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Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Edition3: Chatushringi Temple







The Chaturshringi Temple is a Hindu temple in Pune, in the Maharashtra state of India. The temple is located on the slope of a hill on Senapati Bapat Road. It is said to have been built during the reign of the marathi king Chhatrapati Shivaji Raje Bhosle. The temple is in the midst of nature's scenic beauty. This ninety feet high and one hundred and twenty five feet wide temple is looked after by Chaturshringi Devasthan (Temple) trustees, with full dedication.
The presiding deity of the temple is Goddess Chaturshringi. She is also considered as the presiding deity of the city of Pune. The temple is maintained by the Chaturshringi Devasthan Trust. Every year a fair is held at the foothill on the eve of Navratri. Thousands of people gather pay respects and homage the Goddess Chaturshringi.
In the history, there is a very interesting story about this temple. In Pune, in the regime of Peshwa, around 250 years back, there was a money lender (saavakar) & mint owner of Peshwa named Durlabhsheth Pitambardas Mahajan, who was a very religious person & a devotee of Devi Saptashringee situated on the hills of Vani near Nasik. Every year on the full moon day of Chaitra, he used to travel approximately 300 kms. i.e. from Pune to Vani in those days to worship goddess.
As the time passes & because of the old age, it was difficult for him to travel & go to Vani to perform pooja & worship goddess. So he was in deep sorrow. With a great sorrow, he prayed to the goddess & asked her, "I can't come to you for your darshana, now what should I do?" Because of his prayer & devotion, he had a sakshatkar of the goddess in his dream. The goddess Saptashrungee Devi told him that, "if you can not come to me, I will come to you & stay near you." She told him to come to a mountain situated in the North-West of Pune & dig there. The place as described by the goddess, was traced out and miracle happened, he found a natural statue of goddess i.e. (swayambhu devi). There he constructed the temple; this is the same temple which was renovated time to time, which is the present temple. Being a money lender to Peshwa, in those days Durlabhsheth minted a Chattushringi rupee to celebrate this occasion. Day by day this temple became an important place and had her devotees coming from all over India. After Durlabhsheth Late Dastageer Gosavi and his disciples looked after the temple. Later it went to Angal family and from last five generations of Angal family are performing all deity rituals like pooja, naivedya, arti, & other religious rituals till date. From ancient time devotees from all over Pune and nearby villages, come to the temple to worship the goddess. By Marathi calendar in the month of Ashwin, full moon Ashwini Pornima Navaratri Mahotsav celebrated every year. In Navaratri, fair Big Giant Wheels, Merry Go Round, Food Stalls are there in the fair. On the tenth day i.e. on the occasion of Vijaya Dashami (Dashahara) in the evening there is a procession of silver statue of goddess Chattushringi in silver chariot in the evening which is a main attraction of this 15 days festival.

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