A shrine of 1801 and the image that was never moved
A small shrine in 1801
The temple's own record begins with a date. Shree Siddhivinayak was first consecrated on a Thursday in November 1801 — a date, the trust notes, that is recorded in government records.
What stood then was small: a modest structure built around a single image of black stone, about two and a half feet across.
The image
The trust describes that image closely, and it is the same image worshipped today. It is carved from a single stone. Its trunk bends to the right, where most images of Ganesha curve to the left. It has four hands: the upper right holds a lotus, the upper left an axe, the lower right a rosary, and the lower left a bowl of modakas. A sacred thread in the form of a snake wraps around the neck. On either side stand Riddhi and Siddhi, whom the trust calls goddesses of success, riches and prosperity.
Rebuilding around an image that did not move
In 1990 the trust began rebuilding the temple. The work took three years and cost about three crore rupees. Before it began, the trust consulted experts on Hindu religious law and custom, because the aim was to raise a new building without disturbing the sanctity of the image under the Shastras.
The image was not touched. The new temple was built around it. The space from the image up to the pinnacle above it is kept free of any human entry, so that no one walks over the deity. The old kalash, the pinnacle of the earlier temple, was lowered with due ritual and is now kept on the premises as an exhibit.
The consecration of 1994
The rebuilding closed with the installation of the new kalash and a Kumbhabhishek. Both were performed by the Shankaracharya of the Sringeri Sharada Peetham, Bharati Tirtha, on Monday, 13 June 1994 — Jyeshtha Shuddha Chaturthi, a Chaturthi, the lunar day sacred to Ganesha.
What the story explains
The history accounts for what a visitor sees: a six-storey building, crowned with gold-plated domes, whose whole plan is organised around a two-and-a-half-foot image in a small sanctum. The building is new; the image at its centre is the one consecrated in 1801.
Where this account comes from
- Temple administration: Shree Siddhivinayak Ganapati Mandir Trust, 'About the Temple' siddhivinayak.org · seen 2026-10-09
- Temple administration: Shree Siddhivinayak Ganapati Mandir Trust, 'Shree's Idol' siddhivinayak.org · seen 2026-10-09
- Temple administration: Shree Siddhivinayak Ganapati Mandir Trust, 'About the Temple Architecture' siddhivinayak.org · seen 2026-10-09
- Temple administration: Shree Siddhivinayak Ganapati Mandir Trust, 'Kalash' siddhivinayak.org · seen 2026-10-09
- Temple administration: Shree Siddhivinayak Ganapati Mandir Trust, 'Kumbh-Abhishek' siddhivinayak.org · seen 2026-10-09