5.2.1 Story of Shree Chintamani, Theur

Once there lived a King named King Abhijeet. He was a wise and powerful ruler, but had no heir to his throne. So one day the king and his wife Queen Gunavati went to seek advise of Sage Vaishampayan. 

Sage Vaishampayan advised them to perform penance to please Lord Kanakeshwar. Accordingly, the king and his wife performed penance for several years. They learned and chanted Vakratund Mantra and chanted it for years. They were eventually blessed with a son. He was named as Gana. Gana became popular as ‘Ganaraja’.

Ganaraja was a brave and furious fighter.

Once Ganaraja went on a hunting expedition. Towards the end of the day, Ganaraja saw a hermitage and went inside it. It was the hermitage of Sage Kapila. Ganaraja's army waited for him outside the hermitage.

 

Sage Kapila welcomed Ganaraj and his men. According to Hindu beliefs, guest is His in guise (Aatithi devo bhavaha). 

Sage Kapila was a generous sage who had a miracle gem called Chintamani. The jewel was given to him by King of Heaven, Lord Indra. The sage used the miraculous gem to feed the entire army of Ganaraja.

Seeing the powers of gem, Ganaraja asked Sage Kapil to give him the gem as he was a king. The sage however, refused to surrender the priced possession. 

Agrievated by the sage's refusal, Ganaraja took away the gem from the sage by force. The sage prayed to Goddess Durga seeking her help. He lamented over the lose of the gem. The Goddess advised him to worship Lord Ganesha. Accordingly, the sage performed austerities to please Lord Ganedha. 

Lord Ganesha was eventually invoked. He was pleased by Sage Kapila and promised him to get back the Chitamani jewel for him.

Lord Ganesha first approached Ganaraja and asked him to return the Chintamani jewel to its rightful owner- Sage Kapila. However, Ganaraja refused to return it. 

Lord Ganesha asked Ganaraja to battle with Him. He said, "Ganaraja fight with me. Whoever wins shall take away the jewel". Ganaraja agreed and a fierce battle insured between them.

Ganesha fought against Ganaraja under a tree named Kadamba. After a long fight, Ganaraja was killed by Ganesha with his axe. When King Abhijeet came to know about his son's death, he returned the Chintamani gem to Sage Kapila and asked for forgiveness. He prayed to Ganesha to release his grandsons who could became the hiers to Ganaraja’s throne.

Sage Kapila got the jewel of Chintamani back. However, he realized that Ganesha is far more dearer than a gemstone. His devotion came to supersede his material desires and he adorned Ganesha with Chintamani as a gesture of gratitude and workshipped him. He prayed for Ganesha's presence in his adored form at the place where battle took place. The place was under the tree Kadamba. The village near Kadamba tree become popular as Kadamba Tritha (piligamage). Following this incidence, Ganesha came to be known as Chintamani – Vinayaka, Kapila – Vinayaka and Sumukha – Vinayaka.