page_title: Morya Gosavi
section_title: From Morgaon to Chinchwad
hierarchical_section_title: Morya Gosavi / From Morgaon to Chinchwad
caption_attribution_description: English: Morgaon temple
context_page_description: Morya Gosavi or Moraya Gosavi alias Moroba Gosavi was a prominent saint of the Hindu Ganapatya sect, which considers the elephant-faced god Ganesha as the Supreme Being. Morya Gosavi is considered the chief spiritual progenitor of the Ganapatyas and has been described as the "most famous devotee" of Ganesha.
  The lifetime of Morya Gosavi is speculated between the 13th to 17th century. Numerous legends recall his life. Morya became devoted to Ganesha when he started visiting the Morgaon temple of Ganesha. It is believed that due to the hindrance in Morya's services to the god in the popular Ganesha shrine, Ganesha told Morya that he would appear in Chinchwad for Morya to worship, so Morya moved from Morgaon to Chinchwad, where Morya built a Ganesha temple. Consequently, Morya took sanjeevan samadhi by burying himself alive in his tomb.
  Morya had a son called Chintamani, venerated as a living incarnation of Ganesha and addressed as Dev. Chintamani was succeeded by six more Devs. The tomb of Morya Gosavi and the Ganesha temple at Chinchwad still attract many Ganesha devotees.
context_section_description: According to a legend, on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi (August–September) – the largest festival dedicated to Ganesha – Morya could not find a place in the temple, crowded by the laity and the wealthy Pingle family. Morya left his offering under a tree and then by a "miracle", the laity's offerings from temple were exchanged with Morya's offerings under the tree. The laity accused Morya of sorcery and prohibited his entry in Morgaon. Ganesha appeared in a dream of Pingle and told Pingle that he was offended by the ill-treatment of his favourite devotee Morya. So Pingle requested Morya to come back to Morgaon, but Morya refused. Ganesha thus gave a vision to Morya saying that he would come to stay with Morya in Chinchwad. Accordingly, Morya found an image of Ganesha – similar to the one worshipped at Morgaon – while bathing in the river and built a small shrine for it.
  Another tale tells that the head-man of Morgaon was impressed by Morya's pious ways and offered him milk every day he visited Morgaon. Once the head-man was not present at his house, so a blind girl went to offer the milk to Morya. The moment she touched the threshold of the house where Morya was waiting, her sight was restored. Morya became famous due to this miracle and is credited to have cured the eyes of Shivaji (1627–1680) too – who would become the founder of the Maratha Empire later. To escape the crowds of people, Morya relocated to the forest, where present-day Chinchwad stands. Due to his growing age, Morya found it hard to continue his visits to Morgaon. Once he reached Morgaon after the temple was closed. Tired and hungry, he slept. Ganesha gave Morya a dream-vision telling Morya to offer his prayers to him and that he would reside with Morya in Chinchwad and incarnate in Morya's lineage for seven generations. Morya woke to find the temple doors miraculously opened and offered his prayers. In morning when the temple-priests opened the temple-doors, they were astonished to see fresh flowers offered to the Lord and a pearl necklace missing. The necklace was discovered on Morya's neck, who was imprisoned but then freed due to Ganesha's aid. Morya found a conical stone rising in Chinchwad home, which he recognized as Ganesha and built a temple for it.
  Another legend does not talk about his arrest, but says that Morya realised the presence of Ganesha at Morgaon but realised that there was hindrance in his devotion, so he moved to the forest near Tathavade to worship Ganesha. On every fourth lunar day after the full moon, Morya used to visit the Chintamani Temple of Theur. Once, devotees from Chinchwad requested Morya to visit the bank of Pavana River at Chinchwad. There, Chintamani – the form of Ganesha worshipped at Theur – is believed to have ordered Morya to marry. As per Ganesha's orders, Morya married Uma, the daughter of Govindrao Kulkarni whose family was staying in Tathavade near Chinchwad.
  According to a story, as per his guru's orders, Morya performed penance at Theur by observing a strict fast for 42 days, within this period, he is believed to have "divine revelations". After the death of his parents, Morya moved from Morgaon to Chinchwad. The present structure of the Theur temple is built by Morya.
caption: The Morgaon temple of Ganesha where Morya Gosavi worshipped Ganesha, before shifting to Chinchwad
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