Ganeshotsav
Come Monday the 5th of September 2016, most Indian Hindu homes especially in Maharashtra as well as some southern states will be bustling with festive activity, marking the first day of the ten day long festival known as Ganeshotsav or Gauri-Ganesh festival with the first day being Ganesh Chaturthi and the last on 15th September 2016 being Anant Chaturdashi. One can see gaily decked up pavilions known as pandals dotting roads in Maharshtra with stunning idols of Lord Ganesh, decorated with flowers accompanied by devotional music being played on loud speakers as well as traditional dhol players. And families all over India will be seen installing small idols of Lord Ganesh in their family altars, decking him up with garlands and offering scrumptious food and sweets in the rituals.
My first memory of the festival is from Mumbai in 2001 when my school took all the children to visit close by Ganapathi Pandal that are community pavilions with the idol of Lord Ganesh. The heady smell of incense, the feel of ground beneath our bare feet (shoes are taken off before approaching altars or temples as a mark of respect), the Prasad or blessed food that was modaks or roasted gram and mishri( delightfully large crystals of sugar). Seeing such grand altars and pavilions with the friendly looking elephant headed god smiling down at his devotees definitely left an impact on the six year old me that piqued my curiosity that led to my search for information on Lord Ganesh and his festival. Today I revisit those stories to lay them out in this piece for any other curious minds like myself who want to learn about Lord Ganesh and Ganesh Chaturthi.
The first day of the festival is known as Ganesh Chaturthi, loosely translates to the Ganesh and the Fourth day. It is the celebration of Lord Ganesh or Ganapathi’s Birthday. Lord Ganesh, the Elephant headed god known by as many as 108 names, is the god of wisdom, knowledge and prosperity. He is usually prayed to before the beginning of any important tasks as he is believed to be the obstacle remover or vighnaharta.
Lord Ganesh is the elephant headed God, the son of Lord Shiv who is the destroyer in the holy trinity and his consort Goddess Parvati. He is depicted with a large belly supposed to store all the prayers and secrets of his devotees, four arms holding different objects such as a trident, a broken tusk, a modak and a lotus. His mount or vahana is a rat named Mooshak. It is said that Goddess Parvati created him from Sandalwood dough, breathed life into him and instructed him guard the door while she took a bath. The legend is that once while Lord Ganesh was guarding the door, Lord Shiv came to visit Goddess Parvati, as instructed Lord Ganesh did not permit even his father Lord Shiv to enter, this enraged Lord Shiva who in turn severed Lord Ganesh’s head in a fit of anger.
On returning from her bath Goddess Parvati learnt of her son’s beheading and was distraught, realising his mistake in killing his consort’s son Lord Shiv instructed his attendants to get him the head of the first living being they found. The first living being they came across happened to be the elephant and thus Lord Shiv attached this head to Lord Ganesh’s body and revived him.
The celebration of Lord Ganesh’s birthday begins on the Chaturthi or fourth day of the lunar fortnight in the Hindu month Bhadrapad and continues for ten days. The festivities involve the installation of a clay idol of Lord Ganesh in the homes of the devotee, with prayers and sweets being offered to it every day. The sweets called Modak offered during this festival are special as they are said to be Lord Ganesh’s favourite and every plate offered is to have twenty one Modaks arranged on it. Modaks are steamed dumplings made of rice flour, stuffed with jaggery, coconut and dry fruits, these delicious bites have been lately given a modern twist with the fillings varying from fresh fruits to dark chocolate.
The idol of Lord Ganesh is kept in the home of devotees or a community pavillion called a pandal for a minimum of a day and a half, three, five, seven or ten days, after which the idol is immersed in a body of water. During the days when the idol is kept installed at the altar, every single day prayers are offered, chants are sung during the auspicious hour according to the Hindu calendar called a panchang and food offered to Lord Ganesh, blessed and then distributed amongst the praying devotees. The ritual that takes place on the final is called Ganapathi Visarjan, most families and communities make a great event out of the immersion rituals with long processions to the water body accompanied by dhol players dancing and dry colours being thrown at the crowd. This ritual symbolises the seeing off of Lord Ganesh back to his abode on Mount Kailash all the while taking away the sorrows from his devotees’ lives. Another reason behind this ritual is that Hinduism encourages worship the definite (idol based) state as well as the formless state. The immersion and subsequent dissolution of the clay idol of Lord Ganesh symbolises this worship of the formless state of the deity.
While in most parts of India, the festival is celebrated privately in homes with offering of prayers and food, in Maharashtra it is a grand community affair. This practise can be traced back to 1893 when Lokmanya Tilak encouraged large scaled community participation in the festival to bridge the gap between Brahmins and Non-brahmins and foster a feeling of unity during the turbulent colonial times. As the colonial masters prohibited any gatherings of people, especially political, the festival gave people a chance to meet and greet each other and foster the feeling of community.
But the modern world and its woes have leaked into the joyous religious celebration of Ganeshotsav. The idols of Lord Ganesh that are immersed in water are now-a-days made of Plaster of Paris and brightly painted with chemical colours, on immersion this substances pollute the natural water bodies where the immersion is done. To counter this, people have begun to advocate the use of Eco-friendly idols made of easily soluble materials like natural clay which are not harmful for the eco-system. Fallout of the visarjan or immersion proceedings is the clogging of the immersion water bodies with various accoutrements that accompany rituals such as leaves and flower garlands offered in worship, fortunately urban municipal authorities have started advocating the use of artificial tanks for immersion rituals to keep the balance between religious sentiments and environmental concerns.
But whatever be the negative aspect of the large scale celebration of a religious festival such as Ganeshotsav, it definitely brings together families and communities who otherwise are too busy with the nitty gritties of life to mingle or celebrate the feeling unity. This Ganeshotsav if you happen to be in or around Maharashtra be sure to keep your ears tuned for the cries of the traditional Marathi slogan Ganpathi Bappa Morya, Pudchya Varshi Lavkar Ya (Oh dear Lord Ganpathi, do return next year!)