Anupama Nair
It is that time of the year when Lord Ganpati stays in our homes for eleven days and in our hearts forever – yes Ganesh Chaturthi or birthday of the Lord is here. Ganesh Chaturthi is a Hindu festival celebrating the arrival of Lord Ganesh from Kailash Parvat with his mother Goddess Parvati or Gauri to our homes. The festival is marked with the installation of Ganesh idols privately in homes or in pandals outside. This year Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated on September 10.
In the state of Maharashtra, the installation of pandals was started by Lok Manya Tilak in 1893. From then till 2020 every year we celebrate this festival with pomp and splendor. Although it is unknown when or how Ganesh Chaturthi was first celebrated, the festival has been publicly celebrated in Pune since the era of one of the greatest sons of Bharat Ma –Shivaji Maharaj. The Peshwas were devotees of Ganesh and started a public Ganesh festival in Pune during the month of Bhadrapad. During the rule of the British East India Company and the British Raj, the Ganesh festival lost state patronage and became a private family celebration only. It was later revived by Tilak.
The festival became a public event in 1892 when Bhausaheb Laxman Javale installed the first sarvajanik Ganesh pandal in Pune. Lokmanya Tilak praised the celebration of Sarvajanik Ganesh Utsav in his newspaper, Kesari in 1893 and decided to launch the annual domestic festival into a large, well-organized public event in quest for Swaraj. Tilak believed in Lord Ganesh’s appeal as “the god for everybody”. Historians believe that the British Empire passed a series of ordinances that banned public assembly for social and political purposes of more than 20 people out of fear for the ‘voice of swaraj’. Tilak used the Ganesh Chaturthi festival as a tool against the British colonial law on large public assembly. He was the first to inaugurate large public images of Lord Ganesh in large pandals in Bombay Presidency.
In Maharashtra, families install small clay statues for worship during the festival. The idol is worshiped in the morning and evening with offerings of flowers, durva (strands of young grass), karanji and modaks. The worship ends with the singing of an aarti in honor of the Lord. In Maharashtra the Marathi aarti “Sukhakarta Dukhaharta”, which was composed by saint, Samarth Ramdas is sung. Celebrations normally end after 11⁄2, 3, 5, 7 or 11 days.
In Goa, Ganesh Chaturthi is known as Chavath in Konkani and Parab or Parva. On this day Parvati and Shiva are worshiped by women, who fast. The harvest festival, Navyachi Pancham, is celebrated the next day; freshly harvested paddy is brought home from the fields (or temples) and a puja is conducted. Communities who ordinarily eat seafood refrain from doing so during the festival. In Pakistan, Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations are conducted by the Shri Maharashtra Panchayat, an organization of Maharashtrians in Karac. Jai Ganesh!
