Maha Ganapati Temple of Arizona

THE START ….

In May 1999, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami of Kauai Aadheenam gifted a 1400 lb., 4 ft. tall granite Ganesha murthi to the Hindu community of Arizona for the construction of a mainstream, Hindu temple for all denominations and sects. The Vigraha gifted to Arizona was carved in Mahabalipuram, South India and received in LA by Sri Chellappa & Sri Vignesh .The temple was officially incorporated as an Arizona Non-Profit Corporation on March 20, 2000. The Ganesha murthi was hosted in Ganesh Family home while a suitable location was being identified.

The then Board of Directors, raised funds to obtain a double trailer in 2002 and the temple was established in that double-trailer in Maricopa city located on a 15 acre land generously donated by the Gunnala family from 2002 to 2007.

Ground breaking puja for starting the construction was done on 2007. Here is snapshot of the article in Arizona Republic talking about this ground breaking event.

PHASE 1 OF THE CONSTRUCTION 2007-2008.

This phase included the Maha Mandapa (Temple Hall) of 7600 square feet in area and 200 parking spaces and appropriate roadways. Also accomplished in this phase was the sanctom santorum of Lord Mahaganapati, Lord Siva and Lord Vishnu and Navagrahas. Phase 1 culminated in Murthi Pranapathishtapana and Maha Kumbabishekam in May 2008.

PHASE 2 OF CONSTRUCTION 2011

Temple accomplished the phase 2 of the construction to house four additional shrines namely the shrines for Goddess Visalakshi (Parvathi) & Goddess Padmavathy (Mahalakshmi), Lord Subramanya and Lord Ayyappa.

PHASE 3 OF CONSTRUCTION 2012

Phase 3 of construction accomplished traditional indian art work on all the shrines inside the Maha Mandapa of the temple. Phase 2 & Phase 3 culminated in a grand Murthi pranapathishtapana and Jeeranodharana Kumbabisheka utsavam in May 2012

PHASE 4 OF CONSTRUCTION 2012-2014

Phase 4 ventured to construct the richly decoreated vimanas (towers) that are each 26 foot tall atop the MahaGanapati, Balaji & Siva shrines. In addition to the vimanas, Phase 4 also added the first ever shrine of Satyanarayana Swami and Sivakama Sundari Sametha Nataraja in Arizona.

Murthi Pranapathishtapana and Vimana Kumbabishekam was held in May 2014