The Ashtavinayak Pilgrimage

For the ardent devotee of Ganesha, there can be no greater means of attaining spiritual bliss than undertaking the Ashtavinayak pilgrimage. Ashta in Sanskrit means “eight”; the term Ashtavinayak refers to the eight Ganesha temples around Pune, in India’s western state of Maharashtra. What’s special about these eight shrines? None of the idols worshipped in them are man-made. Rather, they are monolithic chunks of stone, naturally bearing Ganesha’s distinctive, elephantine features and hence termed as swayambh or “self-created”.

Let’s begin our pilgrimage here, visiting one Ashtavinayak temple every week in their prescribed sequence.