Ashtavinayak Temple !! Sri Ballaleshwar Mandir !!

 

 

Jai Sriman Narayana !!

 

 

 

 

Jai Ganesha !!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sri Ballaleshwar Mandir is one of the Eight holy abodes of Lord Ganesha located on the river banks of Amba  in Pali, Raigad, Maharashtra.  In this temple Lord Ganesha worshipped as a self-manifested idol of Dhundi Vinayak and Ballaleshwar as well.

 

Presiding deity – Ballaleshwar/Dhundi Vinayak with his consorts Goddess Sri Siddhi and Buddhi

 

Theertham -  River Amba

 

Festivals – Ganesh Chathurthi, Ganesh Jayanthi, Somavati Amavasya, Vijayadashami,

 

The legend has that there was a merchant couple Kalyan and Indumati lived in the village of Pali.  They had a son Ballal who was a staunch devotee of Lord from childhood.   Ballal and his friends were find immense pleasure in imitating the worship of Lord on any stone images they found appealing.  Once, Ballal and his friends were found a huge stone image in the outskirt of village Pali, instantly all the children assembled were began the worship of the stone image under the instructions of Ballal.  They were so wrapped up in the prayers and veneration of the idol, ultimately they forgot their hunger and thirst, and numbers of days were passed in this way.    The parents of the children in the village were extremely anxious and conducted meticulous search of their missing children.   They approached Kalyan and strongly condemned the act of Ballal for inspiring the children put into practice.   Kalyan was fuming with anger about the irresponsible act of his son that caused the villagers in a state of panic, he conducted painstaking search through the village, and eventually met Ballal and the group of children were meditating and listening to the glorious scripture of Ganesha Puranam.    Kalyan in mounted rage destroyed the small temple was created by the children and ruined the huge stone image they were worshipping, the children were in terror flee to many directions leaving Ballal.   Kalyan bet his son mercilessly until his clothes were drenched in blood and took him to the nearby tree and left him tied to it.  He was completely hurt by the disrespectable act of his father’s towards Lord and cursed him.   Shortly Ballal became unconscious due to tired of hunger.  Lord Ganesha was pleased at the devotion of the child devotee and appeared before him as a Brahmin.  He compassionately untied the child from the tree, Ballal regained his conscious and found there was no trace of wound on his body and his hunger and thirst were vanished, he was full of life like earlier.   Instantaneously Ballal recognized the presence of Lord before him and prostrated.  Lord Ganesha blessed the child and provided him a boon, in return Ballal earnestly prayed to Lord to remain in this sacred land and bless his devotees and protect them from agonies and pains.  Thus, Lord Ganesha assumed the name ‘Ballaleshwar’ in the name of his fervent devotee in this temple.

 

This temple remains open from morning 5.30 AM to 10.30PM in the evening.

 

Jai Sriman Narayana !!

 

 

Jai Ganesha !!