The origin of this Universe, The Creator Vedas, The One Who doesn’t need any Form, Self Enlightened, One with Original Form, The Enlightener of Knowledge and Intelligence is how everyone knows the Shree Mangal Murti Who is also the most loved God irrespective of age. Any auspicious occasions starts only after the remembrance of Shree Gajanan. He always finds a special place in the hearts of devotees. He is the One who killed demon Vighnasur and He is the also the One who always pulls out His devotees from difficult times. All these monuments, installations, temples, etc are a certain pointer to the fact that the village of Ozar has a rich area and surroundings of which it can be proud of. The Lord of Ozar sits between all of these places like a beautiful flower containing heavenly sweet nectar at the centre. The fragrance of The Lord’s devotion is spread in all the 10 directions by the waters of Kukadi reservoir and by all the devotees who come from all corners of the world just to see the Lord atleast once.
Shree Kshetra Ozar offers calm but majestic landscape for the tourists and devotees to stay. The pristine atmosphere created by the vicinity to Kukadi River and extremely ancient construction of the temple keep the tourists engrossed in the place. Fully fortified stone walls of the temple point at the extremely rich and glorious history of the place. As we enter the main gate we can witness pair of beautiful lampposts (deepmals) in the front of temple on its both sides. Every year on the extremely holy day of Tripuri Pournima these lampposts are enlightened. As we enter the first hall (mandap) we can see a sculpture of blissfully pleased tortoise. On both sides of the main temple are stationed Usher (Bhaldar) and Mace (Chopdar) bearer. These guards symbolize guards; Yam and Dam who are considered to be guards of the huge floodgates of our mind. When we enter inside, we walk into a round domed structure which fills our minds with happiness and ecstasy.
As we move further with emotion filled minds we enter the 3rd domed structure and witness exactly what we are here for. We can see blissful and towering idol of our beloved God, Shree Vighnahar sitting calmly on a holy mouse who acts as His carriage. Just at the sight of our Beloved Lord we experience a gushing feeling of extreme happiness that fills our hearts and minds. These feelings and this pure form of Lord, which we can see right in front of our eyes, instantly separates us from all the worldly sorrows and attachments atleast for the time in which we are in front of Him.
Shri Vighnahar Temple
Shree Vighnahar Temple has been constructed in the era of the Peshwas. The structure is an epitome of Vastushastra (Architectural Science). This is the place of the fifth of the Ganapatis’ amongst the 8 Ashtavinayaks.
Temple's Entrance Gate
On the entrance of the temple the sight that we get is of the four Muniputras (Sons of Saints). They are seen holding many different things in their hands.
The first Muniputra and the fourth Muniputra is seen holding a Shivlinga. The second and the third Muniputras are seen holding a Lyre (Veena) in their hands. The first and the fourth Muniputras convey the meaning that Shree Ganaraj gives utmost importance to His parents. This also means that devotees who are observe devotion towards Lord Shiva and Parvati can also observe devotion towards Shree Ganaraj. These Muniputras also convey meaning that devotees of Shree Ganesh should necessarily serve their parents with love & affection as Lord Ganesh Himself is demonstrating. Goddess Saraswati is the Goddess of Knowledge and hence also of Music. Hence the second and the third Muniputras stand to personify devotion and turn it into a pleasurable experience as like music. These two also resemble 15 - 16 year old teenagers. Hence they further convey the message that humans should start on the path of devotion from an early age. Lord Ganaraj welcomes such devotees with great pleasure.
After these Muniputras we can see two saints. One of them is holding a holy book in his hand at the northern end and another one is chanting holy hymns and scriptures which he is counting with help of rosary of sacred beads of Rudraksha. While entering the Temple we see few demonic figures on its entrance steps. These figure convey a definite message to the devotees especially to the ones who are engrossed in holy reading and chanting like the two saints mentioned above that while entering such holy premises that they should kill all the demonic thoughts in their minds and only then step inside. After this before going in front of the Lord we can see Ganesh Muni to whom we should bow to. On His head we can see Sheshnag. Again above the Sheshnag we can see a demonic figure. But conversely He is the local deity (Vastupurush) The story of this Vastupurush is also very unique and interesting.
From between these two munis starts the entrance. At the start of the entrance there is a beautiful arch which has a delightful vine of shoe flower in its centre. The Shoe flower is the favorite flower of the Lord Ganesh and is also the sign of soft and glowing skin.
Further we can see two standing guards who protect all the Ganesh devotees. After we come inside the main entrance gate we can see the four descending steps. These four steps stand for main vices in humans viz., anger, greed, arrogance and jealousy. These steps remind us that these vices should be forgotten when we enter the holy temple premises.
Location
Ozar is located about 85 km from Pune, off the Pune-Nashik highway and about 9 km north to Narayangaon. Along another Ashtavinayak temple of Lenyadri, Ozar is in the Junnar taluka of Pune district. Ozar is situated on the banks of Kukadi River close to the Yedagaon dam built on it
