Ballaleshwar Temple Pali – The only Ashtavinayaka known by his devotee’s name.

The temple of Shri Ballaleshwar Ganesha temple is located in Pali village of Raigad district in Sudhagad taluka. It lies between fort Sarasgad and the river Amba. The Ballaleshwar temple Pali is the third Ganesha temple to be visited during the Asthavinayak Darshan tour. Shri Ballaleshwar temple is the only Ganesha among all Asthavinayaks, who is famous by his devotee’s name Balla. It is said that, the Peshwas use to take oath of Shri Ballaleshwar before beginning any court related work.

About Ballaleshwar Temple Pali

The Ballaleshwar temple Pali is the third Ganesha temple to be visited during the Asthavinayak Darshan tour. However, we visited it as second Ganesha during our Ashtavinayak temple tour. Like all other Ashtavinayak temples, there are many shops selling God’s idol, books, offerings for god etc. leading to the entry of Shree Ballaleshwar Temple.

We first visited the Dhundi Vinayaka temple present behind the main temple. Devotees first visit this temple and then go into the main temple. The Dhundi Vinayaka idol is west facing. It is said that this idol is the same one which was thrown by Ballala’s father while Ballala was worshipping it. From the Dhundi Vinayaka temple leads a way to the main temple.

On our way to Shri Ballaleshwar temple, one of the devotee mentioned that, the original temple of Shri Ballaleshwar Vinayaka was made of wood and was constructed in 1640. Latter, this Ashtavinayaka temple was renovated in 1760 to make way for a new stone temple designed by Shri Baburaoji Fadnis and his son Moroba dada.

The Ballaleshwar temple Pali is east facing. The temple was constructed by mixing lead with cement and build in the shape of the letter Shri (श्री) It is constructed as such that when the sun rises, the sun rays fall directly on the Ganesha idol. The temple complex has two lakes which are tiled throughout. One of the lake is reserved for Pooja of the Deity.

The Ballaleshwar Ashtavinayak Temple has two sanctums (Girbhagriha), an inner and an outer sanctum. The inner sanctum houses the idol of lord Ballaleshwar and has a Mushika (Ganesha’s vehicle, the rat) with modaka in his forepaws in front of it. It is 15 feet (4.6 m) high, while the outer sanctum is only 12 feet (3.7 m) high. The main hall of the temple is 40 feet (12 m) long and 20 feet (6.1 m) wide and contains eight pillars resembling cypress trees.

We saw a huge bell inside the temple. It is said that this bell was brought back by Chimaji Appa after his defeat of the Portuguese in Vasai and Sasthi.

The deity

The idol of Vinayaka sits on a stone throne, facing east with its trunk turned left and sitting against a background of silver which displays Riddhi and Siddhi waving chamaras. The idols eyes and navel contain diamonds.

The legend of Ballaleshwar

In Kṛta Yuga a couple called Indumati and Kalyan lived in the town of Palipur (known as Pali today). They had a handsome and intelligent big named Ballal. He was ardent devotee of Lord Ganesha right from his childhood. Ballal and other children used to play with stones considering them as stone sculptures of deity.

Once Ballal along with other children ventured out of the village boundary for playing. They noticed a large stone. Assuming the stone as Lord Ganesha, Ballal worshiped with flowers and offered fruits to it as naivedhya (offering to god). During this time all the children chanted various shlokas like ‘Vakratunda Mahakaya‘, ‘om gam ganapataye namaha’ etc.

Since the children didn’t return for long, the parents got worried and they complained to Kalyan about Ballal’s behavior. This angered Kalyan, eventually he took a stick and went in search of the children. When he found the children, he say them immersed in lord Ganesha’s Pooja which was conducted by Ballal. He lifted the stone that the children were worshiping and broke it into pieces. Then he started beating Ballal and finally tied the bleeding Ballal to a tree and left the place.

Though Ballal was hurt and was in pain, he continued chanting the name of lord Ganesha. This moved lord Ganesha and he appeared in front of Ballal as a Bhramin. Ballal recognized the Bhramin as Lord Ganesha and worshipped him. Lord Ganesha touched Ballal and all his wounds got healed.

Happily, lord Ganesha granted Ballal as wish. Ballal asked him to stay at that place and remove the miseries of the people. Ganesha agreed to the wish and said that Ballal’s name will be taken before his name during worship and thus the Ballaleshwar Temple Pali came into existence.

