The obstacle demon who asked for a name
A sacrifice without a share for Indra
King Abhinandana sets out to perform a great sacrifice. In laying out its offerings he leaves out Indra, the king of the gods, who receives no share.
Indra takes the omission as a threat to his own standing. He calls on Kala — Time, the power that ends things — and orders the sacrifice destroyed.
The obstacle becomes a demon
Kala takes the form of a demon, Vighnasura, the "obstacle demon". He wrecks Abhinandana's sacrifice, and he does not stop there: he goes on to disrupt rites and sacrifices wherever they are performed, so that the sages can no longer carry out their observances.
The sages turn to Ganesha for help.
The battle and the surrender
Ganesha meets Vighnasura in battle. The demon is outmatched, and rather than fight to the end he surrenders and asks for mercy.
Ganesha spares him on terms: he is to stop harassing those who perform rites. In this account the demon makes one request of his own in return — that Ganesha carry his name. Ganesha agrees, and is known from then on as Vighneshwara, "lord of obstacles", or Vighnahara, "remover of obstacles".
The image at Ozar
The sages then consecrate an image of Ganesha at Ozar under that name.
What the story explains
The episode accounts for the name under which the deity is worshipped here and for the temple's place on the Ashtavinayak circuit as the shrine of the obstacle-remover. It also explains the double meaning carried by the two names: the god who is lord of obstacles is, for that reason, the one asked to remove them.
The Maharashtra Tourism department's leaflet gives a different ending, in which Ganesha kills the demon rather than accepting his surrender; that account is told separately. This version is widely attributed to the Mudgala Purana and the Skanda Purana, but we have not yet found a translation of either chapter.
Told differently elsewhere. This account does not agree with “The demon slain at Ozar”, given on this page too. We tell each as its own tradition tells it, and do not choose between them.
Where this account comes from
We have not yet found a text we can cite for this account. It is told here as it is told locally, and marked unverified.