Mayureshwar Temple, Morgaon

मयूरेश्वर मंदिर, मोरगाव

Ganesha · Mayureshwar (Moreshwar) · with Riddhi and Siddhi

Mayureshvara — seated svayambhu image, four-armed and three-eyed, sheltered by a cobra hood

Morgaon, Morgaon, Pune district, Maharashtra · Ganapatya tradition

Morgaon is the first and the last stop of the Ashtavinayak pilgrimage: the circuit is held incomplete unless the pilgrim returns here at the end.

The story begins: “Sindhu is the son of King Chakrapani of Mithila and his wife Ugra.”

Read the story
Directions

At the gate

Walking and access
Level ground inside a walled compound; no trek or ropeway is involved. No published count of the steps into the sanctum has been found.
Getting there
Train: Jejuri railway stationAir: Pune International Airport (Lohegaon)

Not yet confirmed: darshan hours, dress code, phone rules, entry for visitors of other faiths. Ask at the temple office or enquiry counter — and if you know, tell us. hello@aalayakatha.com

Full visiting details

Sthala purana

The story of this place

2 accounts are recorded. Each is told separately, in the words of its own tradition — they are never merged.

Family note: this story includes violence or death.
Told in: The Ganesha Purana, Krida Khanda (the Mayuresvara cycle of the Treta Yuga), as summarised by Grimes

The peacock rider and the demon who swallowed the nectar

Sindhu is the son of King Chakrapani of Mithila and his wife Ugra. As an infant he is abandoned in the ocean, and he is later returned to his father. The Sun-god gives him a bowl of amrita, the nectar of immortality. To keep it safe he swallows it, and with the nectar inside his body he cannot be killed by ordinary means.

The Ganesha Purana's Krida Khanda tells the story of the god who answers him. In the Treta Yuga section of that book — the run of chapters the translator Greg Bailey identifies as the Mayuresvara cycle — Ganesha takes a six-armed, white-complexioned form whose mount is a peacock. Parvati performs penance at Lenyadri, and Ganesha is born to her as a child. While still a boy he knocks an egg down from a mango tree. A peacock emerges from it, he rides it, and he takes the name Mayuresvara: lord of the peacock.

The war follows. Ganesha defeats Sindhu's army and cuts his general Kamalasura into three pieces. Sindhu himself he kills by cutting open his body, which frees the amrita he had swallowed.

The Morgaon tradition attaches other episodes to the same ground. Brahma is credited with building the shrine, and when Brahma's water pot spills inside it, the water becomes the Karha river that flows past the village.

The episode accounts for the names at Morgaon. The village is the village of peacocks; the deity is Mayureshwar, which in Marathi becomes Moreshwar. The peacock appears beside the mouse in front of the central image, and the Mudgala Purana, a second Ganapatya text, devotes twenty-two chapters to the greatness of the place.

Where this account comes from

  • Purana: Ganesha Purana, Krida Khanda 73–126 (the Treta Yuga section, Mayuresvara), per Greg Bailey, Gaṇeśapurāṇa Part II: Krīḍākhaṇḍa, Harrassowitz, 2008, p. 5
  • Scholarship: John A. Grimes, Ganapati: Song of the Self, State University of New York Press, 1995, pp. 102–3, 112–5
  • Scholarship: Milind Gunaji, Offbeat Tracks in Maharashtra, Popular Prakashan, 2003, pp. 106–7
Told in: The Ganapatya hagiography of Morya Gosavi, as published in Live History India and recorded by Gunaji

Morya Gosavi's walk from Chinchwad

Morya Gosavi, the Ganapatya saint whose name lives on in the chant 'Ganapati Bappa Morya', worshipped Mayureshwar at Morgaon. After a revelation he settled at Chinchwad near Pune, where he found a Ganesha image in the river and built a shrine, but he kept walking to Morgaon every month. On one visit he arrived after the temple had closed, and the locks fell open so that he could worship. His descendants at Chinchwad still bring a palanquin procession to Morgaon at the great Ganesha festivals.

Read this account

Morya Gosavi is a saint of the Ganapatya tradition, and the dates scholars give him range from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century. He took his name from Moreshwar, the Ganesha of Morgaon, and his own name is the 'Morya' of the chant Ganapati Bappa Morya.

He worshipped at Morgaon first. Inside the temple compound the Tarati tree near the Kalpavriksha shrine is pointed out as the place where he did penance.