Ganesha then joined the stone broken by Kalyan and disappeared into the stone. The stone idol today is worshiped as Dhundi Vinayak and is a swayambhoo Moorti. It is worshipped before Ballaleshwar is worshipped.

Insider tips:

1. How to reach
   1. By bus: There are frequent state transport buses from Mumbai, Panvel, Khopoli to Pali. If you are traveling by your own vehicle or by private taxi from Mumbai, then you can take the Panvel – Pen route. The road towards Pali is 5 k.m from this route.
      One can also take Panvel-Goa National highway to reach Pali. Pali is 7 k.m from Waken on Panvel -Goa National Highway.
   2. By train: The nearest railway station to Pali is Karjat, which is approx 30 k.m. from the Ballaleshwar temple Pali.
   3. By air: Mumbai and Pune airport are the nearest airport to reach Ballaleshwar temple Pali. From any of these airport one can take the state transport buses or hire a Taxi to reach Ballaleshwar temple Pali.
2. Best time to visit: Festivals like Bhadrapadi Utsav (Bhadrapad Shuddha Pratipada to Panchami) and Maghi Utsav (Magh Shuddha Pratipada to Panchami) are best time to visit. Since on this occasion, there is huge celebration and locals organize Bhajans, kirtan (discourse). Palakhi procession takes place in the evening.
   One can also visit during the time of Ganesh Chaturthi. On this occasion, the entire area of temple gets decorated with colorful lighting. The procession covers the whole village of Pali. The devotees are blessed with ‘Prasad’ after the procession is over. So if you don’t like crowd then you can visit this Ashtavinayak temple anytime.
3. Distance to other Ashtavinayak temples: 
   1. Shri Ballaleshwar temple Pali to Shri Chintamani Temple, Theur – 141 k.m via Bengaluru – Mumbai Hwy/Mumbai Hwy/Mumbai – Pune Hwy/Mumbai – Pune Expy (approximately 2 hour 10 mins)
   2. Shri Ballaleshwar temple Pali to Shri Mayureshwar Ganpati temple, Morgaon – 190 k.m via via Bengaluru – Mumbai Hwy/Mumbai Hwy/Mumbai – Pune Hwy/Mumbai – Pune Expy (approximately 4 hour 20 mins)
   3. Shri Ballaleshwar temple Pali to Shri Mahaganapati temple, Ranjangaon – 160 k.m via via Bengaluru – Mumbai Hwy/Mumbai Hwy/Mumbai – Pune Hwy/Mumbai – Pune Expy (approximately 3 hour 50 mins)
   4. Shri Ballaleshwar temple Pali to Shri Vigneshwara temple, Ozar – 168 k.m via via Bengaluru – Mumbai Hwy/Mumbai Hwy/Mumbai – Pune Hwy/Mumbai – Pune Expy and NH60 (approximately 4 hours 10 mins) 
   5. Shri Ballaleshwar temple Pali to Shri Girijatmaj Temple, Lenyadri – 179 k.m. via Bengaluru – Mumbai Hwy/Mumbai Hwy/Mumbai – Pune Hwy/Mumbai – Pune Expy and NH60 (approximately 4 hours 20 mins)
   6. Shri Ballaleshwar temple Pali to Shri Varad Vinayak Temple, Mahad – 38 k.m. via SH92 (approximately 1 hours 20 mins)
   7. Shri Ballaleshwar temple Pali to Shri Siddhivinayak, Siddhatek – 232 k.m. via Bengaluru – Mumbai Hwy/Mumbai Hwy/Mumbai – Pune Hwy/Mumbai – Pune Expy (approximately 6 hours)

In Nutshell

The temple of Shri Ballaleshwar Ganesha temple is located in Pali village of Raigad district in Sudhagad taluka. It is the third Ganesha temple to be visited during the Asthavinayak Darshan tour. Shri Ballaleshwar temple is the only Ganesha among all Asthavinayaks, who is famous by his devotee’s name Balla. Every year thousands of devotees visit this Ashtavinayak temple to seek the blessings of lord Ganesha. Due to its religious significance and proximity to Pune and Mumbai, Shri Ballaleshwar Temple Pali is considered as an awesome weekend getaway.