Mahaganapati Ranjangaon Temple
Mahaganapati Temple, Ranjangaon is the last one or 8th of Ashtavinayak Temples. Mahaganapati temple is the spot where Lord shive is largely believed to have deeply worshipped Lord Ganesha before venturing into fight with the demon named Tripurasura.
The people built a Ganesha temple as a mark of Shiva’s worshipping Ganesha. This village town was called Manipur and now it is popularly known as Ranjangaon.
In this temple, the idol is seated in a perfectly cross-legged position facing east with a broad forehead. Its trunk pointing towards left. This idol was also called as Mahotkat because it had 20 hands and 10 trunks but hidden in the basement. This particular idol is believed to be the original idol. It is to be noted that the temple authorities totally deny existence of any such type of idol.
On the idol, rays of the sun fall directly it is constructed in this manner. The 9th and 10th Centuries architecture reminiscent are found in this temple. So this temple bears a distinct resemblance. This temple faces the East direction.
It is to be noted that Shrimant Madhavrao Peshwa built the stone sanctum around the idol and used to visit this temple very often for prayers. In 1790AD Mr. Anyaba Dev was directly authorized to worship the idol.
One of the Ashta Vinayak shrines of Maharashtra that celebrates eight instances of legends related to Ganesha is Ranjangaoncha Mahaganapati temple. The devotees have special preferences to this particular temple. This temple is easily accessible by road and rail route as it is located in the strategic spot.