On the occasion of Ayaansh's 2nd birthday, we planned to travel to Ganpatipule. Ganpatipule is a small town located 25 kms north of the city of Ratnagiri in Ratnagiri district on the Konkan coast of Maharashtra.
Brief History of Ganpatipule
The Ganesh Temple at Ganpatipule in Ratnagiri district of Kokan which is located at a distance of 350 kms. from Mumbai is very ancient, right from the Peshwas. In ancient literature like Mudgal - puran etc. this Lambodara's (Ganesh) temple is being referred as "Paschim Dwar-Devata" (Western Sentinel God).
Ganpatipule is one of the "Ashta Dwar Devatas" (Eight Welcoming Deities) of subcontinent and is known as Wester'n Sentinel God. During the reign of Moghul (about 1600 years before), there was a 'Kevada' (Pandanus Odoratissimus Flower tree). Jungle at the foot of the hill where the temple of 'Swayambhu' Ganapati is presently situated. Here lived Balbhatji Bhide, a brahmin, who was renter of the village, during the Moghul period, Bhide encountered a major personal problem. Bhide being a determined person, that he was, made up his mind to give up food and water till being relieved of personal calamity. He stayed in the Kevada - Jungle for penance and worship his tutelar deity 'Mangalmurti'.
During this period, Bhide has a vision about Lord Ganesh who said, " I have come to Aagargule (Ganesh Gule) to fulfil the wishes of my devotees. The hill is my 'Nirakar' form (Void form) You worship and propitiate here, and will be relieved of all your difficulties".
During the same period, one of the cows of Bhide was not giving milk, for which reason, the cowherd kept a close watch on her. He was astonished to see that the milk was flowing from cow's udder on the place where the idol of the God is placed at present. The cowherd narrated the incident to Bhide. on Cleaning up the entire area Bhide found the idol of Ganesh which he had seen in his vision He built a shrine here and started performing rituals.
Ganpatipule derived its name from "Ganapati" or the Lord of "Ganas" (army) and 'Pule' which means sand dune. In those days, this village was sparsely populated. Mostly people stayed around the northern part of the village since western part of the village was a slope The tutelar deity Lord Mangalmurty to the preferred to be at small village adjacent to the western coast of India along the Arabian sea.
I had been to Ganpatiplue around 20 years back with my parents and grandmother. I still have memories of that visit. Since the time I had thought of visiting Ganpatipule, I had this strong intuition that there is going to be something more about this trip, it's just that I wasn't sure what !
En route to Ganpatipule
Finally the day came ! On 25th February,2021, Around 04:25 am we began our journey with triumphant "Ganapati Bappa Morya !"
We directly took a halt around 12:30 pm for lunch at Nipani. Post that Aakanksha took the charge of steering and by 06:00 pm we were at the Abhishek Beach Resort and Spa - our stay for next 3 days.
We had booked a rooftop suite which gave us spectacular view of the shoreline and Hill - Nirankar form of Ganpati Bappa.
On our way to Ganpatipule, after we crossed Kolhapur, mesmerising view of countryside Maharashtra made us slow down. Rather than speeding towards our destination we were cruising and admiring the nature !
Travelling is one of the best experiences you can gift someone !
We drove around 814 kms in 14 hrs and Ayaansh enjoyed the whole ride ! He sat on our laps, kept fanatically looking at vehicles passing by with his sweetly voice honked -
Peep Peeeeeep !!!! 🚙
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