Later, after a revelation in which Ganesha told him to build a temple there, he settled at Chinchwad, near Pune. One version of the story says he had grown too old to keep travelling to Morgaon. While bathing in the river at Chinchwad he found an image of Ganesha, and he built a shrine for it, the Mangalmurti Wada.

He did not stop coming to Morgaon. Each month he walked from Chinchwad to pray at the Moreshwar temple. On one of these visits he arrived after the temple had been shut for the night, and the locks fell away so that he could go in and worship Mayureshwar.

He attained sanjeevan samadhi at Chinchwad. His descendants, known as the Devs, were themselves honoured as incarnations of Ganesha, and they came to control the finances and administration of many of the Ashtavinayak temples.

The story explains the link that pilgrims still see at the festivals. At Ganesh Jayanti in Magha and Ganesh Chaturthi in Bhadrapada a palanquin procession comes to Morgaon from the Mangalmurti temple at Chinchwad, repeating the saint's walk.

Where this account comes from

  • Press: Live History India, Janhavi Patgaonkar, "Why Ganapati is 'Morya': The Story of Morya Gosavi", 10 September 2021 livehistoryindia.com · seen 2026-10-09
  • Scholarship: Anne Feldhaus, Connected Places: Region, Pilgrimage, and Geographical Imagination in India, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003, pp. 142–3, 145–6, 160
  • Scholarship: Milind Gunaji, Offbeat Tracks in Maharashtra, Popular Prakashan, 2003, pp. 106–7

In one minute

Why Mayureshwar Temple, Morgaon matters

Each line says who it comes from and how settled it is. What the labels mean

  1. Morgaon is the first and the last stop of the Ashtavinayak pilgrimage: the circuit is held incomplete unless the pilgrim returns here at the end.

    2 sources for: Morgaon is the first and the last stop of the Ashtavinayak pilgrimage: the circu
    • Government: Department of Tourism, Government of Maharashtra, Ashtavinayak: Morgaon, 2025 maharashtratourism.gov.in · seen 2026-10-09
    • Scholarship: Anne Feldhaus, Connected Places: Region, Pilgrimage, and Geographical Imagination in India, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003, pp. 142–3, 145–6, 160

  2. It is the foremost centre of worship of the Ganapatya sect, the tradition that worships Ganesha as the supreme being.

    2 sources for: It is the foremost centre of worship of the Ganapatya sect, the tradition that w
    • Scholarship: C.P.R. Environmental Education Centre (MoEFCC Centre of Excellence), Eco Heritage: Moregaon, 10 July 2024 ecoheritage.cpreec.org · seen 2026-10-09
    • Scholarship: John A. Grimes, Ganapati: Song of the Self, State University of New York Press, 1995, pp. 37–8

  3. The Mudgala Purana gives twenty-two chapters to the greatness of Morgaon.

    Source for: The Mudgala Purana gives twenty-two chapters to the greatness of Morgaon.
    • Scholarship: John A. Grimes, Ganapati: Song of the Self, State University of New York Press, 1995, pp. 37–8

  4. The saint Morya Gosavi worshipped here before founding the Ganesha shrine at Chinchwad, and his descendants, the Devs of Chinchwad, came to control the administration of many of the Ashtavinayak temples.

    2 sources for: The saint Morya Gosavi worshipped here before founding the Ganesha shrine at Chi
    • Scholarship: Anne Feldhaus, Connected Places: Region, Pilgrimage, and Geographical Imagination in India, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003, pp. 142–3, 145–6, 160
    • Press: Live History India, Janhavi Patgaonkar, "Why Ganapati is 'Morya': The Story of Morya Gosavi", 10 September 2021 livehistoryindia.com · seen 2026-10-09

Shilpa

When you visit, look for…

Architectural style not yet identified

No architectural survey of the temple has been found. Gunaji and Subramuniyaswami describe a tall stone enclosure wall with minaret-like towers at its four corners, which they read as showing Muslim influence; the construction date itself is unknown, and Feldhaus argues the temple does not predate the seventeenth century.

  • Gateway tower

    Four gates, four yugas

    Each of the four cardinal gates of the enclosure carries an image of Ganesha in the form he takes in one of the four yugas, each tied to one of the four aims of life and flanked by two attendants: Ballalvinayaka with Rama and Sita on the east (dharma), Vighnesha with Shiva and Parvati on the south (artha), Chintamani with Kamadeva and Rati on the west (kama), and Mahaganapati with Varaha and Mahi on the north (moksha).

