Ashtavinayak

Ashtavinayak literally means "eight Ganeshas" in Sanskrit. Ganesha is the Hindu deity of prosperity and learning. The term also refers to a pilgrimage to the eight temples in Maharashtra state of India that house eight distinct idols of Ganesh, in a pre-ascertained sequence.

The Ashtavinayak tour covers the eight ancient holy temples of Lord Ganesha which are situated around Pune. Each of these temples has its own individual mythology and history, as distinct from each other as the idols in each temple.

The position of each idol, and its trunk are some of their differentiating aspects

1 Shri Mayureshwar
2 Shri Siddhivinayak
3 Shri Ballaleshwar
4 Shri Varadavinayak
5 Shri Chintamani
6 Shri Girijatmaj
7 Shri Vighnahar
8 Shri Mahaganapati


Maps of Temple

The eight temples/idols of the Ashtavinayak in their religious sequence are:
The Moreshwar Temple, Moregaon
The Siddhivinayak Temple, Siddhatek
The Ballaleshwar Temple, Pali
The Varadavinayak Temple, Mahad
The Chintamani Temple, Theur
The Girijatmaj Temple, Lenyandri
The Vighnahar Temple, Ozar
The Mahaganapati Temple, Ranjangaon

Some of these idols are called Swayambhu effigies, or the self-existent in Sanskrit. This is to indicate that no human created these idols, they were discovered in their present form, in nature