Pune: Gundacha Ganpati

Select Language Afrikaans Albanian Arabic Armenian Azerbaijani Basque Belarusian Bulgarian Bengali Catalan Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Croatian Czech Danish Dutch English Estonian Filipino Finnish French Galician Georgian German Greek Gujarati Haitian Creole Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Indonesian Irish Italian Japanese Javanese Kannada Khmer Korean Latvian Lithuanian Macedonian Malay Maltese Marathi Nepali Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Punjabi Romanian Russian Serbian Slovak Slovenian Spanish Swahili Swedish Tamil Telugu Thai Turkish Ukrainian Urdu Vietnamese Welsh Yiddish

This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. Additional information may please be sent as messages to the Facebook community, Indpaedia.com. All information used will be gratefully acknowledged in your name.

A backgrounder

As in 2024

The Indian Express

Lost in the maze of narrow lanes and old houses at the city’s first inhabited locality, Kasba Peth, lies a Siddhivinayak temple, popularly known as Gundacha Ganpati. The temple is named after Nagoji Gund. Steeped in history, this temple is not just a place of worship but a silent witness to Pune’s past, dating to the Peshwa era.

During the reign of the Peshwas, Nana Phadnavis, a statesman in the Maratha Empire, had a close associate named Nagoji Gund. It is believed that the temple’s origins are related to him. In the diary of the second Bajirao Peshwa, written in 1810-11, there is a specific reference to a Ganpati temple near Nagoji Gund’s residence. “Residents in the proximity of the temple had a surname of ‘Gund’ and that’s why, over time, it came to be known as Gundacha Ganpati,” said Avinash Balchandra Bable, whose family has been caretakers of the temple for four generations.

Bable added, “The statue itself is special. It’s carved out of stone and stands about 4.5 to 5 feet tall, painted in the traditional saffron colour. The four-armed Ganesha sits with his legs resting on the ground, holding a modak, pasha (noose), ankusha (goad), and blessing devotees with the Abhaya Mudra. The idol is further adorned with a Nag Yajnopavita (a sacred snake thread) and draped in a pitambara (yellow garment), seated majestically on a stone pedestal.” Describing the idol, he further said that “the idol’s features are distinct, realistically portraying an elephant’s head on a human body.”

In 1975, an important event marked the temple’s history. On April 3 of that year, when the outer layers of the older idol were removed, a much older, detailed carved idol was discovered inside. Though broken, this ancient idol’s design and style caught the attention of experts from the Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal and the Deccan College. After extensive examination, they estimated the idol to be from the 14th century.

Bable stated, “Following this discovery, a new idol was commissioned, and a committee led by Kaka Wadke was formed to oversee the installation.” The temple still holds the old idol in a mirror case behind the garbha griha (sanctum sanctorum) of the new idol. The outer covering of the idol is preserved at the Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum.

The architecture of the temple resonates with the wooden architecture that was prevalent during the Peshwa era, reflecting the traditional style that was once common in Pune’s old temples. Recently, the temple underwent renovation, but the originality of the garbha griha remains untouched. The temple is also designated as a Grade II heritage site by the Pune Municipal Corporation.