About Ganesh Chaturthi: Ganesh Chaturthi is a Hindu festival honoring the Hindu deity Ganesha. It is also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi, Vinayaka Chavithi, or Vinayagar Chaturthi. Ganesha’s clay murtis, or holy images of a deity, are put up both publicly. On beautiful pandals (temporary stages) and privately in houses to commemorate the event. Chanting of Vedic religious songs and Hindu scriptures, including prayers and vrata (fasting) are among the celebrations. People offer sweets like modak as offerings. Prasada from the daily prayers given to the community from the pandal. Since it is believed that Lord Ganesha loves modak, devotees offer him modak on the tenth day after the celebration begins.
A group chants and plays music as they carry the Murti in a public parade. On the day of Ananta Chaturdashi, they name it visarjana. After that, they submerge it in a nearby body of water, such as a river or sea. Every year, Mumbai submerges almost 150,000 Murtis. After the clay Murti dissolves, Ganesha returns to his heavenly home.(about Ganesh Chaturthi)
Celebration in Other Nations
The festival honors Ganesha, the god of wisdom, intelligence, and new beginnings. Hindus celebrate it all over the Indian subcontinent. Particularly in states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Goa, as well as Nepal. Hindus who live abroad, including those in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, other Caribbean countries, Fiji, Mauritius, South Africa, the United States, and Europe, also celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi on this day. Ganesh Chaturthi falls annually between August 22 and September 20 on the Gregorian calendar.
Ganesh Chaturthi’s origins are unknown, but it gained popularity after a public celebration was started in Maharashtra in 1893. By the well-known Anti-Colonial Freedom Fighter Lokamanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak. It was a tool for rebelling against British authority and creating a “Hindu nationalist identity”. People use public spaces for reading text, dining, and participating in sporting and martial arts events. (about Ganesh Chaturthi)
History
The Rigveda has the first reference to Ganapati. Even if it does not refer to the classical form of the god. The Rigveda has two instances of it: in Shloka 2.23.1 and Shloka 10.112.9. “The seer among the seers, abounding beyond measure in food, presiding among the elders and being the lord of an invocation”. The implied role that Ganapati plays in both of these shlokas, while the shloka in mandala 10 says that “nothing nearby or a far states that nothing is done near or far without you,” according to Michael. Nevertheless, neither Ganesh Chaturthi nor the Vedic name Ganapati. Which translates as “guardian of the multitudes,” is said to have expressly related to Ganesh of the later age.
Ganapati is mentioned as Ganesvaras and Vinayak in post-Vedic texts like the Grhya Sutras. Later in ancient Sanskrit texts like the Vajasaneyi Samhita, the Yajnavalkya Smriti, and the Mahabharata. Ganesh is described as the “god of success, and obstacle remover” in the medieval Puranas. He is highly praised in the Skanda Purana, Narada Purana, and Brahma Vaivarta Purana, in particular. In addition to the interpretations found in texts, archeological and epigraphical evidence indicates that Ganesha was well-known. Highly esteemed before the 8th century CE. As seen by the countless pictures of him that date back to the 7th century or before. (about Ganesh Chaturthi)
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About Ganesh Chaturthi Festival
The origins of Ganesh Chaturthi are uncertain. However, the celebration has been observed in Pune since the time of King Shivaji (1630–1680, founder of the Maratha Empire). The Peshwa, who were followers of Ganesha, began a public Ganesh celebration. In their capital city of Pune in the month of Bhadrapad in the 18th century. After the British Raj began, private families continued to observe the Ganesh festival in Maharashtra, while the British authorities withdrew their official support. Indian freedom fighter and social reformer Lokmanya Tilak later revived it. The Indian independence hero Lokmanya Tilak supported it as a way to get around the colonial British government’s 1892. Anti-public assembly laws, which prohibited Hindu assemblies. Lokmanya Tilak founded the celebration in Pune and Girgaon, Mumbai. (about Ganesh Chaturthi)
Others, like Kaur, claim that the celebration was first made public in 1892. When Bhausaheb Laxman Javale, popularly known as Bhau Rangari, erected Pune’s first sarvajanik (public) Ganesha statue. The Indian freedom warrior Lokmanya Tilak committed his efforts to turning the yearly household festival of Sarvajanik Ganesh Utsav into a sizable,. Well-coordinated public event after praising the celebration in his newspaper, Kesari, in 1893. Robert Brown claims that Tilak selected Ganesha as the deity who would “bridge the gap between Brahmins and non-Brahmins,”. Uniting the masses against British colonial power. Tilak recognized Ganesh’s appeal as “the god for everybody.
Why is Ganesh Chaturthi celebrated?
According to some academics, the British Empire passed several ordinances in British India after 1870. Out of fear of seditious assemblies. These ordinances prohibited public assemblies for social and political reasons involving more than 20 people. But they exempted religious assemblies for Friday mosque prayers in response to pressure from the Indian Muslim community. Tilak exploited this religious exemption to make Ganesh Chaturthi evade. The British colonial prohibition against big public assemblies because he believed that this effectively prevented Hindus. Whose faith did not require daily prayers or weekly gatherings from coming together in public. He was the first to erect sizable public statues of Ganesha at Bombay Presidency pavilions and other festival celebrations. (about Ganesh Chaturthi)
Richard Cashman claims that following the Deccan riots and the Hindu-Muslim communal violence in Bombay in 1893. Tilak fervently dedicated himself to the god Ganesha after feeling that the British Indian government. Lord Harris repeatedly sided against Hindus because their organization was weak. In the 18th century, Tilak estimated that Ganesha worship and processions were already common. Among Hindu communities in rural and urban areas. Spanning social classes and castes in Baroda, Gwalior, Pune, and most of the Maratha region. However Tilak contributed to the Ganesh Chaturthi festival’s growth in 1893. Turning it into a large-scale communal celebration that served as a covert platform for political agitation. Thought experiments, plays, concerts, poetry readings, and folk dances. (about Ganesh Chaturthi)
Conclusion
The celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi ends with a happy farewell to Lord Ganesha. The idols are submerged in rivers or the ocean by people. As an example of letting go of the past and looking for fresh starts. A sense of rebirth and the expectation of Lord Ganesha’s continuous blessings. All year long are the lasting effects of the celebration. (about Ganesh Chaturthi)
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