Yaha Shree Shambhuvarprada Sutapasa Namna Sahastra Swakam |
Datwa Shree Vijay Padam Shivkar Tasme Prasannaha Prabhu ||
Ten Sthapit Eva Sadgunavapu Kshetre Sada Tishtati |
Tam Vande Manipurke Ganapati Devam Mahant Mudra ||
Yaha Shree Shambhuvarprada Sutapasa Namna
Sahastra Swakam |
Datwa Shree Vijay Padam Shivkar Tasme Prasannaha Prabhu ||
Ten Sthapit Eva Sadgunavapu Kshetre Sada Tishtati |
Tam Vande Manipurke Ganapati Devam Mahant Mudra ||
Meaning
God Shiva got a boon from Lord Ganesha to win all the battles, who has given a boon to God Shiva, who is very pleasant, who is having all virtues, who lives in Manipur(alias Ranjangaon). I salute that God with pleasure.
Maha-Ganapati means the powerful Ganesha. Maha Ganapati has 8,10, or 12 hands. God Shiva did penance of this Maha-Ganapati and won the battle against Tripurasur. That is why this is also called as Tripurarivarad Maha-Ganapati. Lord Maha-Ganapati of Ranjangaon of the Ashtavinayaka place in Shirur Taluka of Pune District. This is also one of the twenty-one places of Lord Ganesha's from mythology.
click below
How to reach Ranjangaon
1)On Pune-Nagpur highway one can reach to Ranjangaon by Pune-Koregaon-Shikrapur-Ranjangaon. The distance between Pune & Ranjangaon is 50 km.
2) One can reach by state transport buses from Shivaji Nagar bus stand of Pune.
Stories about Shree Maha Ganapati
Long ago in Treta-yuga there lived a great sage called Grutsamad. One day Grutsamad sneezed and a boy of red colour came out from his nose. He accepted him as his son, he said to his father, when I grow up I will rule all the worlds [Triloka-Prithvi (earth), Swarg(heaven) & Patal (hell)]. Sage Grutsamad told him to do penance with the mantra `Gananam Twam Ganapati’ (This mantra was composed by Sage Grutsamad). He did penance for five thousand years. Lord Ganesha gave him boon of power of strength. Lord Ganesha also gave him three towns, which had plenty of iron, gold & silver. Lord Ganesha said `you will be called as Tripur because you will own these three towns.(Tripur in Marathi means three towns) Only God Shiva could able to defeat you. You will live happily till God Shiva will destroy everything in one arrow and then he will kill you. Tripur conquered the universe and then he turned his evil eyes on God Shiva and demanded mountain Kailas from him. God Shiva went to a mountain called Mandar. All gods and goddesses were fed up of Tripur. Sage Narad asked them to worship Lord Ganesh because Tripur became powerful with Lord Ganesha’s blessing, so only Lord Ganesha can tell how to kill Tripur. Lord Ganesha was pleased with their worship and asked them for a boon. All gods and goddesses requested Lord Ganesha to kill Tripur. Lord Ganesha told them God Shiva would kill Tripur soon. In disguise of Brahmin Lord Ganesh went to Tripur and told him that I know sixty-four arts and I came to show them. Tripur said to him that if I like your art I will give you what you demand from me even my death. The Brahmin gave him three airplanes and told him that you can go to any place from these airplanes. But if Lord Shiva hits the airplanes with his arrow the same will be destroyed. Lord Shiva performed great penance of Lord Ganesha. Lord Ganesha told him thousand names of his and told God Shiva that whoever will say these thousand names will become successful in any work and fulfills with all the wishes. The God Shiva started the battle with Tripur. At the end God Shiva destroyed Tripura’s airplanes and killed him. This incident happened on full moon day of the month of Kartik and it is called as Tripuri Poornima. God Shiva performed penance at the place called Manipur. The same place is now known as Ranjangaon.
Temple
The temple is facing toward East. Inner pandal of the temple build by Sardar Kibe and Madhavrao Peshwa has built the nave. There are excellent directional approache in the construction work. The rays of Sun directly fall on the idol of Lord Maha-Ganapati and idol looks more attractive.
Idol
After entering into the inner pandal in the nave there is idol of Maha Ganapati with its trunk on his left side. There are idols of Riddhi & Siddhi each on the sides of the Maha Ganapati. There is an underground room below the idol and there is one smaller idol of Maha Ganapati in that room. That is original idol. That idol has ten trunks and twenty hands. The similar idol was with general Peshwa’s Haripant Phadke. In the temple compound one can see old temple pillars. From that it was confirmed that the temple was built in 9th-10th century.
Programs & Festivals
In Ranjangaon the villagers do not celebrate Ganesha festival (which comes in the month of Bhadrapada) individually. They celebrate it together in the temple. There is big celebration in Ranjangaon from Bhadrapada Shuddha Pratipada (the first day of the Bhadrapad month) to Shashthi (the sixth day). During these days one can enter the nave and worship Lord Maha-Ganapati. On fifth day there is `Mahaprasad’(big offering to Lord Maha-Ganapati)
Other information
1)The temple is managed by a trust, whose trustees are appointed by court.
2)Religious programs are done by the trust.
3)Lodging and boarding for devotees is managed by the trust. Single room or common hall is available. The address for advance booking is Shree Kshetra Ranjangaon Ganapati Devasthan Trust, Taluka Shirur, District Pune.
4)Temple is open for visit from 5.30 a.m. to 10 p.m.