Ganpatya

Sectarian Hindus who worship the god
Ganesh as their primary deity. Most
Hindus pay considerable homage to
Ganesh, in part because his status as
“Lord of Obstacles” (Vighneshvar) gives
him power to help or hinder human
endeavors. However, he is usually worshiped as a secondary deity. The
Ganpatyas, in contrast, venerate Ganesh
as their primary deity and worship no
other deities. Most of the Ganpatyas live
in the state of Maharashtra, where a
network of shrines centered around the
city of Pune and the nearby village of
Chinchvad serves as their sacred center.
The Ganpatya sect was founded by the
sixteenth-century figure Moraya Gosavi,
whose spiritual initiation came through
a series of visions of Ganesh. One of his
visions revealed that partial incarnations of Ganesh would be born in
Moraya’s family for seven generations.
For further information see Paul
Courtright, Ganesa, 1985.