Ganesh Chaturthi

Celebration of  Ganesh Chaturthi  

 

  "Jai Ganesh Jai Ganesh Jai Ganesh Deva

                                              Mata Jaki Parvati Pita Mahadeva"

 

Ganesh Chaturthi is a festival of the Hindus where Lord Ganesha - the deity of  wisdom and prosperity is worshiped with  great devotion across Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and other parts of India. The celebration lasts for 10 days.

Ganpati idols at a shop

People buy small idols of Ganesha and bring home a day before the festival begins.  Housewives busily clean their house a month in advance. Pandals and houses are decorated with flowers and garlands to welcome Ganpati. 

In the morning people wake up, take a bath and a puja is held in honor of Lord Ganesha by the family members. Everyone loves their Ganpati. People of different caste and creed equally participate in the celebration.

On the 10th day, a procession is held out carrying Ganpati in a decorated chariot accompanied by drum beats, music and dance. 

The idol is finally immersed in water wishing loud "Ganapathi Bappa Morya, Purchya Varshi Laukar ya"  which means  - "Oh father Ganesh! come again next year soon".

Welcoming Lord Ganesha on the auspicious eve of Ganesh Chathurthi

Each one of us were eagerly waiting for the day to come. 29th Aug - The festival of Ganesh Chaturthi, SiddhiVinayak. We had already received several pamphlets inviting us in the welcoming of the Lord. A day before we paid a visit to local market and were amazed to find idols thousands in numbers of varied sizes. Accessories were also sold alongside - the Lord Crown, long flower garlands, decorative items, rangoli work, stars, golden balls. All of them looked very pretty. 

As we were sitting in our rooms doing our daily tasks, we heard a loud drum beat nearing us. We rushed ourselves to the veranda and the sound became louder. We could not keep ourselves at home anymore. We reached for the lift and hoped it to come at the fastest. A single minute counted as we did not want to miss out anything.

 People danced to the beats in welcome of the Lord, drums grew louder, smiles on everyone's faces,  children played a merry go round with each other. 

The puja continued for another 2 hours. Slokhas and Sanskrit mantras were chanted. We repeated after the priest. Beautiful Modaks were served to the Lord. Little kids stared at the sweets with large eyes - wondering when it would be given to all. We all prayed to Ganesha and asked for his blessings on us

 "Ganpati Bappa Morya, Pudhchya Warshi Lavkar Ya"