Ranjangaon Ganapati is one of the Ashtavinayak temples and the temple facing the east has huge and beautiful entrance gate. The idol of this temple was donated by the Khollam family, which is one of the Goldsmith families in Ranjangaon. The temple was built in the 9th -10th Century. It is believed that Madhavarao Peshwa made a room in the basement of the temple to keep the idol of Lord Ganesha. Sardar Kibe, later renovated the temple. The Nagarkhana is situated above the entrance gate and the idol is also called Mahotkat. The idol of Ganesha has 10 trunks and 20 hands. The temple is around 50 kilometres away from the city of Pune and is 21kilometres before Shirur on the Pune-Nagar highway.
It is believed that Lord Shiva worshipped Ganesha before the fight against Tripurasura in Ranjangaon. The temple is constructed in such a way so that the sun rays fall directly on the idol during the southward movement of the Sun. Mahaganapati is the most powerful representation of Lord Ganesha. It is believed that Shiva received the support of MahaGanapati to kill Tripurasura, the demon. This Ganesha is also called Tripurarivade Mahaganapati. It is believed that Tripurasura, the demon caused suffering to all the living beings in the heaven and on earth and hearing the pleas of the Gods, Shiva decided to put an end to the atrocities of the demon. But Shiva soon realised that He cannot defeat the demon on his own. Shiva after consultation with the great sage Narada saluted Lord Ganesha and destroyed the demon and his fortress in one shot. Shiva temple is situated near here in Bhimashankaram. In South India it is believed that since Shiva did not pray to Ganesha before going for the war against the demon, Ganehsa was angry and broke the axle of the chariot of Lord Shiva. Shiiva after realising the fault saluted his son Ganesha and then went for the battle and killed the demon.
