Ganesha Temple

On Sunday, we went to see a Ganesha temple in Pune.  We decided not to go inside, because of the long line, and because it is required that you take off your shoes outside the temple.  The area was a bit too dirty for me and I decided that I am not yet comfortable enough to walk barefoot in filth.

The temple is not closed in, so you can sneak a peek from outside.  It was tricky to see the gold Ganesha over the heads of all the worshippers that were crowded in there doing chanting to Ganesha.

Ganesha is one of the most worshipped deities by Hindus.  Ganesha is the elephant-like figure pictured on the left-side of my blog.  He is also known as the Lord of Beginnings and Remover of Obstacles.

The area surrounding the temple was full of stands selling fresh flowers and cocunuts to give to Ganesha.  Apparently, the coconut is used in several Hindu traditions.  A cocunut is often broken open as part of prayer activity.

Here is a link to the temple we visited, so you can get a better view of Ganesha.  Apparently the police were trying to get my attention to tell me to stop taking photos...Oops!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagadusheth_Halwai_Ganapati_temple

Ganesha is everywhere - even on the dashboard of this car: