Shri Chatushrungi Devi Mandir History

Chatushrungi goddess in the reigning deity of the city of Pune. She is also known as Mahakalee, Mahalakshmee, Mahasaraswatee and Ambareshwari allies Shri Devi Chatushrungi. Her temple is situated on the slopes of a mountain in the North-West of Pune. This is in the midst of nature’s scenic beauty. This 90 ft. high and 125 ft. wide temple is looked after by Shri Devi Chatushrungi Mandir Trust .

In the history, there is a very interesting story about this temple. In Pune, in the regime of Peshwa, around 250 years back, there was a money lender (saavakar) & mint owner of Peshwa named Durlabhsheth Pitambardas Mahajan, who was a very religious person & a devotee of Devi Saptashringee situated on the hills of Vani near Nasik. Every year on the full moon day of Chaitra, he used to travel approximately 300 kms. i.e. from Pune to Vani in those days to worship goddess.

As the time passes & because of the old age, it was difficult for him to travel & go to Vani to perform pooja & worship goddess. So he was in deep sorrow. With a great sorrow, he prayed to the goddess & asked her, “I can’t come to you for your darshana, now what should I do?” Because of his prayer & devotion, he had a sakshatkar of the goddess in his dream. The goddess Saptashrungee Devi told him that, “if you can not come to me, I will come to you & stay near you.” She told him to come to a mountain situated in the North-West of Pune & dig there. The place as described by the goddess, was traced out and miracle happened, he found a natural statue of goddess i.e. (swayambhu devi). There he constructed the temple; this is the same temple which was renovated time to time, which is the present temple. Being a money lender to Peshwa, in those days Durlabhsheth minted a Chatushrungi rupee to celebrate this occasion. Day by day this temple became an important place and had her devotees coming from all over India. After Durlabhsheth Late Dastageer Gosavi and his disciples looked after the temple. Later it went to Angal family and from last five generations of Angal family are performing all deity rituals like pooja, naivedya, arti, & other religious rituals till date. From ancient time devotees from all over Pune and nearby villages, come to the temple to worship the goddess. By Marathi calendar in the month of Ashwin, full moon Ashwini Pornima Navaratri Mahotsav celebrated every year. In Navaratri, fair Big Giant Wheels, Merry Go Round, Food Stalls are there in the fair. On the tenth day i.e. on the occasion of Vijaya Dashami (Dashahara) in the evening there is a procession of silver statue of goddess Chatushrungi in silver chariot in the evening which is a main attraction of this 15 days festival.

Now time has changed. And all the trustees are aware of it, so Development Committee decided to make changes for Sulabh Darshana of devotees in Navaratri Festival and throughout the year. Therefore Chatushrungi Mandir Trust decided to have a development project to reconstruct big and beautiful temple, for which renowned architect from Pune designed a Master Plan to develop the temple and the surrounding.

The hill is gifted with natural scenic beauty which has been made more beautiful with statues and gardens, small resting places around the huge trees in this master plan. The uphill climb is made easier with a number of stopping places on the way. Drinking water is made available at all convenient places. At every six steps there is landing and a place for resting. During the Navaratri Fair there are gigantic crowds of the devotees. Every year arrangements have been made for sulabh darshan without much of strain and trouble. These are some of the prominent features of the master plan designed by Shri Chatushrungi Mandir Trust.

New temple building will have a nagarkhana, a waterfall, a drinking water tank, fountains, dharmashalas for staying over, the trustee-office and rest-rooms for the volunteers and security personnel. Everything has been taken care i.e. darshan, sadhana and pooja of Devi in new development plan. Real convenience to elderly people for katha-keertan and devadarshan.

Devotees are the real patrons of this devasthan. The nicely constructed steps to the temple, the dharmashalas, the well, the roads and the devi’s ornaments, etc. have come from the donations of the devotees from all over the world. All the work that have been completed became possible because of the donations from devotees.We appeal the devotees to come forward and give a helping hand to expedite and complete the project undertaken as fast as possible.