Idagunji Mahaganapathi Temple

The granite Ganesha at Idagunji is a standing figure with two arms, a lotus bud in one hand and a modaka in the other, and no mouse at his feet; it is unusual on every count, and dated by scholars to roughly the 4th or 5th century. Around a million pilgrims arrive each year, which makes this one of the busiest shrines in Karnataka; Ganesh Chaturthi and Sankashti Chaturthi are the heaviest days. It stands on the left bank of the Sharavathi, fifteen to twenty kilometres from Murudeshwar, and anchors a local circuit of six Ganesha temples. Footwear off, modest dress, no photography in the sanctum; vetiver root is sold at the gate.

A million pilgrims a year for a granite image carved some fifteen centuries ago