Mumbai's Shree
Siddhivinayak Ganapati Temple at Prabhadevi is a two hundred old
structure and it is believed that the Lord fulfills the desires of
his worshipers. Siddhivinayak is the reigning deity of Mumbaikars
who have an amazing faith in the Lord. So much so, that a few years
back when the city was facing an acute water shortage, almost all of
Mumbai, right from its film stars to its mill workers prayed to
Siddhivinayak for rains and it did rain !
The temple was
consecrated in 1801 as a small structure housing the black stone
idol of the Lord. The striking feature of this idol is the tilt of
its trunk to the right side. The idol has four hands holding a lotus
in upper right, a small axe in upper left, holy beads in the lower
right and a bowl full of modaks. On both sides of the statue are
Riddhi & Siddhi, goddesses signifying sanctity, fulfillment,
prosperity and riches. There is an eye etched on the forehead of the
deity resembling the third eye of Lord
Shiva.
The area
housing the deity has been altered several times in the past. The
final result was a monolithic structure that was accomplished by a
fortnight-long series of rituals. The consecration ceremonies ended
with the Kalash Pratishthapana and Kumbhabhishek ceremony. These
ceremonies were performed by Shree Shankaracharya of Shree
Shardapeeth Shringeri Bharatitirth Mahaswami on Monday, the 13th of
June 1994.
In a
normal temple, the foundation carries on up to the Kalash, which is
a pointed dome at the top. This has a religious significance. The
Kalash was lowered with proper rituals and is now kept as an exhibit
within the temple area.
The temple's
garbhagriha has been designed to provide maximum convenience to
devotees. It is a spacious enclosure with three main doors of almost
13 feet height facilitating the 'darshan' of 'Shree Siddhivinayak'
from either the area surrounding the garbhagriha or the stage (Sabha
Mandap) constructed to conduct pujas and
festivities.
A
mezzanine floor with a viewers gallery has also been constructed to
enable devotees to see the Lord from there. The area surrounding the
garbhagriha has been designed as a sitting area. The stage adjoining
the sanctum sanctorum is used as a platform for darshan sought by
the devotees unable to form queues for entering the site. As many as
1.5 to 2 lakh people use this facility every Tuesday. On Angaraki
Sankashti Chaturthi the darshan begins at 2 a.m. Tuesday morning
halts only at about 1 a.m. Wednesday morning. On Tuesdays the
mezzanine floor is opened after 1 p.m after all pujas are
conducted.
The
sanctum sanctorum or the garbhagriha is an octagonal enclosure
having a width of 10 ft and comprises a silver plated Makhar. Makhar
is a smaller structure within the garbhagriha housing the idol of
Lord. The dome inside the garbhagriha is gold plated and has been
designed to enhance the beauty of the idol. It is lighted with an
exquisite chandelier. The main doors are made of perforated wood
depicting Ashta Ganapati, Ashta Laxmi and ashtavatar.