Ashtavinayak Yatra: Part One

Having done Ladakh and Western Europe, I wanted to go for Yatra. You do not need to be of a certain age to go for one. But things were not planning out. Finally, I did the booking for 13th Aug 2022 of the Marigold Ashtavinayak Yatra through Kesari Tours. It was a group tour, hence I opted for a single occupancy. I got a small luggage bag on booking. Packing for 3 days was easy peasy. The day started with catching the 5:11AM train to reach Borivali, Omkareshwar temple. It was raining on and off, I was waiting near the temple for the bus to arrive. The bus started from Mahim and was picking passengers at different locations on the way. Finally, it arrived at 6:15AM and the traveler's from Borivali boarded. I got a window seat. I called home and then dozed off. We drove ahead to Thane, halted for the washroom break at some point. The final lot of traveler's got in, and then we were stuck in traffic like hell. Finally, we halted at the Kamath restaurant for breakfast at 10AM. We sat in a room and were thinking that food was already ordered and would be served in some time. But then the waiter literally came to take the order!! I ordered masala dosa. I had the breakfast with Deepali Harpale and Prachi Pradhan, new friends I made on the tour. We wrapped up breakfast at 11.30AM and drove ahead. I was really not understanding what is happening and how we are planning to complete with three Ganpati Bappa darshan since we have not yet left Mumbai. The Tour Manager Yogesh and Harshal introduced themselves. Then Yogesh briefed on the tour itinerary and how the plan ahead is. Frankly speaking at that point of time, it felt too good to be true. We passed through the Malshej Ghat at around 2PM. 

The nature was in its green glory to the optimal, accompanied by the rains. There were many small vehicles parked at the road edge and people were enjoying the waterfalls and eating all around. We drove ahead to Lenyadri as per our itinerary and halted for lunch at 4PM. Kesari Tours carries their own kitchen ahead of the tour vehicle and serve food. We had lunch and then were off to start with the Ashtavinayak yatra with the sixth ganpati of the ashtavinayaks. Along with personal experience, I have taken inputs from TOI for detailed information.

Shri Girijatmaj Ganpati, Lenyadri

The temple is located in the Junnar Taluka, on the Pune-Nashik Road. The uniqueness of the temple is that it's located at the top of the mountain around Buddhist caves, called Ganesh Gufa. Lenyadri is situated on the northwest bank of the river Kukadi. The temple is believed to be carved out of a single stone, requires the devotees to climb approx. 300 steps to reach. At the entrance, there are enormous pillars with carvings of elephants, horses, lions, etc. The temple features a wide hall with no supporting pillars. The cave is carved such that during the day sunlight illuminates the entire temple.

The bus was parked at a distance from the temple. Then we walked our way to the temple stairs, passing by many small shops selling flowers, garlands, modak, sweets, coconuts, etc. We started the climb, took some panting breaks, watched the surroundings, some monkeys and finally reached the top. The stairs ahead to the main cave were carved on stones. Since it was raining on and off, the same were a bit slippery. There was hardly any queue for darshan. We also got a chance to perform the aarati. We spent some time sitting in the cave. Then we descended to visit the Bheem Gadaa. 

Later we descended the stairs and got back to our bus and drove off to the next ganpati in the Ashtavinayak series. The tiredness of the commute till now seemed to have vanished after we started with the ganpati darshan.

Read next: Ashtavinayak Yatra: Part Two