Sankashti Chaturthi Mandal
Photo: Borayin Maitreya Larios / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Of all the Ashtavinayak temples, only one carries the name of a devotee rather than a form or title of Shree Ganesh himself. In the village of Pali, in Raigad district, the temple of Ballaleshwar stands as a testament to what pure, unshakeable devotion can call forth — even from a child.
A Boy Who Loved to Worship
In Pali lived a merchant named Kalyan with his wife, Indumati, and their son, Ballal. Ballal and the other children of the village often played at worship, using stones in place of a proper murti. One day, on the outskirts of the village, they found a large stone, and at Ballal's urging, the children began worshipping it as Shree Ganesh. So complete was their devotion that they lost track of hunger, thirst, and time itself.
A Father's Rage
When the children failed to return home, worried families went looking and found them still absorbed in worship. Word reached Kalyan, who — furious at what he saw as his son's neglect of his duties — took a stick and went to the site himself. He destroyed the small shrine the children had built, and the other children fled in fear. Ballal alone remained, and his father, in his anger, beat him until he bled and tied him to a tree, trampling the offerings the children had gathered.
Shree Ganesh Answers
Wounded, hungry, and exhausted, Ballal did not stop calling on the name of Shree Ganesh, until at last he fainted from the pain. When he woke, he cried out once more for help — and Lord Shree Ganesh appeared before him in the form of a sadhu, untying him and healing his wounds.
The Boy's Only Request
Moved by the boy's devotion, Shree Ganesh offered to grant him any wish. Ballal asked for nothing for himself except this: that he remain an unwavering devotee, and that Shree Ganesh stay in that very place forever, to remove the suffering of all who came seeking him. Shree Ganesh agreed, and declared that he would take Ballal's name before his own — Ballaleshwar, the Lord of Ballal.
A Temple Unlike the Rest
To this day, Ballaleshwar remains the only Shree Ganesh temple in existence named for the devotee who called him there, a lasting reminder that devotion itself, however small or young, is never overlooked.