    Where to stand: Walk the outer wall; one gate faces each direction.

  • Nandi pavilion

    A Nandi in front of Ganesha

    A large Nandi bull faces the sanctum just outside the gates — unusual, since Nandi belongs in front of Shiva. Local tradition says the sculpture was being carried elsewhere and would not move once it reached this spot.

    Where to stand: Outside the main entrance, looking in toward the sanctum.

  • Sculpture

    The great mouse

    A large sculpted mouse, Ganesha's vahana, sits before the temple; with the Nandi it is treated as a guardian of the entrance.

  • Sanctum

    Mayureshwar himself

    The north-facing, seated image is thickly coated in sindoor; it has three eyes and four arms, holds a noose and goad in the upper hands, and is sheltered by a cobra hood. Its eyes and navel are set with diamonds. The sindoor coat is recorded as falling away about once a century — in 1788 and 1882 — when the stone beneath is seen. Riddhi and Siddhi, in metal sheathed with silver and gold, stand on either side, with the mouse and peacock before him.

  • Sculpture

    The Mudgala Purana's avatars

    In the corners of the temple stand images of the eight Ganesha avatars of the Mudgala Purana, among them Vakratunda, Ekadanta, Mahodara, Vikata, Dhumravarna, Vighnaraja and Lambodara.

  • Sacred tree

    Shami and the Tarati tree

    Shami and bilva trees grow in the courtyard; near the Kalpavriksha shrine the Tarati tree marks the spot where Morya Gosavi is held to have done penance.

  • Sacred tree

    Shami

    Prosopis cineraria

    With bilva and the Tarati tree associated with Morya Gosavi.

  • Sacred water

    Karha river

    In the Morgaon tradition the river began as water spilled from Brahma's pot inside the shrine.

Yatra

Plan your visit

Darshan times

We could not confirm the opening times from the temple’s own notice, so we are not printing any. Please check with the temple office or the devasthanam before you travel.

Before you go

  • No dress code or entry rules have been confirmed for this temple yet. Traditional, modest clothing is always the safe choice; ask at the entrance.

Walking, steps and access

Level ground inside a walled compound; no trek or ropeway is involved. No published count of the steps into the sanctum has been found.

Getting there

  • By air: Pune International Airport (Lohegaon)The village lies about 50 km from Pune.
  • By train: Jejuri railway stationNearest station on the Pune–Miraj line.
  • By road: Baramati / JejuriState buses run from Pune via Jejuri and from Baramati.

Routes are general guidance and not yet checked against an official source.

PIN 412304 (not yet checked with India Post)

The order of darshan

No published source gives the order in which to visit the shrines here, so we have not invented one. Follow the queue and the temple staff.

Festivals

  • Ganesh JayantiMāghī Gaṇeśa Jayantī

    Jan–Feb · Magha, Shukla paksha, Chaturthi

    Ganesha's birth festival draws large crowds, and a palanquin procession arrives from the Mangalmurti temple at Chinchwad.

  • Ganesh Chaturthi

    Aug–Sep · Bhadrapada, Shukla paksha, Chaturthi

    The second great festival, also marked by the Chinchwad palanquin procession; Underhill records the celebrations running on until Ashvin Shukla Dashami.

Customs you will see here

Itihasa

Through time

Two registers, kept apart on purpose: what the Puranas tell, and what the historical record shows. They answer different questions and we do not force them to agree.

In the Puranas and tradition

  1. Treta yuga

    Ganesha as Mayuresvara defeats Sindhu

    The Ganesha Purana places the Mayuresvara avatara in the Treta Yuga; the Morgaon tradition locates his victory over Sindhu, and Brahma's building of the shrine, here.

    2 sources for: Ganesha as Mayuresvara defeats Sindhu
    • Purana: Ganesha Purana, Krida Khanda 73–126 (the Treta Yuga section, Mayuresvara), per Greg Bailey, Gaṇeśapurāṇa Part II: Krīḍākhaṇḍa, Harrassowitz, 2008, p. 5
    • Scholarship: John A. Grimes, Ganapati: Song of the Self, State University of New York Press, 1995, pp. 102–3, 114–5

In the historical record

  1. c. 1200–1299

    Morya Gosavi at Morgaon — an early dating

    Live History India presents Morya Gosavi as a thirteenth-century saint who worshipped at Morgaon before settling at Chinchwad, while noting that scholars date him anywhere from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century.

