Shrimant Dagdu Sheth Halwai Ganpati Mandir

Shrimant Dagdu Sheth Halwai Ganpati Mandir Review

The little lanes leading away from the palace are narrow and populated with small temples, old homes, and vendors hawking their goods. Make sure you dive into some of these side lanes to sample typical peth, or Maharashtrian bazaar life. (The older, noncantonment sections of Pune were divided into peths, or areas, and named after the days of the week.) On your exit from the palace take a sharp right to arrive at a chowk or crossroads. If you continue walking and pass two more crossroads you'll be at Shrimant Dagdu Sheth Halwai Ganpati Mandir. This temple is a simple construction—essentially an idol under a roof, in an open-air shed—and worship proceedings are visible right from the road. The idol is cherished not just by locals but by all Maharashtrians. Dagdu Sheth was a halwai, or sweetmeat maker. He was also a good friend of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, a key figure in India's independence movement in the late 1800s. In order to disconcert the British rulers, Tilak gave the call for public or community celebrations of Ganesh Chaturthi (the state's biggest festival, held in late summer in honor of the elephant god). In 1893, Dagu Sheth became the first to institute a kind of "block" celebration of the festival. Unlike the idols made for Ganesh Chaturthi each year, which are immersed in bodies of water after the festival is over, the Dagu Sheth Halwai Ganpati (Ganesh) stays on, and over the years has been lavished with affection and prayers. Much of the idol has been embellished with gold by grateful devotees—solid-gold ears (a gift from a film star), as well as 8 kilos of gold decorating his garments. Visit this temple in the evening, around 8:30, if you want to be around when locals worship.