Chintamani Ganpati Temple

It is said that once Morya Gosavi of Chinchwad performed several harsh penances in the forest. Being pleased with his devotion, Lord Ganesha emerged in the form of two tigers. It is also said that Morya Gosavi of Chinchwadi attained ‘siddhi’ (divine knowledge) here & in honor of this attainment, his son Chintamani built this temple.

Shri Chintamani Ganpati is also the family god of Shreemant Madhavrao Peshwa. His palace was near the temple and now it is converted into a garden. It is said that Madhavrao Peshwa had stayed here during his last days. He gave the temple a new look and organized a number of important religious events at the temple.

The Mudgala Purana narrates: Abhijeet was one of the greatest and most influential kings of his times. By god’s grace, he was blessed with all happiness in life except a worthy successor. The king and his wife carried out great penance on the suggestion of Rishi Vaishyampayane and were finally rewarded with a son whom they named as Gana. The son later acquired the name Ganaraja. The son was courageous but extremely destructive by nature. Sage Kapila once invited Ganaraja to his ashram and nearby place. The sage showed good hospitality with the help of the precious stone Chintamani Ratna. Impressed by the ratna, Ganaraja asked that for himself, but when the sage refused to give it, he took it away from him forcibly.

Meanwhile, Sage Kapila’s mentor Goddess Durga guided him to worship Lord Ganesha and seek his help. Lord Ganesha thus started off a fierce battle against Ganaraja under a Kadamba tree and won the precious ratna back from him and presented it to Sage Kapila. By the time Sage Kapila received his ratna back, he had lost all curiosity and excitement about possessing the stone. The sage thus gave the stone as a present to Lord Ganesha who tied it around his neck. After wearing the Chintamani Ratna around his neck Lord Ganesha became popular amongst his devotees as Chintamani Vinayak.Shri Madhavrao Peshwa was a staunch devotee of Lord Ganesha in his form of Chintamani. Thus, Lord Ganesha was named as Chintamani Ganpati. The incident happened under the Kadamb tree. Therefore, Theur was also known as Kadambanagar in ancient days.He would take time off from administrative matters to visit the Ganapati temple at Theur to relax his mind. He even spent the last days of his life at Theur.

The name Theur originates from the Sanskrit word Sthavar meaning stable. According to another legend, the god Brahma meditated here and his restless mind became sthavar due to Ganesha’s blessings. Since Ganesha got rid of Brahma’s Chintas (“worries”), he became known as Chintamani.  According to another tale, the god-king Indra worshipped Ganesha here under the Kadamba tree to get rid of the sage Gautama’s curse. The place was thus known as Kadamaba-Nagar, the town of Kadamba trees. The lake in which God Indra had bath, is called as Chintamani sarovar.