Ganesha Chaturthi/ Vinayaka Chaturthi is a famous Hindu festival celebrated mainly in India as the celebration of God Ganesh Birthday, during the months of August- September.
Before getting deeper into the festive, let’s see more about God Ganesh.
God Ganesha, also known in different names like Ganapathi, Vinayaka, Lambodara etc, is known to be the “God of Success & Remover of obstacles” according to Hindu beliefs.
Ganapathi literally means “The guardian of multitudes” and the first mentions to the name can seen in the Rig-Veda’s (Hymns 2.23.1 & 10.11.29). Carvings of Lord Ganesha among other main gods, in different Hindu, Buddha & Jain temples such as the Ellora caves shows us that he was a popular god even in those periods and such drawings, texts can be traced back up to the 7th century period.
It is an uncertain fact about when the celebration/ festival started, but, it was with the sponsorship of Chatrapati Shivaji that the festival became a major social, public event. Under the rule of Shivaji (Founder of Maratha empire), the festival was celebrated publicly in a grant way every year. Hindu festivals and gatherings were again banned during the periods of British raj (British rule over India). The event of 1892, when Bhau Laxman Javale installed the first Sarvajanik Ganesha idol in Pune and the event of 1893, during which Lokmanya Tilak wrote about the ganesha utsav in his newspaper “Kesari”, that the Ganesha utsav (Ganesha Chaturthi) got back its prominence. Lokmanya Tilak, through his writing, not only brought back the importance of Ganesha Utsav, but also united the people against the British rule by depicting Lord Ganesha as “The god for everyone”. He chose Ganesha as a bridge which linked the Brahmins and non- Brahmins. Thus extends the history of Ganesha chaturthi in different parts of the world.
Coming to the present day scenario, Ganesha Chaturthi is celebrated both in homes and public places. Idols of Ganesha, made of clay, are placed on temporary stages for ten days which ends with the Ganesha Chaturthi day. The idol is worshipped every morning and evening with pooja’s and offerings like flowers, Modaka (A sweet made of rice/ wheat flour & maita, with filling of Jaggery & grated coconut) etc. presented to god. Days end with singing of Aarti in praise of Ganesha and other Lords. At the end of the tenth day, the festival ends with the idol being carried to the nearby water source like sea/ river, in a public procession with music and chanting’s. The idol is then immersed into the water body and it gets dissolved in water. This is believed as Lord Ganesha returning to Mount Kailash to Lord Shiva and Parvathi. Ganesha Chaturthi is celebrated by Hindus all over the world with just Mumbai, India immersing more than 0.15 statues every year.
Edited By: The World Women News
