Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati Mandir, Pune

 Dagdusheth Halwai Ganapati Mandir is located in Pune district of Maharashtra

City - Pune

State - Maharashtra

Religious auspicious days - 

• Sankashti Chaturthi

• Angarki Chaturthi

• Ganeshotsav

Address - 

250, Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Road,    

Mehunpara, 

Budhwar peth,

Pune - 411 002

Phone number - 020 - 24479222

Mahesh MV unsplash.com 

One of the most iconic and representative landmarks of Pune city is the Dagduseth Halwai Ganpati Mandir . It is a 128 yearsold Lord Ganpati temple and one of the most visited Hindu pilgrimage sites. A rough estimate gives the number of visitors to around 20 lakhs in a year. It is located in the busy Budhwarpeth and is surrounded by the local market. Already bustling market street becomes super congested due to the heavy number of devotees to the temple and it leads to problems like lack of parking space etc.

Built by a well known Pune citizen, Shrimant Dagduseth Shinde who had become popular as a Halwai, the temple was dedicated to his son who had died in the Pune plague epidemic. It was in this increasingly popular temple that the renowned freedom fighter, Lokmanya Tilak thought of a way of uniting the Hindus against the British rule by starting and popularising Sarvajanik Ganpati Pandals. 

 The temple is managed by Shreemanth Dagdusheth Halwai Sarvajanik Ganpati Trust.

The temple is constructed in such a way that the interior as well as the Lord's idol is visible even from the street. In this way the devotees waiting in the queue for their turn feel a part of the ongoings. 

The present  idol of Lord Ganpati is 7.25 feet in height and 3.28 feet in width ( 2 m by 1 m ) and is made of Silver. The idol is adorned with gold ornaments and jewellery weighing up to 40 kilograms encrusted with precious jewels, diamonds and rubies leading to the idol being insured for the amount of 1 crore rupees.. Additionally, scores of devotees regularly offer gold, precious gems, cash donations which amount to huge numbers making the temple trust one of the richest in the state of Maharashtra.

Hence ,right from the initial days of popularity of the temple, the then members had started a number of social service activities like opening an Old age Home, providing financial aid and education opportunities to poor and needy children. In fact the Old Age Home itself houses 400 such students at any given time. The other services provided are Ambulances for the poor, Health clinics for the tribal people in the district of Pune. 

The occasion of Ganeshotsav is the most busy time as the temple gets thousands of devotees with even the State CM, high profile people, actors and celebrities dropping in as well. 

The idol of the Lord is installed at Kotwal Chawri near Dutt Mandir and the decorations are unique, beautiful and spectacular to say the least.

Past decors have reconstructed some of India's major cultural monuments, palaces and Hindu pilgrimage temples such as Surya Temple of Orissa, Shree Mahalakshmi Temple , Kolhapur, Madhura - Meenakshi temple, Madurai, the Angola palace of Rajasthan and the Mysore Palace to name a few.

Socially relevant themes and topics are also depicted to raise awareness among the visitors.

Thousands of volunteers work day and night to run the show smoothly. The Visarjan procession is glorious with traditional Dhol - Tasha and the Idol of the Lord placed in a gleaming silver chariot. The energy of the devotees and performers is amazing, giving it a surreal feel. 

Nowadays, the temples schedule for prayers, Abhishek and timing for darshan etc are available on their website with live telecast across all the platforms like Facebook, Youtube etc. 

Slots for performing pooja in the temple can also be booked. 

In conclusion, a visit to Pune city without a darshan at the Dagduseth Halwai Ganpati Mandir is unimaginable. 

Second and third picture is by Mohnish Langde, unsplash.com