Shri Siddhivinayak Ganapati Mandir, Mumbaiਸ੍ਰੀ ਸਿੱਧਿਵਿਨਾਇਕ ਗਣਪਤੀ ਮੰਦਰ, ਮੁੰਬਈ

The Shri Siddhivinayak Ganapati Mandir in Prabhadevi, Mumbai, is one of India's most famous Ganesha temples and among the country's richest. Built on 19 November 1801 by Laxman Vithu Patil and funded by Deubai Patil, it began as a tiny 3.6-metre brick shrine and now draws 25,000 to 30,000 devotees a day. Its black-stone idol, carved from a single stone with its trunk turned to the right, is believed to grant the wishes of sincere devotees, which is why Ganesha here is called Siddhivinayak, the giver of siddhi.

Why is the trunk turned to the right?

In most Ganapati temples the idol's trunk turns to the left. At Siddhivinayak it turns to the right, a rare form tradition treats as especially powerful, and one reason the shrine draws people with specific wishes rather than casual sightseers. The idol itself is about 2.5 feet tall and carved from a single piece of black stone, and tradition calls it swayambhu, self-manifested rather than made. Ganesha sits as chaturbhuj, four-armed: a lotus in the upper right hand, a small axe in the upper left, a garland of holy beads in the lower right, and a plate of modak, his beloved sweet, in the lower left. Riddhi and Siddhi, his two consorts, stand on either side, and a third eye is etched on the idol's forehead, like Lord Shiva's. This same black-stone idol has sat in the sanctum since 1801; every renovation since has rebuilt the temple around it without touching it.

Who built the temple in 1801?

The temple was built by Laxman Vithu Patil and paid for by Deubai Patil, a wealthy woman without children, who believed Ganesha would bless other childless women with children. The original shrine was a modest brick structure 3.6 metres square, crowned with a dome-shaped shikhara, housing the black-stone Ganapati that remains there today. Local legend adds a second beginning: Ramakrishna Jambhekar Maharaj, a devotee of the saint Akkalkot Swami Samarth, is said to have buried two divine idols in front of the Siddhivinayak idol on his guru's instruction, and 21 years later a Mandar tree grew on the spot with an image of Swayambhu Ganesha on its branches. When a Hanuman idol was discovered during road extension work in 1952, a small Hanuman shrine was added to the compound, and it still stands in the periphery of the temple.

How did a tiny shrine become Mumbai's richest temple?

For nearly two centuries the temple stayed small while its fame grew by word of mouth, devotee by devotee. Then in 1990 the shrine was rebuilt at a cost of about 3 crore rupees to designs by architect Sharad Athale: a six-storey structure in fine marble and pink granite rose around the untouched idol, crowned with a gold-plated kalash over the central dome and 37 smaller gilded domes. Today the temple receives an estimated 100 to 150 million rupees in donations every year, making it Mumbai's richest temple trust. It is run by the Shri Siddhivinayak Ganapati Temple Trust, registered under the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950, and regulated by the Shri Siddhivinayak Ganpati Temple Trust (Prabhadevi) Act, 1980, adopted on 11 October 1980. The trust's work reaches well beyond the sanctum: its official site lists a dialysis centre, financial support for medical care, educational resources and a library among its charitable activities. Pilgrims seeking Maharashtra's other great Ganesha and Shiva shrines continue to Trimbakeshwar and the mandirs of India beyond Mumbai.

The gold dome and the Ashtavinayak doors

The wooden doors of the sanctum are carved with the Ashtavinayaka, the eight revered manifestations of Ganesha in Maharashtra, and the pillars around them carry the same images. Inside, the roof of the sanctum is plated with gold. In the evenings the exterior dome lights up in multiple colours that change every few hours, with the Ganesha statue seated exactly beneath it. The shikhara follows the northern Nagara style, the curving tower idiom of western and northern India, dressed here in marble and pink granite. Three entrances lead into the interiors, and the Hanuman shrine added in 1952 stands in the temple's periphery.

Tuesdays, Ganesh Chaturthi and the wish in the mouse's ear

Tuesday is considered an auspicious day for Ganesha worship, and at Siddhivinayak it shows: the temple draws its heaviest crowds on Tuesdays, when the queue for darshan can stretch up to 2 kilometres. Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated here on a grand scale. Outside the temple, a lane called Phool Gali is lined with stalls selling garlands, coconuts and modak. Inside the premises stand two huge silver mice, Ganesha's vahanas, and devotees whisper their wishes into the mice's ears, believing the wish is carried straight to the lord. The temple's devotees famously include film stars, cricketers, politicians and business leaders; in 2012 Apple CEO Tim Cook is reported to have begun his India trip with morning prayers here, and in 2016 actor Sanjay Dutt visited soon after his release from prison. Darshan runs from 5:30 in the morning to 10 at night every day, entry is free, and the nearest railway station is Dadar.