Ganpati Temple, Tasgaon

The Ganapati Temple in Tasgaon, Sangli district, is known for its idol, whose trunk bends to the right rather than the usual left, a form regarded as active and living. The idol is embellished with 125 kg of solid gold. Parasuram Bhau Patwardhan began the temple in 1779, and his son Appa Patwardhan finished it in 1799, using builders from Karnataka.

The design resembles South Indian temples, with an image chamber under a spire flanked by four smaller ones, and a flat-roofed stone hall of three aisles. Shrines of Nandi and Garuda guard the entrance to the hall. The gateway rises in a seven-storey gopura carved with gods and goddesses, about 29 metres high. The main celebration falls on the day after Bhadrapad Chaturthi, when thousands of devotees pull a 30-foot ratha in procession to the stream for immersion, a tradition running since 1785.