December 26, 2024

Sage Kapila got back the precious Chintamani jewel from the hands of greedy Guna with the help of Ganesha at this particular place called Theur which was called Kadambanagar during olden times. Sage Kapila put the Chintamani necklace around Ganesha’s neck and the whole episode is said to have happened under the Kadamb tree. This is the reason why the Ganesha here is called Chintamani Vinayak. There is a lake behind the temple which is called Kadambatheertha. The entrance of the temple is facing the north and the outer wooden hall was built by the Peshwas. Dharanidhar Maharaj Dev from the family heredity of Shri Moraya Gosavi is said to have built this temple around 100 years back. Shrimant Madhavarao built the outer wooden hall later. The trunk of the idol is towards the left and the idol has a spot and diamonds as its eyes. The idol faces the east side.

It is one of the larger and more famous Ashtavinayak temples and the main gate of the temple located on the north is comparatively smaller than the scale of the temple. The sabha mandapa (assemblyhall) is made out of wood and was built by Madhavrao. In the centre of the hall there is a black stone fountain. There are other shrines of Shiva, Visnu-Mahalakshmi, and Hanuman etc in the temple. The Peshawa Palace is situated just behind the temple and the day today activities of the temple are carried out from this place. Chnitamani Vinayak was the family deity of Shrimant Madhavrao and he died because of tuberculosis at the age of 27 years. He is said to have died in this temple and his wife Ramabai committed sati with him in the year 1772. The temple is situated 22 kilometres from Pune off the Pune-Solapur highway and the nearest city is Pune. The Theur village is situated at the meeting point of three big and major regional rivers, Mula, Mutha and Bhima.