Shani Singanapur

 

January 2023  we were in Maharasthra .

After visiting Pune and Shirdhi we planned to visit Nasik and on way to pray in famous temple for Shaneeswara associated with Saturn planet and who is prayed to ward off evil influences in ones life .

Close to Ahmednagar the Shaneeswar idol is a swayambhu or self formed stone idol discovered by sheperds grazing thier cattle and sheep in  the area ,found a stone bleeding when they touched it with thier staff .

The temple is an open one with no cover 

Women traditionally were not allowed in precincts of the idol till recent activism and a court ruling that eomen should be allowed to pray like men .

We hired a car from Shirdhi to Nasik via Shani Signapur and Thriyambakeswar .

We realised the day was Ammavasa and it was one of few days where crowds are very high .

As we feared we were stopped one km before temple asked to park car and walk rest of distance joining huge crowds of pilgrims 

I was very doubtful of darshan as I preferred less crowded temples .

Luckily for us our driver was a local and assured us he would find ways ,he got us a spl car allowed to go upto temple and came with us .

The que we saw was shocking it would take hours to reach the idol .

Again our driver knew a short cut and took us to police personell ,we requested thrm as Doctors from kerala and our need to be on our way 

The police were very helpful and they allowed us to directly enter the central place 

Oil abishek is prime pooja in the temple we all had oil bottles with us bought in local shop .

Earlier devotees poured oil directly on idol and place was oily and slippery but now one had to pour oil a little away and it was pumped by tubes directly onto idol and collected as prasad and gtound was clean and dry .

We were out in half an hour a feat indeed on that crowded day 

We returned back 

Our driver told us no house in Shani signapur ever locked his house and there is no history of theft as no robber dares to rob from Shaneeswaras proximity 

Even local UCO Bank was kept open 24 hrs but with safegaurds .

We then sped towards Thriyambakeswar and Nasik