Shri Siddhivinayak Temple Mumbai

The Shri Siddhivinayak Temple is most popular temple of Lord Ganesh located at Prabhadevi area of Mumbai. It is believed and experienced by many devotees that their desires are fulfilled by visiting this temple and praying to Lord Ganesh. In Marathi, this Siddhivinayak (Lord Ganesh) is known as “Navsacha Ganpati” or “Navsala Pavanara Ganpati”. It means ‘Lord Ganpati who fulfills all wishes/desires’. The temple is two decades old.

According to the offiical website of this temple, the first temple was built on 19th November 1801. It was constructed by a professional contractor, Late Mr. Laxman Vithu Patil. The funds and instructions to build the temple was provided by Late Deubai Patil who was known to be a rich lady of Agri Samaj.The old temple had an ancient architectural style. It consisted of a hall, a sanctum sanctorum, some free open space, the temple’s administrative office to the right and a water tank in the front^[1].

Deubai who had no child, requested while praying to Lord Ganesh, “Although I cannot have a child, let other ladies who are childless get the pleasure of child on visiting this temple and praying you”. Over the years, Lord Ganesha has been fulfilling wishes of devotees visiting this temple. The renovation of this temple started in the year 1990 and was completed in 3 years time^[1].

The renovated temple is an example of a fine architecture comprising of multistoried palace like structure. The six storeyed structure is placed with a main central gold plated dome. There are other small crowns that surround it are made of gold and panchadhatu, a mixture of five metals.The main stones used for building the temple were pink granite and marble^[1].

The Gabhara and surrounding within temple is spacious with sitting area and a platform for common darshan sought by devotees who are in a need of quick ‘Mukh Darshan’ and don’t want to stand in a big queue. It mean devotees can see only face of the idol from the common platform. As per the
figure mentioned on the website, around 1.5 to 2 lakh people use this facility every Tuesday and on Angaraki Sanksathi Chathurti when the doors are opened for common darshan at 2.00 am.

It is one of the richest temple in Mumbai. According to a report published in ‘The Economic Times’ of last year, the temple received Rs. 83 Cr donation in cash in 2016-17 and Rs. 9 Cr revenues in 2016-17 from the sale of prasad. The prasad revenue is derived from 30000 laddoos and 20000 coconut barfis
sold per day^[2].

The temple is protected by a high security wall with 24/7 police security. Photography is not allowed inside the temple. In the temple premises there are various stalls selling Puja samaghri, Flowers/Garlands, Small replicas of Lord Ganesh and Ganesh music albums in form of DVD/VCD.

By visiting this temple, you’ll definitely feel the divine presence and peace of mind. If you are in Mumbai, make sure you visit this ‘Navsala Pavanara Ganpati’.

Here are some photos that I could managed to click.

How to reach:
1. Dadar, Parel, Elphinston Road, Lower Parel Railway stations are near to this temple.
2. You can take Taxi/Cab from any of the above station to reach the temple.
3. BEST buses are available from various parts of the city to reach the temple. Look out for buses going to Prabhadevi.

References:

1. Official Website – Shri Siddhivanayak Temple Mumbai
2. How Mumbai’s Siddhivinayak temple is ensuring its prasad is holy and hygienic, The Economic Times – Apr 30, 2017