Shree Siddhivinayak Temple, Prabhadevi

The trust dates the temple's first consecration to 19 November 1801. Wikipedia and Incredible India credit the original shrine to Laxman Vithu Patil and Deubai Patil. Incredible India dates the temple to the 18th century, which does not agree with the trust's 1801 date; this page follows the trust. Other accounts of the founding exist, and the original small shrine has since been completely rebuilt.

According to the trust, the old temple consisted of a hall, a sanctum, an open space, an office and a water tank in front. Its renovation began in 1990, took about three years and cost around three crore rupees. The new temple was crowned with the installation of its kalash and a Kumbhabhishek on 13 June 1994 (Jyeshtha Shuddha Chaturthi). The trust records that the rite was performed by the Shankaracharya of the Sringeri Sharada Peetham, Bharati Tirtha Mahaswami.

Wikipedia records that the trust is registered under the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950, and is regulated by the Shri Siddhivinayak Ganpati Temple Trust (Prabhadevi) Act, 1980; the trust's website publishes this Temple Act. Wikipedia also notes that in 2004 the trust was accused of mismanaging donations, that the Bombay High Court appointed a committee under retired judge V. P. Tipnis to look into the allegations, and that in 2006 the court asked the state government, the trust and the petitioner to draw up guidelines for the use of trust funds.

Architecture and sacred features

The trust says the present building was designed by the architect Sharad Athale, who took the Shiva temple at Ambernath as his model because of its solid stone elevation and its suitability for the local climate. Built mainly of marble and pink granite, it is a multi-angular, six-storeyed structure with three main entrances. The upper floors hold the kitchen for the Maha Naivedya, the trust's offices and a library with about 8,000 books.

Above the sanctum rises a large gold-plated central dome, surrounded by a cluster of 47 gold-plated crowns; the main crown is about 12 feet tall. Inside, the black stone idol of Siddhivinayak, carved from a single stone, is about two and a half feet high and two feet wide. According to the trust, its four hands hold a lotus, an axe, a rosary and a bowl of modaks; a snake is worn like a sacred thread, an eye recalling Shiva's third eye is marked on the forehead, and the goddesses Riddhi and Siddhi stand on either side. Wikipedia adds that the wooden doors of the sanctum are carved with images of the eight Ashtavinayaka forms of Ganesha.