Morgaon: Ashtavinayak Darshan only on Yahoo! India Pune Special

Good to know -

The Ashtavinayak Yatra ought to ideally being with and end a darshan of Moreshwar.
The original idol is actually much smaller than it seems but continuous anointing of the idol with the vermilion has increased the size. It is believed that this layer of vermilion falls down on its own every 100 or 150 years, revealing the actual idol.

Stories anyone?

King Chakarapani of Mithila and his wife Queen Ugra was an unhappy couple on account of being childless. They prayed to Surya Dev to bless them with a child and one day the queen realized she was with child. But the queen had to release the conceived embryo into the sea, as she could not bear its brilliance. A male child was born from that embryo. The sea then handed over the baby boy to the king who named him Sindhu - as in one who is born from the sea. Sindhu grew up to be a strong and brilliant young man under the able guidance of his guru - Guru Shukracharya. Sindhu was a great devotee of Surya Dev and soon received the boon of immortality from him. Sindhu boon made him arrogant and he started attacking the gods and imprisoning them. Indra and Visnu too found them selves in prison. This prompted the other gods to invoke Lord Ganesha and seek his help in rescuing those who were imprisoned. Pleased by their sincerity Ganesha promised to take birth as the son of Devi Parvati and being an end to Sindhu's atrocities. As promised Ganesha did battle with Sindhu and soon defeated him. During this battle Ganesha was astide a peacock and thus came to be known as Mauyreshwar. Mayureshvar decided to reside at Morgaon, for the sake of his devotees.

There is another tale that accounts for this specific name for the lord.

Sage Kashyap had two wives, Kadru and Vinita. Kadru's sons who were the serpents, held Vinita's sons Shayen, Sampati and Jatayu who were the birds, captive. Vinita, their mother was very hurt by this. As a consolation, Sage Kashyap gave Vinita a boon of having one more son also in the form of a bird. When this son was in the egg stage, Lord Ganesh broke the egg, and a peacock emerged from the egg. The newborn peacock and Ganesh battled with each other. Vinita had to intervene to end this battle. Ultimately her peacock son chose to be Ganesha's vehicle and laid down the condition that Ganesh would be known by the peacock's name. Thus Ganesha took the name Mayureshvar. Moreshwar is a local variation of the name

Temple Trivia -

The east facing deity has four arms and three eyes that are encrusted with diamonds.
A serpents hood raised above the crown of the lord protects him. The temple boasts of a six foot high mouse.
The temple also has two deepmaals.
The sabhamandap houses 23 different idols and depictions of the lord such as Sinharudha, Vakratunda, Mahodar, Ekdant, Vikat, Dhumravarna, Vighnaraj, Lambodar.
Recent additions have been some sabhamandapas with idols of Visnu and Laxmi.
The central Hall constructed by the Kurundwad Patwardhan family has a ceiling made of a single piece of stone.
The idols of the lord's consorts are made of an alloy of five metals and have been exquisitely covered in silver.
The structure has four towers at the four corners. It is because of this that this temple looks like a mosque from a distance. stone