was early morining it wasn't less dark and the high beamers were just adding on to my worries . The whether was chilling too , I was feeling cold even with my leather jackets on . For the first time I was riding on the Goa highway (Nh17) .On the Goa Highway instead of going straight I took a left - turn into Pen thinking it was Vadkal , soon called Prasad and corrected my path . By 6:30Am Sun began to rise and there were a lot ot moments to be captured and was still a good 60 km away . Prasad and Sandeep continued riding and the photographer in me wanted to click some pics on the Goa highway . After clicking some pics met the guys at Wakan Phata or Pali Phata .




Pali Ganpati temple is some 20kms from Wakan Phata and the roads are pretty good . One Lane roads with no vehicles from either sides , just three motorcycles cruising on the the roads. By 7:30 we were at the Pali temple premises . The Aarti had just finished and there was no crowd . We stocked our bags,jackets and shoes at a local flower vendor and entered the temple had the Darshan of Lord Shri Ballaleshwar offered our prayers , took our blessings and were out within 15 minutes . The idol here is short but wide . Like other temples in India , photography inside the temples is prohibited here too . Pali village is nestled between the Sarasgad Fort and a river (forgot the name) .

Route to Pali : Mumbai - Panvel - NH17 (Mumbai - Goa Highway) - Wadkal - Wakan - Pali
Trip Meter Reading - 101 Kms
Next Destination - Mahad, Raigad



By 8 Am started our journey toward Mahad . Mahad is a village on the hilly regions of Konkan 1.5 kms off NH4 (Old Mumbai- Pune Highway) . There is a Pali - Khopoli road leading to Mahad
. The roads were in bad condition with some good patches in between . Sun was out on a high by 9 Am and all of us were hungry we stopped over at Hotel Rajinikanth and Dhaba had some khanda(onion) bhaji's ,Vada Pav's and a cup of tea . 9:30 Am and we are at Mahad temple i.e. premises of Lord Sri Varada Vinayaka. There is a huge queue . A little enquiry and we were told that a 12 tourist busses d arrived 15 min backand the queue time will be at least 4 Hrs . We were left with no option but to settle for Mukh Darshan(Sight or glimpse of the idol from outside the temple) . All I got was just a glimpse of the idol. Since this temple is just 50 Kms from my home , I was easily convinced . One intresting fact about this temple is that a nandadeep has been lit in this temple which has been continously lit since 1892.

Route : Pali - Mahad (via Khopoli - Pali road)
Trip meter Reading : 142 kms
Distance From Pali: 41 Kms


Next Destionation : Ranjangaon , Pune .

Once confirming the directions in the road map , hit the roads the infamous Old Mumbai - Pune Highway(NH4) . Cruised till Talegaon without any hassles and on our way from Talegaon to Chakan heavy traffic greeted us with their widespread hands . Maneuvering through the trucks and auto-rickshaws we crossed Chakan . On crossing Chakan on way to Shikrapur there were large farmlands on both the sides, looked like paddy farms . The roads from Shikrapur to Ranjangaon was a beautiful stretch . Some 20 km of serious ripping and arrived at the Ranjangaon at 12:30 Pm. Ranjangaon seemed a spiritually awakened village. Dumping our baggages , jackets , helmets and shoes at a flower vendor outside the temple, we stepped inside the temple premises . There was a long queue at the temple but even then the atmosphere was verly calm and silent . Every single person was soaked in the devotion of Lord Ganesh . The long queue was weel organised and fast moving . After an hour in the queue , darshan of Lord Sri Mahaganapati was very pleasing . We offered our prayers, offerings and took blessings and sat inside the temple chanting the prayers for another 10 min . The temple was very clean and huge . We spent some time exploring the temple clicking some photographs until hunger struck. There is food offered in the temple as prasad . As prasad dal ,rice and sheera are offered unlimited . We had a feast and the beauty is that the people having the food were from all walks of life and were sitting nearby and smiling at each other , perhaps , such a thing can be seen only in India . Once food was over , Theur was calling us . Bags loaded , Jackets on , our motorcycles were back on roads again.

Route : Mahad-Lonavala-Talegaon-Chakan-Shikrapur-Ranjangaon
Trip meter Reading : 266 kms
Distance From Mahad: 122 Kms


Next Destionation : Theur , Pune .

Ranjangaon-Shikrapur-Lonikand fall on Maharashtra SH-66 . A same beautiful stretch on which the needle in the speedo was never below the 90 kmph mark . In 15 mins we reached Lonikand around 27 kms from Ranjangaon . The roads from Lonikand to Theur are in pathetic condition , riding on them almost broke my back. To add to this there were bullock carts all along the road and trucks coming in from the opposite direction , all in this one lane roads . it took us almost 45mins to do these 13 kms and finally Theur was here .By 3:30 we reached the Theur temple , dumped our bags in a sugarcane juice shop outside the temple , had some fresh juice and entered the temple after washing our face, hands and feet. This temple looked old and it needed some painting . It was a big temple ,but was almost empty . Without any rush , we offered our prayers and took blessing and some exploration of the temple and we were on our way out .

Route : Ranjangaon-Shikrapur-Lonikand-Theur
Trip meter Reading : 307 kms
Distance From Mahad: 41 Kms


Next Destionation : Siddhatek,Ahmednagar .


Regards
Rahul



Part 2 of the blog in the tube.