Eight temples of Ganesha stand within the region around Pune, walked in a set order as the Ashtavinayaka yatra. At each, the murti is held to be swayambhu — self-arisen from earth or rock rather than shaped by hand — and at each, Ganesha bears a different name drawn from the deed remembered there. The tradition is rooted in the two scriptures of the Ganapatya devotees, the Mudgala Purana and the Ganesha Purana, in which Ganesha's forms and his removal of obstacles are recounted. So at Moregaon he is Mayureshwara, who rode a peacock to overcome the demon Sindhu; at Pali he is Ballaleshwara, called by the name of the boy Ballala whose devotion he honoured; at Theur he is Chintamani, who quiets the restless mind; and at Siddhatek he is Siddhivinayaka, granter of attainment, where tradition holds Vishnu propitiated him before facing the demons Madhu and Kaitabha.
The yatra begins at Moregaon and, after the other seven, returns there to be sealed — the circle closed where it opened. Each shrine keeps its own legend and its own likeness of the Lord, and together the eight carry the devotee through the many faces of the remover of obstacles.
