Suvarna Ganesh Temple

The Suvarna Ganesh ("Golden Ganesh") temple is the small village shrine that pilgrims and weekenders both come to see. The complex is modest — a low temple building, a courtyard, a tank, and a tile-roofed gateway — but the queue on weekend mornings, and especially during Ganesh Chaturthi, can be long.

The interest is partly the discovery story, partly the religious significance: Ganesh is the family deity of Konkan Hindus, and the temple is now one of the better-known pilgrimage stops on the coast. Photography of the idol is not allowed; shorts and short sleeves are tolerated but not loved. The temple is in the centre of the village, walking distance from the beach.

things to do sight temple
A story
In November 1997 a farmer digging in his betel-nut grove on the edge of the village uncovered a copper box containing a 1.3-kilogram solid gold idol of Ganesh, more than a thousand years old. The original was stolen from the temple in 2012 and was never recovered; what visitors see today is a replica, but the story is what put Diveagar on the map.