renuka mata is mother of lord parshuram, (sixth avatar of lord vishnu). there is a beautiful renuka mataย templeย nearย shanishingnapur shani temple. although, i had visitedย shani shingnapur three times before but was not aware of this renuka mata glass temple.
it was because of our driver ganesh who knew this temple that we had the good fortune of visiting this sacred temple. after visiting the temple i was pleasantly shocked that how come i missed visiting this temple so many times.ย i suggest you to visit this temple whenever you visitย shani shingnapur.
not much information is available about this temple in internet. butย among local people it is very famous. according toย shani shingnapur website, “renukaa darbaar temple is in ahamadnagar – aurangabad national high way road. its about 3 kms from sonai gram. sonai means in maratgi or hindi language, gold. shri macheendranathji has dropped a solid piece of gold on this land and as such the same name remained and become popular as sonai”.
visitingย renuka mata temple sonai:
1. while comingย from shirdi or pune as you leave the highway and take the main road toย shani shingnapur. then after 20-30 minutes car drive, one agricultural university comes. just after this university there is a left turn which will take you towards sonai temple.
i suggest you to look for theย groove of vat/banyan trees which is next to agricultural university. there is also a big organic fruit/vegetable shop in front of university (left hand side of road). there you can relish juice if you like and also ask for directions.
2. if you are coming from aurangabad then from shani shingnapur the temple is hardly 10-15 minutes drive in car and you have to look at your right side to find the big gate which takes you towards temple.
renuka mata temple photos:
peepel tree in entrance of renuka mata temple. peepel and vat/banyan tree are often found in indian temples and worshipped.
renuka mata temple entrance.ย there are few shops in the temple entrance which sells pooja material, flowers and some eatables. as you enter inside the temple, on left hand side there is a shop selling religious stuff like rudraksh, bangles, kum kum etc. the material of this shop is little expensive but very good quality. i had bought the rudraksh from this shop. when i visited narsinghwadi (ย Dattatreya place) then one pandit stopped me on the way and said your rudraksh beads are very good. looks like they are from nepal. so you can have a look at this shop.
to enter inside renuka mata temple, you have to climb the stairs which are on the back side of left elephant statue.
in this photo you can see the stairs.
once you climb the stairs and come on first floor of temple.
renuka mata temple is also known as glass temple. because the walls and pillars are decorated with glass.
the whole temple complex is built by the expert sculputures from rajasthan by using the shank metal. this is the only temple of this kind in world.
renuka mata swayambhu idol (self-manifested).
after praying to renuka mata, look at left side and there are steps leading down. there is one more idol at the ground floor.
the energy in this space is more intense.
editor note: there are 51 shakti peeths. out of that three and half shakti peeths are in maharashtra. the shakti peeth in mahur, maharashtra is of renuka mata.