Ganesh Chaturthi: Origin, Tradition and Activities

Ganesha Chaturthi, celebrated every year during the months of August/September,  is of the biggest festivals of Hindu religion, According to the stories mentioned in the "Ganesha Purana", on this day, Lord Ganesha, the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati, who was able to remove all obstacles, was born.

Ganesh Chaturthi: Origin, Tradition and Activities

Ganesha Chaturthi Festival

This mega-festival, celebrated on the birthday of Lord Vinayaka, is celebrated in a grand manner in all the states of India including Maharashtra. It is unknown when did the festival started. However, the festival became a major one after the Mughal-Maratha wars in South-west India during 1600 C.E.

Ganesha Chaturthi Celebrations

Two to three months before the festival, skilled craftsmen start making beautiful clay idols of Lord Ganesha. Lord Ganesha is depicted in various positions in these sculptures. On Ganesha Chaturthi, these idols are brought home with great enthusiasm and are kept and worshiped at home for the next 10 days. Beautiful temporary sheds are also made with huge idols of Ganesha at many places. 

Priest in each circle performs the four main sacred rituals - In the first phase, the utterance of the souls in the idols is done by the chanting of sacred mantras. There are 16 ways of paying homage to Lord Ganesha after this ritual. Then prayers  is done so that the idol can be sent from one place to another. The last ritual is that of Ganapati immersion, which occurs on the last day of the festival. People submerge the Ganpati idols in the water bodies, praying Lord Ganesha to come again next year.

The legends behind Ganesha Chaturthi

According to the legends, before taking bath, Maa Parvati produced a beautiful child from her scum and named it Ganesha. Then, making him his gatekeeper, went to bathe, ordering him to guard the door. After a while Lord Shiva came and wanted to enter the door, then Ganesha stopped him from going inside. Lord Shiva got angry on this and cut off Ganesha's head with his trident and went inside the door. When mother Parvati saw the severed head of son Ganesha, she became very angry. Then all the gods including Brahma, Vishnu, praised him and pacified them and requested Lord Shiva to bring the child Ganesha alive. Lard Shiva, accepting his request, revived him by attaching an elephant's head to Shri Ganesh's torso. 

Why watching moon is prohibited in Ganesh Chaturthi?

According to the Purana, a person who sees the moon on Ganesha Chaturthi becomes a victim of "Mithya Dosham" or Illusion stigma. According to mythological beliefs, Lord Krishna had to bear the false charge of stealing the precious jewel Syamantaka to see the moon on the day of Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturthi. Lord Narada told Lord Krishna that Lord Ganesha cursed Chandra (Moon) that whoever would see the Moon on this day would be cursed with illusion stigma and humiliated in society.