Nawi: The Lil Wanderer's Lil, but b'ful Haven.!: A day outing to Ganeshpuri & Vajreshwari!

A day outing to Ganeshpuri & Vajreshwari!
(8th August 2015)

Well, once again I had no clue of what I'll be upto this coming weekend till my office staff suggested me to go to Ganeshpuri and Vajreshwari temple during a casual conversation of what else is there around Mumbai where we can go for a one day outing. Honestly, I had not heard of these places earlier, so I thought why not, and texted Deepali about the plan and she said,"Yes". And its after a long interval after her marriage that we were finally taking an outing together. And, Oh yes, during my Jivdani yatra amidst Virar local horror, I had made up my mind that I will never travel by virar train, but again its said,"Never say never!" And yes, we had to board a Virar local till virar, which took complete one hour, and thank God this time as it was early Saturday morning, and most of the population travels towards South Mumbai, we got almost an empty train to Virar! Lucky us, I know! We left at 8:30 from Malad station and reached Virar by 9:30 am, from where we had to board a bus to Ganeshpuri, which is at a distance of around 30-35 kms from Virar in Thane district on Mumbai-Ahmadabad Expressway!

"Ah, what a comfortable journey to virar, and you can see
the other train fully packed which is going towards Churchgate!"

"A memorable journey by Bus amidst fresh Monsoon Greenery!"

We reached at Ganeshpuri Bus stop at around 10:45 am, and walked towards the main temple which was at 5 minutes walking distance from the Bus stop. Oh, here we came to know that this temple is dedicated to swami Nityanand, a 19th century saint from South. There are so many Ashrams and temples dedicated to him. Our day of visit co-incited with Swami Nityanand's Nirvana anniversary, who attained nirvana on 8th August 1961. And in the Mandir premises itself there are hot water springs which is believed to contain medicinal properties, and we saw so many people taking dip into the hot water ponds in large numbers. As no photography was allowed, I won't be able to share the same here. Hmm :-)

"Ganeshpuri temple"

"Ganeshpuri Market; we noticed almost everything has Nityanand's name as prefix."

Just about 1 km from Ganeshpuri is Vajreshwari, where a temple dedicated to Goddess Vajreshwari is located. The historical account of Vjreshwari is like this:- In 1739, Chimaji Appa - the younger brother and military commander of Peshwa Baji Rao I - had set up camp in the Vadvali region on his way to capture the Portuguese-held Bassein Fort of Vasai. The fort was unconquerable even after a three-year war. Chimaji Appa prayed to goddess Vajreshwari that if he could conquer the fort and defeat the Portuguese, he would build a temple to her. According to legend, the goddess Vajreshwari appeared in his dream and told him how to conquer the fort. On 16 May, the fort fell and the defeat of the Portuguese in Vasai was complete. To celebrate his victory and to fulfill the vow taken in front of the goddess Vajreshwari, Chimnaji Appa ordered the new Subhedar (governor), Shankar Keshav Phadke, to build the Vajreshwari temple.

Legend has it that thousands of years ago, a Rakshasa (demon) named Kalikala or Kalikut troubled the rishis (sages) and humans in the region of Vadvali and waged a war against the devas (gods). Distressed, the gods and sages headed by Vashishta performed the TriChandi yagna, a fire offering to the Goddess, to please Her. An aahuti (offering of ghee in yajna) was not granted to Indra (king of devas). Enraged, Indra hurled his Vajra - one of the most powerful weapons in Hindu mythology- at the yajna. The terrified gods and sages prayed to the Goddess to save them. The Goddess appeared in all her glory at the site and not only swallowed the Vajra and humbled Indra but also killed the demons. Rama requested that the Goddess stay in the region of Vadvali and be known as Vajreshwari. Thus, the Vajreshwari temple was established in this region.

"The Vajreshwari Temple"

We reached the temple at 11:30 am and lucky us as the Aarti was going on at that time. We had to sit there till the Aarti ended and after that only we were allowed to enter the temple for Mata's darshan. Here also no photography was allowed inside the temple, but we took some pictures outside around the temple premises, which due to its location on a hilltop, which is said to be of volcanic eruption, gave a marvelous view. We spent a good 45 minutes in the temple and then set out for further exploration of the areas on foot. :-)