Ganesh Chaturthi – 2023

The first Ganesh Chaturthi was celebrated by Shivaji Maharaja as a mark of encouragement to his army before the battle against Mogul emperor Aurangzeb, Ganpati was considered the Kuladevata of the Shivaji Family, and his blessings were taken daily.

It is not good to look at the full moon during Ganesh Chaturthi. As the legend goes while returning from a feast Lord Ganesha fell off from his musheek-Vahan as the musheek got distracted by seeing food, while Ganesha fell from his vehicle Soma (the moon) started laughing, and instead of helping him get up, following which lord Ganesha cursed him, that during the period of his worship whoever will look at the moon will incur a fall from his prosperity.

Lalbaug cha Raja has a story to it. The festival was started in the Peru Chawl community in 1934, the early organizers were mostly the fisherman of Peru-chawl and local vendors, slowly as the prosperous businessmen got involved in the festivities the scale of processing the festival has also increased with the current facts stating that Lal-Baughcha Raja holds the longest procession of idol immersion in India.

There are eighteen ways of paying tribute to Lord Ganesha mainly termed the Shhodashopachara which is one of the main rituals observed during Ganesh Chaturthi. The eighteen Ways are given as follows- 1. Avaahana 2. Pratisthapan 3. Asana 4. Samarpana 5. Arghya 6. Samarpan 7.Achamana 8. Madhuparka 9. Snaana 10. Vastra 11. Samapana 12. Yagyopit 13. Gandha 14. Pushpa 15. Dhoop 16. Deepa 17. Naivedya 18. Taambloa

The Ganapati chants are mainly taken from Atharva Shirsha Upanishad.

The Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations see Mumbai in a different state of ecstasy with loud cries of “Ganapati Bappa Moriya, Mangal Murti Moriya, Urchavarshi Laukariya” lauding the streets of Mumbai. The city homes go vibrant with colors and pandals booming with people ready to serve their beloved deities. Some of the largest celebrations to be seen here are at the Lal-Baugcha Raja and Andhericha Raja.

Bombay city sees a blasting celebration on the 10th day of the festival when the huge idol is taken for immersion in the Arabian Sea. The processions are so huge that it starts on the day of Visarjan and ends only on the next day.

The Delhi Ganesha is at a much low-key level on celebrations compared to the Maharashtrian celebrations, however, one of the unique things seen at this location was the utilization of the Vedic hymns in the background in most of the pandals, not like a typical Mumbaikar celebration, but at one or two locations huge idols of Ganeshji can be found, however, the sizes are way smaller than Lal-Baugcha Raja or Andehricha Raja.

Now this is something to talk about. Just like Maharashtra Goa has also got its contaignity of festivity from Maharashtra, the goanis celebrate the Ganesh Chaturthi with a great delight and pomp. The two most prominent places where the Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated with great enthusiasm are Marcel and Mapusa probably on account of the dominance of the Hindu temples in this location.

These two are great tourist attractions who flock to be a part of the festivity during the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations, the location also attracts a huge populace of the neighboring city Mumbai.

There is something special with the festivities of this region. The USP here is Gowri Habba or Gauri Habba, this basically means that before the ganapatiji is invited to the house by a devotee, his mother mata Gauri is worshipped, this worship ritual takes place exactly one day before the Ganesh Chaturthi, according to the Tamil customs this is believed to appease Ganapathi more as he loves his mother dearly.

On the day of Ganapathi Utsav the pandals are decorated and the festivities are at par with Maharashtra, the only difference being the South Indian populace takes to performing Homams and Yajnas for the all-round prosperity of the family and community, the prasadam has a lot of delicacies apart from Modak, Sewaichi, Upma, Idli, Dosa, Vada, Rabri, Mysore Pak, karanji, etc.

Karnataka has made its place in the Ganesha festivities mainly on account of the unique sweets which it utilizes as a prasadam, main delicacies of the occasion are gojju’s, Ladoos, Modak, and Payasam. The serving rituals are quite different here as Mata Gauri and Lord Ganesha are worshipped simultaneously. The Homams and Yagnas are a regular affair on these occasions.

One of the unique things that happen during the Ganesh Utsav is the Lavni dance that the residents of Pune perform during the celebrations of Ganesh Chaturthi, just like the festivities of Mumbai the pomp and glittering of Pune are non-the-less the Modak and Payasam dominate the prasadam thali in this terrain.

The USP of the Deccan Ganesha is the unique prasadam that is distributed during the occasion, especially the dishes of Kudumulu and undrallu are offered to Vignaharta along with rice offerings. In Hyderabad, 5600kg of laddoo is made as an offering to the lord in one of the pandals in Khairatabad.