Other · Ahmednagar, Maharashtra
Shri Shanaishwara Temple, Shingnapur
Shani as a black swayambhu slab, under the open sky
Sani and Sade satiGeneral
The temple in short
- Deity
- Shani as a black swayambhu slab, under the open sky
- Where
- Ahmednagar, Maharashtra · 19.36N 74.96E
- Usual hours
- 5 am – 11 pm, open shrine — hours change with festivals and the season; check before travelling. Were these right when you went?
- Grahas
- Sani
- Visited for
- The village with no doors on its houses, and a Shani with no roof over him. Saturdays, Shani Amavasya and Shani Jayanti are its days; sesame oil is the offering.
The sthala purana
Tradition, as it is told at the temple
The sthala purana has it that a black slab was found in the river bed after a flood, and that when the villagers struck it to move it, blood came from it.
Shani is said to have come to one of them in a dream that night and told him the stone was his, that he would stay in the open with no roof over him, and that as long as he did so the village would need no locks. The stone was set up on a plain platform under the sky, and it has never been roofed.
What is recorded
Documented history
Shingnapur is known outside Maharashtra for the custom that follows from that story: the houses traditionally have no doors, and a bank branch was opened in the village with a lockless door to make the point.
The entry of women onto the platform where the stone stands was long restricted and was the subject of a public campaign; women were permitted onto it from 2016. A reader planning a visit can take that as settled.
Sesame oil poured over the stone is the offering, and it is sold at every stall on the approach.
What there is to see
Description
The deity is a plain black slab, roughly the height of a person, standing upright on an open platform with no shrine, no image and no roof.
Oil runs constantly down it and off the platform, so the whole area is dark and slick. There is no sanctum to enter; the queue simply walks up to the platform.
The village around it is worth a walk for the doorframes with no doors in them.
The temple year
The days it is fullest
Saturday is the day, and Saturdays draw very large numbers from Mumbai and Pune.
Shani Jayanti on the Vaishakha amavasya, Shani amavasya whenever it falls, and the day Saturn changes sign are the heaviest. Amavasya is generally busier than pournami here.
Getting there, and what else it is called
- Also called
- Shani Shinganapur, Shri Shanaishwara Devasthan
- Reaching it
- Shingnapur is in Nevasa taluk, Ahmednagar district, about 35 km from Ahmednagar and roughly 70 km from Shirdi. Srirampur and Rahuri are the nearest railway stations.
Where it is
Others within reach
Nearest first, by straight-line distance
- Shri Saibaba Samadhi Mandir, Shirdi 67.9 km · Other
- Grishneshwar Jyotirlinga 76.9 km · Saiva
- Shri Siddhivinayak Temple, Siddhatek 85.6 km · Ganapathi
- Shri Mahaganapati Temple, Ranjangaon 100.1 km · Ganapathi
- Shri Vighneshwar Temple, Ozar 113.9 km · Ganapathi
- Shri Girijatmaj Temple, Lenyadri 114.4 km · Ganapathi
Add what you know
Been to this temple? The things that change — whether the hours on this page were right, whether the sannidhi was open, how long the queue was on a Saturday — are exactly what no printed source keeps current, and what the next person travelling here needs.
- Were the hours right when you went?
- Is anything on this page wrong or out of date?
- A photograph of the gopuram, the tank, or the notice board
A contribution carries a name, so a reader knows whose account it came from. That is why it needs an account, and it is the only reason.
Parihaaram is traditional practice, offered for devotion and peace of mind; it is not a guaranteed cure of any condition. Temple hours change with festivals and the season, so check before travelling.