01Ganesh of the sandy pond
Manal is sand and kulam a pond: the Vinayagar beside the sandy pond near the shore. The murti was worshipped here before the French East India Company founded Pondicherry in 1674, and the temple held its place through the French centuries when the street grid of the White Town was laid out around it. Local tradition says the French tried more than once to remove the shrine and the murti could not be kept away; the tale is told in every Puducherry home.
02Ganesh on every wall
The inner walls are painted with the many forms of Ganesh, and a golden chariot is drawn round the temple at festivals. Vinayaka Chaturthi and the Brahmotsavam in August–September fill the street. The Sri Aurobindo Ashram is a short walk away, and for decades the temple elephant Lakshmi blessed visitors at the gate until her death in 2022.
The life of this place
- 1674The French found Pondicherry; the shrine is already in worship.
- 2022Death of Lakshmi, the temple elephant.
In the White Town of Puducherry, a block from the beach promenade and near the Aurobindo Ashram.
