After leaving Theoor, we took a short halt for breakfast.
We had breakfast at a nice hotel called Sonaee. It was quite nicely designed, decored and landscaped. Had idli, meduvada and tea. The tea was nice and thankfully available in quantity. The rest of the breakfast was sadly pathetic - cold and tasteless.
Left the place after 10:00
Siddhatek is the only Ashtavinayak Ganapati that lies in the Nagar district. So, we had a lot of ground to cover. We reached there around noon. The temple is a bit elevated, and does not have the usual walled courtyard. You climb in and follow the queue regulating partitions that adorn the outer hall until you reach an inner Hall from where you can get the Darshan of Shri Siddhivinayak Ganapati (not to be confused with Siddhivinayak temple in Dadar)
Lord Vishnu, so the story goes, did tapasya on a hill nearby where he achieved 'siddhi' - hence the name. Who established the Siddhivinayak idol is unknown. But the current temple was built by Ahilyabai Holkar. There is a precious stone embedded in the statue, and a diamond embedded in the navel of the statue. But since they apply sindhoor to the idol, these are hidden away. The pradakshina of this temple is 1 km long and it is a belief that whoever completes a full pradakshina, will have their prayers answered. The tour of course does not allow enough time for a pradakshina.
The guards hardly even let you stand for a second. So our Darshan was too swift for my liking. The tour guide organized an arti for our group. Before the aarti, the pujari furnished us with all the wiki I provided earlier.
If you happen to come across a guy selling tender coconuts at a corner on the way to the temple, be sure to have one. They are so fresh, full of water and cheap too.
We left at 12:45 for Morgaon back in the Pune district. But before that, a break for lunch.
Stopped for lunch at a no-name shack of a place somewhere beyond Daund on Daund-Patas Road. Huge tin roof covering row after row of plastic seats. No tables. Food was strictly ok. Too mild in taste - but that's certainly better if you are suffering from acidity - like I was.
Left the place just after 2:00 pm.
No comments:
Post a Comment