Ganesh Chaturthi
Why is Ganesh Chaturthi celebrated?
When does Ganesh Chaturthi begin, and how long does it last?
How is Ganesh Chaturthi celebrated and with what foods?
What environmental concerns are associated with Ganesh Chaturthi?
Ganesh Chaturthi, a festival in Hinduism celebrating the birth of the elephant-headed deity Ganesha (Ganesh), the god of prosperity, wisdom, and removal of obstacles. The holiday begins on the fourth day (chaturthi) of the month of Bhadrapada (August–September), the sixth month of the Hindu calendar. The festival lasts up to 10 days when, at the culmination of the holiday, statues of Ganesha are immersed in water. Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated both as a small domestic ritual in homes and as a grand public spectacle in community spaces.
Observances
At the start of the festival, statues (murtis) of Ganesha are placed on raised platforms in small shrines (mandaps) in homes or in elaborately decorated public shrines (pandals). Prior to the festival, artisan workshops pop up throughout a city to make and sell these statues that range in size, from small to enormous. Simple and small statues, which can even be homemade, are found more commonly in homes, whereas community groups (mandals) often sponsor larger statues along with more elaborate public worship procedures.
The worship begins with the prana pratishtha (“installing the life breath”), a ritual to invoke life in the statues, followed by shodashopachara, or the 16 ways of paying tribute to Ganesha. Worship is accompanied by the chanting of mantras to Ganesha and hymns from religious texts such as the Shri Ganapati Atharvashirsha (Ganapati is another name for Ganesha), also called the Ganesh Upanishad. During the worship offerings (pujas) to Ganesha, the statues are anointed with red sandalwood paste and yellow and red flowers. Ganesha is also offered coconut, jaggery (a kind of brown sugar used in India), and 21 modaks (sweet dumplings), considered to be Ganesha’s favorite food. Treats such as modaks, laddus, and other local varieties of round sweets are offered to the elephant-headed god and then, as sanctified foods (prasada), they are shared and consumed with delight.
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The statues remain on their pedestals and are worshipped for an odd number of days. In homes the celebration can end after one and a half, three, five, or seven days as a family’s traditions suggest and abilities allow. Odd numbers are considered auspicious for the performance of rituals in Hinduism. In some homes and larger public ceremonies, the festival lasts until the 11th day (called anant chaturdashi, or 10 days following the first day). At the conclusion of the festival, a final puja (uttarpuja) is performed to say goodbye to Ganesha. Then the statues are carried to local bodies of water (sea, river, lake, pond, etc.). Bringing Ganesha statues to the water can be a small family affair, or, for the large public celebrations, it can involve huge parades and crowds accompanied by drumbeats, devotional singing, and dancing. Larger statues sometimes have to be carried by trucks. Once at the chosen body of water, the statues are immersed in a ritual called Ganesh visarjan (“immersion of Ganesha”), symbolizing Ganesha’s homeward journey to Mount Kailash, the abode of his parents Shiva and Parvati.
Historical developments
Ganesh Chaturthi assumed the nature of a gala public celebration when the Maratha ruler Shivaji (c. 1630–80) used it to encourage nationalist sentiment among his subjects, who were fighting the Mughals. In 1893, when the British banned political assemblies, the festival as a large public event was revived in Maharashtra by the Indian independence leader Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Today the festival is particularly popular in Maharashtra, the Maharashtrian cities of Mumbai and Pune, as well as many other parts of India. It is also celebrated with pomp and devotion in Hindu communities worldwide.
In recent decades environmentalists have raised awareness that immersing elaborately painted Ganesha statues into bodies of water can introduce harmful materials and chemicals into the ecosystem. Many of the larger public statues are made of non-biodegradable plaster of paris and decorated with paints containing chemicals (such as lead, mercury, zinc oxide, and chromium). In order to avoid causing pollution, there have been efforts by environmentalists and local governments in India to encourage festival participants to immerse eco-friendly Ganeshas that are made with dissolving clay or soil and decorated with natural paints.