मराठी
English
On Saturday, June 14, 2025, thousands of devotees visited the Ashtavinayak pilgrimage site Shri Kshetra Lenyadri (Tal. Junnar) to have the darshan of ‘Shri Girijatmaj’ Ganpati on the auspicious occasion of Sankashti Chaturthi. There was a large crowd of devotees throughout the day, giving the entire Lenyadri area a festive atmosphere. On this occasion, the idol of Shri Girijatmaj and the temple premises were beautifully decorated with flowers.
On behalf of the Shri Lenyadri Ganpati Devasthan Trust, a special ritualistic bath (abhishek) and grand puja were performed at 5:30 AM by the temple trust president Adv. Sanjay Dhekne and trustee Sadashiv Tamahane. Following this, devotees were allowed to have darshan. The idol of Shri Girijatmaj and the temple were adorned with attractive floral decorations especially for Sankashti Chaturthi. For the deity’s offering (naivedya), Sudhir and Sainath Maruti Doke from Junnar offered 21 dozen mangoes, while Sopana, Navnath, and Shivaji Shankar Tajane from Kusur offered 2 crates of bananas.
Three grand aartis were conducted in the temple at 6:00 AM, 12:00 noon, and 6:00 PM. Throughout the day, various religious rituals were organized by the temple trust. Devotees were provided with various amenities and facilities by the trust. Due to the large crowd of devotees and tourists, crowd management arrangements were also made to ensure smooth darshan.
Key figures from the temple trust, including President Adv. Sanjay Dhekne, Vice President Govind Meher, Secretary Shankar Tamahane, Treasurer Bhagwan Hande, Trustees Prabhakar Jadhav, Machhindra Shete, Sadashiv Tamahane, Kashinath Lokhande, Jaywant Doke, Jitendra Bidwai, Administrative Secretary Rohidas Bidwai, Manager Nilesh Sarjeene, staff, residents of Golegaon, and many devotees were present for the occasion.
In the evening, a devotional music session (bhajan) was performed by the “Shri Muktai Prasadik Bhajani Mandal” from Shivechiwadi. At moonrise, a grand aarti of Shri Girijatmaj was held. Following this, Mayur Suresh Ghumatkar from Rajgurunagar organized a maha prasad (community feast) for all devotees.
Throughout the day, several dignitaries from various fields visited for darshan. Devotees came in large numbers from nearby areas including Junnar, as well as from Pune, Ahmednagar, Mumbai, Thane, and Nashik. This information was shared by Devasthan President Adv. Sanjay Dhekne and Secretary Shankar Tamahane.