    Disagrees with: Morgaon rises to prominence with Morya Gosavi — a later dating

    Source for: Morya Gosavi at Morgaon — an early dating
    • Press: Live History India, Janhavi Patgaonkar, "Why Ganapati is 'Morya': The Story of Morya Gosavi", 10 September 2021 livehistoryindia.com · seen 2026-10-09

  2. c. 1600–1699

    Morgaon rises to prominence with Morya Gosavi — a later dating

    Feldhaus argues that the temple does not predate the seventeenth century, when Morya Gosavi popularised it.

    Disagrees with: Morya Gosavi at Morgaon — an early dating

    Source for: Morgaon rises to prominence with Morya Gosavi — a later dating
    • Scholarship: Anne Feldhaus, Connected Places: Region, Pilgrimage, and Geographical Imagination in India, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003, pp. 142–3, 145–6, 160

  3. c. 1700–1799

    Peshwa patronage

    The Peshwas, who treated Ganesha as their family deity, gave land, cash and additions to the Ganesha temples around Pune in the eighteenth century.

    2 sources for: Peshwa patronage
    • Scholarship: Anne Feldhaus, Connected Places: Region, Pilgrimage, and Geographical Imagination in India, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003, pp. 142–3, 145–6, 160
    • Scholarship: Eleanor Zelliot and Maxine Berntsen (eds), The Experience of Hinduism: Essays on Religion in Maharashtra, SUNY Press, 1988, p. 76

  4. The Devs of Chinchwad take over administration

    Morya Gosavi's descendants at Chinchwad, honoured as incarnations of Ganesha, visited Morgaon often and came to control the finances and administration of many of the Ashtavinayak temples. The source gives no year.

    Source for: The Devs of Chinchwad take over administration
    • Scholarship: Anne Feldhaus, Connected Places: Region, Pilgrimage, and Geographical Imagination in India, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003, pp. 142–3, 145–6, 160

Around here

Worth the detour

Also in Pune district

Sources

Where this page comes from

  • Purana: Ganesha Purana, Krida Khanda 73–126 (the Treta Yuga section, Mayuresvara), per Greg Bailey, Gaṇeśapurāṇa Part II: Krīḍākhaṇḍa, Harrassowitz, 2008, p. 5
  • Scholarship: John A. Grimes, Ganapati: Song of the Self, State University of New York Press, 1995, pp. 37–8, 102–3, 110–5
  • Scholarship: Anne Feldhaus, Connected Places: Region, Pilgrimage, and Geographical Imagination in India, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003, pp. 142–3, 145–6, 160
  • Scholarship: Milind Gunaji, Offbeat Tracks in Maharashtra, Popular Prakashan, 2003, pp. 106–7
  • Scholarship: Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, Loving Ganesa: Hinduism's Endearing Elephant-Faced God, Himalayan Academy Publications, 2000, pp. 278, 284
  • Scholarship: Eleanor Zelliot and Maxine Berntsen (eds), The Experience of Hinduism: Essays on Religion in Maharashtra, SUNY Press, 1988, p. 76
  • Scholarship: M. M. Underhill, The Hindu Religious Year, Asian Educational Services, 1991, p. 169
  • Scholarship: C.P.R. Environmental Education Centre (MoEFCC Centre of Excellence), Eco Heritage: Moregaon, 10 July 2024 ecoheritage.cpreec.org · seen 2026-10-09
  • Government: Department of Tourism, Government of Maharashtra, Ashtavinayak: Morgaon, 2025 maharashtratourism.gov.in · seen 2026-10-09
  • Press: Live History India, Janhavi Patgaonkar, "Why Ganapati is 'Morya': The Story of Morya Gosavi", 10 September 2021 livehistoryindia.com · seen 2026-10-09

Cite this page

Aalaya Katha Foundation, “Mayureshwar Temple, Morgaon”, Aalaya Katha, version last reviewed 2026-10-09. https://www.aalayakatha.com/temple/mayureshwar-morgaon (accessed ).

Last reviewed 2026-10-09. How we label sources and confidence