History
Mahalakshmi Temple which consist of three Deities Shri Mahalakshmi, Shree Mahakali and Shree Mahasaraswati. Thousands of devotees visit the temple every day which goes to hundreds of thousand of devotees during Navaratra, Diwali and in the month of Margashirsha, as they believe that Mahalakshmi Temple's Mahalakshmi Deity is ‘Jagrut' or alive deity.
Devi Tattva(The Shakti Cult) : It is the supreme power of the Parabrahman viz. prime force. She is called Adi Shakti. She is also known as the transcendental power ‘Para Shakti'. She is known as the superlative , the great power of Maha Maya Shakti. The supreme mysterious power of World Illusion, which we call Maya and Adyashakti are in fact one and the same. According to ‘Sankhya Darshan' of Hindu Philosophy the creation of our Universe is result of coming together of ‘Purusha and Prakruti'. Purusha is the ‘Parabrahmah' and Prakruti is the ‘Nature'. Prakruti is ‘Trigunatmak', that is it consists of three ‘Gunas' - Sattvic, Rajasic and Tamasic depicted by three deities, Shree Saraswati depicting ‘Sattvic Guna', Shree Mahalakshmi depicting ‘Rajas Guna' and Shree Mahakali depicting ‘Tamas Guna'. Shreemad Bhagvad Gita is based on this ‘Sankha Philosophy'. This great power of all powers is conceived of by the devout worshipper in different forms in her three Avatars namely Shree Mahakali or Durga, Shree Mahalakshmi and Shree MahaSarswati. Navaratra - the nine days worship is divided into three groups of three days each. On first three days, we worship the mother as manifested in and through the form of ‘Shree Mahakali' or Durga. During next of three days of worship, we worship her in the form of ‘Shree Mahalakshmi' and during the last three days, we worship her in the form of ‘Shree Mahasarswati.' As the story goes, the Hindus immersed the three idols of the Goddesses into the sea near Worli creek to avoid destruction of the idols by the Muslim invaders. Subsequently, during British Rule, Lord Horneby decided to connect the two islands viz. Worli-Malbar Hill creek and the work was entrusted to Shri Ramji Shivji Prabhu, a Govt. Engineer who tried through his other engineers and technicians to link the two islands(creeks). They were not in a position to connect two islands by constructing two ways and could not complete the project on account of Sea - Waves. One night Shree Mahalakshmi Goddess instructed him in a dream and asked him to take out all the idols which were in creek of Worli and place them on top of the hillock. He promised the Goddess that he will take them out from sea/creek and place them in a temple on top of the hillock. Accordingly, team working for construction of connecting of Worli creek and Malbar Hill creek took out all the three idols of matajis from the Worli creek. Then only he succeeded to connect the said two creeks. After completion of this work, Engineer obtained ground on the hillock as a gift from the English Ruler. He then constructed a Mahalakshmi Temple on the said on top of the hillock by spending Rs.80,000/-. As per the records available this temple was constructed between 1761 A.D.1771 A.D.
Mahalakshmi Complex is designated as a heritage precinct due to its architectural/archeology value, unique street scape and intrinsic quality of historic settlements dotted with traditional temple shrines. It has unique ambience of vernacular domestic architecture and temple forms with a picturesque street character with low rise residential buildings along pedestrian thoroughfares, lined with flowers and sweets - dealers.
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