Sunday 23 September 2012

Ashtavinayak Yatra – Part 2, The Mayureshwar Temple, Moregaon,Maharastra ,India


Ashtavinayak literally means "Eight Ganeshas" in Sanskrit. Lord Ganesha is the Hindu deity of prosperity and learning.
The Mayureshwar Temple, Moregaon
This is the most important temple on this tour. The temple, built from black-stone during the Bahamani reign, has four gates (It is supposed to have been built by one of the knights named Mr. Gole, from the court of Bidar's Sultan). The temple is situated in the centre of the village. The temple is covered from all sides by four Minarets and gives feeling of a mosque if seen from a distance. This may have been done to prevent attacks on the temple during Mughal periods. The temple has 50 feet tall wall around it.
There is a Nandi (Shiva's bull mount) sitting in front of this temple entrance, which is unique, as Nandi is normally in front of only Shiva temples. However, the story says that this statue was being carried to some Shiva mandir during which the vehicle carrying it broke down and the Nandi statue could not be removed from its current place.
The murti of Lord Ganesha, riding a peacock, in the form of Mayureshwara is believed to have slain the demon Sindhu at this spot. The idol, with its trunk turned to the left, has a cobra (Nagaraja) poised over it protecting it. This form of Ganesha also has two other murtis of Siddhi (Capability) and Buddhi (Intelligence).
However, this is not the original murti (statue) -which is said to have been consecrated twice by Brahma, once before & once after being destroyed by the Asura Sindhurasur. The original murti, smaller in size and made of atoms of sand, iron, and diamonds, was supposedly enclosed in a copper sheet by the Pandavas and placed behind the one that is currently worshiped.
The Divine Belief
It was predicted by Lord Brahma that Lord Ganesha would incarnate as Vinayak in the Kritayug, as Mayureshwar in Treta yug, as Gajanan in the Dwaparyug and as Dhumraketu in the Kalyug. All these incarnations are related to certain legends of Lord Ganesha killing various demons.
In the Gandaki Nagari of Mithila, a king named Chakrapani was ruling. He and his wife Queen Ugra were unhappy, as they did not have a child. The couple worshipped God Surya and the queen with the blessings of the Sun God became pregnant. But soon released the embryo in the sea as she could not bear the brilliance and the radiance of the embryo. From that embryo, brilliant son was born. The sea in the disguise of a Brahmin approached King Chakrapani with the child and gave the child to the King. As the child was born in the sea the king named him Sindhu. Sindhu, after growing old and strong became more powerful by worshipping the Sun God as advised by his Guru Shukracharya.
Lord Surya, as a boon gave the nectar to Sindhu and said that as long as the nectar remains near his navel he will not die. Sindhu thus received immortality and started attacking Gods like Indra, Vishnu etc. he defeated all of them and kept them in prison in his kingdom. The remaining gods worshipped Lord Ganesh and requested him to rescue them from the demon King Sindhu. Ganesha pleased with their prayers, promised to take birth as Devi Parvati's son and kill the demon.
Parvati recited the Ekakshari mantra to please the Lord and made a clay idol of Ganesha on the Bhadrapada Shuddha Chaturthi Day and worshipped. The idol soon turned into a real child. When the child was ten years old, Shiva and Parvati along with their son decided to leave the mountain Meru and on their way to mountain kailash, Lord Ganesha defeated the demon Kamalasura with the help of Siddhi (The Personified Shakti) and Buddhi (The Personified Intelligence).
After this incident on their way, Lord Ganesha found the Gandaki Nagari of the demon king Sindhu and decided to attack him with all the army of Shiva’s attendants. He thus attacked Sindhu and at first killed the two sons of Sindhu. Sindhu was advised to release the Gods and Goddesses in prison and leave the battlefield by his father. But he did not listen to it and continued the battle. Lord Ganesha removed the nectar from his navel with his Parashu and killed him. During this battle, Lord Ganesha was riding a peacock and therefore he got the name as ˜Mayureshvarâ, the one who rides a peacock.

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