History Of Andhericha Raja

Andhericha Raja, managed by the Azad Nagar Sarvajanik Utsav Samiti, is celebrating its golden jubilee this year. Andhericha Raja is extremely popular for three reasons—the idol is an offering from devotees who book it in advance, its immersion takes place after 16 days (as opposed to the usual 10 days) and finally, the eccentric theme-based pandals.

This year, the Samiti has planned to create a pandal replicating Gujarat’s Ambaji Mata temple, which is an architectural marvel in itself. Ambaji temple is an important temple town with millions of devotees visiting the place each year. It is one of the 51 Shakti Peethas of India and hence it’s been selected as a theme this year. The biggest of them allUday Salian, media coordinator of the Samiti, claims this to be the biggest decorative Ganesh pandal in the city. The pandal construction work is still going on as the set reaches a height of five storeys, standing tall and magnificent. This year, the celebration will be more special as the mandal will be marking its golden jubilee, and gearing up to set a few records. The first of those records will be that the pandal set is the biggest in the city. Apart from this, the mandal has two surprises in store for devotees. A corporate (name not revealed yet) has plans to present a giant laddoo weighing 8,500 kg as an offering to the Andhericha Raja. They are even considering applying for the Guinness Book of World Records, as this kind of an offering in the form of a giant-sized laddoo hasn’t been made yet.

Salian adds, “Since last year, devotees have been donating gold coins to the Samiti, to be used for making a gold mukut (crown) that will be adorned by diamonds. Throughout the year, there was enough gold to create the mukut and this year, we will offer it to Lord Ganesha. The mukut is worth Rs. 1.25 crore approximately.” A point worth noting is that the mandal did not spend a single a rupee for this; all the gold and the money required for this purpose came from the devotees.The mandal only helped in executing the work.