Mahad is in Raigad district. Thus it is the closest of the 8 Ashtavinayak temples from Mumbai. Arrived at Mahad by 10:00. Had a quick breakfast (poha, 2 vadas and tea) at a place just outside the temple area. It was a simple shack with tin roof and a lot of plastic chairs. There were a few plastic tables too. Breakfast was served buffet style. It was a bit spicy but quite tasty.
Then we went for the darshan.
Tip: Don't buy anything before you arrive all the way to the entrance of the temple itself. There are a lot of shops available at the entrance of the temple. Go ahead and buy there.
Tip: Remove your footwear at entrance instead of at the vendor’s. Because public washroom is off to one side behind the mandir. So, on exiting, you can come back, wear the footwear and go to toilet instead of having to go barefoot.
We bought 1 pooja plate - coconut, kumkum, sugar pebbles (saakhat phutane) for 30 Rs and a simple haar (flower garland) for Rs 10. God-accessories are cheaper here than in Mumbai!
The queue was quite long, meandering through every nook and cranny of the mandir. There was a gaggle of school kids on picnic right behind us. Noisy but sometimes disciplined by kid-weary teachers.
This getting up early is bad business. Your bowel movements are thrown off the bio-rhythm. Since I wasn’t able to contribute anything to our sewage tank in the morning, there was a steadily building pressure in the abdomen. I was constantly worried, lest I make my flatulent superpowers be known the olfactory and auditory senses of the poor gullibles behind me in the queue.
The darshan was satisfactory. Got to go all the way into gaabhara (the chamber where the God's idol is located) and get an up-close-and-personal darshan of Shri Varadavinayak Ganapati Bappa, thank you. Also got good darshan of Shankar bhagwaan's pindha besides the main gaabhara.
There is one more Shri Datta Mandir at the back beyond the public toilets and near Bhakta Niwas. Nice and quaint and much neglected. Do visit.
Next stop - Pali, again in Raigad district - expected travel time 1.5 hrs.
Tip: When you buy coconut you can either keep the coconut there at mandir, or carry it with you as prasad after offering it to God. The pujaris at all the 8 ashtavinayak temples give back your coconut after touching it at god’s feet. If you plan to carry the coconut back, the weight of 8 coconuts will drive you nuts. In order to avoid that, just buy 1 coconut and offer that same coconut to God at all the temples - if you don't mind rationalizing the God-business.
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