This 400-year-old temple in Wadala will see 4 lakh people on Ekadashi

On a rainsoaked evening a handful of devotees gather inside the Vitthal Mandir in Wadala to recite the Dnyaneshwari a commentary on the Bhagwad Gita written by Marathi saintpoet Dnyaneshwar in the 13th century The sonorous voice of Nivrutti Lokhande who belongs to the warkari sect rises above the din of the main road traffic as he deconstructs a verse written in the Modi script by the saint at the age of 16Devotees seen reciting the Dnyaneshwari mdash a commentary on the Bhagwad Gita mdash written by Marathi saintpoet Dnyaneshwar at Vitthal Mandir in Wadala PicDatta KumbharTwo weeks hence this regular temple scene will take on a different colour when over three lakh devotees from across Mumbai will flock to the 400yearold Vitthal Mandir for Ashadi EkadashiAshadi Ekadashi is celebrated on the eleventh lunar day of the bright fortnight Shukla paksha of the Hindu month of Ashadha June and July This year it will be observed on July 15A week before the festival pilgrims from various parts of Maharashtra head out on foot towards Pandharpur a town in south Maharashtra which is situated on the banks of Chandrabhaga river Devotees from Mumbai and the nearby areas who cannot be part of these celebrations visit Vitthal Mandir instead Several dindis or processions also make a pitstop at the temple before proceeding to PandharpurldquoWe have the parayan recital and kirtans all year But from the first week of July till Ekadashi you will see a jatra festival at the templerdquo says Lokhande who has been giving sermons at the temple for the last 16 yearsAccording to Sashikant Naik the chairman of the Vitthal Ganpati Mahadev Trust the temple sees the second highest footfalls after Pandharpur during Ekadashi and is also popularly known as Prati Pandharpur Pandharpurs replica Serpentine queues which begin at the temple extend all the way up to the main road at Jerbai Wadia MargldquoThe crowd has been increasing with each year This year we are expecting close to four lakh peoplerdquo Naik saidUnlike the temple in Pandharpur where the idols of Vithoba and his consort Rukmini are housed separately in Vitthal Mandir deities are placed in the same room The Rukmini idol was constructed later although the date is not known The 4000 squaremetre temple area also houses the temples of Ganpati and Shiva within its premisesHowever the place is historically significant because of Sant Tukaram the 17thcentury poetsaint of the Bhakti movement who first laid the foundation of the temple here ldquoBack then there was nothing here but wada banyan trees Sant Tukaram who travelled to the city for his salt business would preach sitting under one of the banyan trees which is now situated inside the temple premisesrdquo said Naik who has been in charge of the temple since 1986 This banyan tree which still stands here is believed to be older than the temple itselfLegend has it that the Vithoba idol in Vitthal Mandir was first fished out of Chandrabhagha river by a few locals from Wadala when they were visiting Pandharpur ldquoIt is speculated that some locals from Pandharpur must have thrown the idol into the river to protect it from being vandalised by the Mughalsrdquo Naik says adding that in the absence of written records it is difficult to verify the claimWadala resident Jyoti Surve and her husband Sameer have been visiting the temple since their childhood ldquoItrsquos not always possible to visit Pandharpur hence we come here as the temple has the same feelrdquo says Jyoti who works in the administration department at Kohinoor College of Hotel and Tourism Management Dadar ldquoThis place offers a sense of serenityrdquo she says