At Ranjangaon stands Mahaganapati, revered as the mightiest form of Ganesha among the Ashtavinayak. Its legend recalls that when Lord Shiva prepared to battle the formidable demon Tripurasura — ruler of three impregnable cities — he first worshipped Ganesha here to clear every obstacle from his path, and with the Lord's grace destroyed the demon. The place where Shiva invoked that supreme power became the abode of Mahaganapati.
The temple is aligned so that, at the equinoxes, the rays of the rising sun fall directly upon the idol — a mark of the skill of its builders. The swayambhu deity is seated with consorts Siddhi and Riddhi, and older tradition speaks of a still more powerful idol enshrined below. The Peshwas and their sardars extended the temple in later centuries.
As the shrine of Ganesha's supreme, obstacle-destroying might, Mahaganapati is a fitting culmination of the eight-fold pilgrimage of the Lord.
