After darshan of Vighneshwar of Ozhar, we departed towards Lenyadri (18 kms away) which was the last of the Ashta Vinayak temples. This temple is very unique and very different from all other Ashta Vainayak temples. It is situated in a cave in the middle of a rocky mountain. Lenyadri literally means mountain cave in Marathi. It is here that Devi Parvati had done penance for 12 long years to get a son meditating on the word "Gam" which was taught to Her by Lord Shiva Himself. Pleased with this Ganesha resolved to be Her son and when She worshiped a clay image of a child, it came to life and He was born. Hence, He is known here as Girijatmaja (Atmaja of Girija or son of Girija).
There are some 30 such caves here and each has several sculptures inside them. These are believed to be of Buddhist origin. One has to walk up 340 steep steps to reach here. These caves are protected & maintained by Archealogical Survey of India. One has to purchase a ticket of Rs. 25 per person to be able to go up to the caves. For the people with health issues, there are Dholis (a kind of Palanquin in which 4 people carry the person on their shoulders) to reach to the top. These are available at a very reasonable cost of Rs. 1000/- per person for the two way journey.
Two of our Yatris preferred to use the Dholi while the rest of us walked up slowly in the hot mid-day Sun. Luckily there was a strong breeze blowing which reduced the heat. Many of us were carrying hats / caps to protect from the bright light. Some were even wearing cooling glasses. The walk up took about 30 minutes with frequent short halts to catch our breath. Once we reached the top, the view was breath-taking.
The cave temple was empty when we reached with only the Pujari to keep company to the Lord. The cave is large & squarish in shape with each side about 40-50 feet and ceiling at a good height of about 10-12 feet. We got the opportunity to go very near the Lord and offer an Aarti to Him. It was a divine feeling and an apt end to the Yatra with a nice joint worship done here. Later we took pictures and sat inside the cave for a while before departing from the place. The climb down was faster as we reached in about 15 minutes.
At a restaurant, we had some cool drinks (lemonade / lassi) before departing from Lenyadri. As we reached the town nearby, we stooped at a restaurant for lunch which comprised of a vegetarian thali - Maharashtrian style. As there are very few tourists these days, restaurants cook food only based on orders. So, while we had to wait a while for lunch to be served, we were happy to get hot & fresh food. It was delicious and very cheap.
After lunch, we departed on a long drive back (143 kms) towards Mumbai passing through several hills and forests along the way. By the time we reached back, it was nearly 7.30 p.m. In 3 days we had covered over 900 kms to get wonderful darshan of Ashta Vinayak. It was a lovely yatra and we were indeed blessed that all 8 of us could see all 8 Ganesh with so much comfort and ease.
I hope you all enjoyed reading this short description of our yatra. If this is of any help to future Yatris, we will consider ourselves blessed to be of help. A link to all the photos & videos of the yatra is given below.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/S8dRLK7ZvJpmPGoPA
2 comments:
Super. If you can add the arti by our ladies it will be wonderful
Excellent write up! I re-lived my pilgrimage performed nearly 8 years back.
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