The Vigneswara temple of Ozar is a temple dedicated to Lord Ganesha and one of the Ashtavinayaka temples. The name of the idol here is called Vigneshwara, which means Lord of bstacles or Vignahar which means remover of obstacles. The names also associate with the story of Ganesha defeating Vignasura, the demon of obstacles. The temple is located around 85 kilometres from the city of Pune off the Pune-Nashik highway. Ozhar is situated on the banks of Kukadi River and near Yedagaon dam. The temple was renovated by Chimaji Appa, military commander and brother of the Peshwa Baji Rao. The shikhara (temple spire) was also covered with gold by him after defeating the Portuguese. The temple was again renovated in the year 1967 by the devotee Appa Shastri Joshi. Ozar Ganapati is the seventh temple to be visited in the Ashtavinayak circuit but many visit the temple the fifth because of the convenience of the travel route.
As per the Mudgala Purana , Skanda Purana and Vinayaka Purana, King Abhinandana conducted a sacrifice without giving any offering to Indra and Indra was very angry because of this. Indra asked Kaala, to destroy the sacrifice and Kaala took the form of Vignasura and created ruckus in the sacrifice and ruined it. The demon created havoc in the universe and started creating obstacles in all the good deeds and sacrifices of the sages and other beings. The sages’ sought the help of Brahma and Shiva who advised the worship of Lord Ganesha. A pleased Ganesha started to fight the demon. Demon soon lost the battle and surrendered to Ganesha and agreed not to harass the living beings in the world. The understanding was that Vigna will stay in places where Ganesha was not worshipped. Another version f the story says that Vigna was made the assistant of Ganesha and he would trouble those who fail to worship his Lord. It is believed that the sages consecrated an image of Lord Ganesha as Vigneshwara at Ozar to remember this event.
