Festivals

More Ganesha Photos

2015-09-23T02:51:00.000-07:00

Some More Ganpati Photos !!

Ganpati Idols Photos

2015-09-22T06:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some Photos of Ganesha this year :)

Check them out, they really are grand :)

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How Ganeshotsav Started

2015-09-22T05:50:00.001-07:00

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If you haven't read the history of Lord Ganesha You should Check out this Blog Post.

Well that was the history / Myth,. However today, Ganeshotsav is celebrated in a huge way in India. Especially so it is in Mumbai, the Financial Capital of India. Ganeshotsav wasnt always huge however.

Lets check out the history of how ganeshotsav starting becoming big in Mumbai.

It was a hundred years ago that BalGangadhar Lokmany Tilak visited the Keshavji Mandal in Mumbai.

Ganesh Chaturthi

It is not known when and how Ganesh Chaturthi was first celebrated.Ganesh festival was being celebrated as a public event in Pune since1630–1680. After some years, Ganesh festival lost state patronage and became a private family celebration again in Maharashtra till its revival by Indian freedom fighter and social reformer Lokmanya Tilak.

The public festival as celebrated in Maharashtra today, was introduced by Bhausaheb Laxman Javale in 1892 by installing first Sarvajanik (Public) Ganesh idol. In 1893 Lokmanya Tilak praised the concept of Sarvajanik Ganesh Utsav in his newspaper, Kesari, and the next year he installed a Ganesh idol in Kesari Wada too. Tilak's efforts transformed the annual domestic festival into a large, well-organized public event. Tilak recognized the wide appeal of the deity Ganesha as "the god for everybody", and popularized Ganesh Chaturthi as a national festival in order "to bridge the gap between the caste Brahmins and 'non-Brahmins' and find a context in which to build a new grassroots unity between the Tilak was the first to install large public images of Ganesh in pavilions, and also established the practice of submerging the idols in rivers, sea, or other pools of water on the tenth day after Ganesh Chaturthi.

Under Tilak's encouragement, the festival facilitated community participation and involvement in the form of intellectual discourses, poetry recitals, performances of plays, musical concerts, and folk dances. It served as a meeting ground for people of all castes and communities in times when, in order to exercise control over the population, the British discouraged social and political gatherings

Celebration at Home

Ganesh Chaturthi is an important festival of Maharashtra. It is celebrated by most Hindu households of Maharashtra. In Maharashtra, most Hindu families install their own small clay statues for worship on Ganesh Chaturthi. The idol is worshiped in every morning and evening until the departure. The worship involves various offerings to the idol including flowers and durva. Each durva bunch has 21 shoots and the shoots have either three or five strands. Other offerings like modak also have to number 21 in Ganesh worship, The daily worship ceremonies ends with the worshipers singing the Aarti in honor of Ganesh, other Gods and saints. The Ganesh aarti sung in Maharashtra was composed by the 17th century, saint Samarth Ramdas. As per the tradition of their respective families, the domestic celebrations come to an end after 1(1/2), 3, 5, 7 or 11 days when the statue is taken in a procession to a large body of water such as a lake, river or the sea for immersion. Due to environmental concerns, a number of families now avoid the large water bodies and instead let the clay statue disintegrate in a bucket or tub of water at home. After a few days the clay is used in the home garden. In some cities, a public eco-friendly process is used for immersion

Public Celebrations

Public celebrations of the festival are hugely popular especially in Maharashtra. These are organised by local youth groups , neighborhood associations or group of traders. The local Festival Committees vie with each other to put up the biggest statue and the best pandal. The festival is also the time for cultural activities like singing and theater performances, orchestra and community activities like free medical checkup, blood donation camps, and charity for the poor.

Today Ganesh Chaturthi is seen as a very important festival which provides some much needed entertainment. It is also a stage for local businesses and local people.

In the Next post, I will post some images of Ganpati Mandals. Make sure to check it out Guys :) You will love the pictures.

Ganeshotsav - An Introduction to Ganesha

2015-09-22T05:23:00.001-07:00

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Ganeshotsav is the Hindu festival that is celebrated in commemoration of the Hindu deity Ganesha. Ganesha is the elephant God in Hindu Mythology.

The festival is celebrated both publicly and privately at home. The modern day version of public celebrations involves installing clay images of Ganesha in public pandals (temporary shrines) and worshipped together for ten days. The private celebration involves installing a appropriate sized clay image at home and worshipping with family and friends. In both cases, at the end of the festival the idols are immersed in a body of water such as a lake or a pond.

Elephant Headed God? Are you intrigued by that phase? Well you would love to hear the story about the elephant headed God definitely. Why was his head of an elephant? Why is he so popular amongst the innumerable gods in Hindu Mythology.

Story of Ganesha

There is considerable confusion about the birth of Ganesha. There are various reports about how Ganesha came into existence. These include versions in which he is created by Shiva,^[8] by Parvati, by Shiva and Parvati, or in a mysterious manner that is later discovered by Shiva and Parvati.

However he is the son of the all powerful gods namely Shiva and his wife Parvati.

Again here there are several stories regarding the Elephant head of Ganesha.

One such story states that Loddess Parvati was having a bath. She instructed their loyal follower Nandi to guard the house and not let anyone inside the house. Nandi ever loyal to Shiva and Parvati took up a position outside the house. He did not let anyone inside. However in sometime when Lord shiva himself came, Nandi could not afford to deny his lord entry into his own house. He gladly allowed Lord Shiva to pass. Parvati was enraged when she realised that Nandi was loyal to Lord Shiva first. Now here comes the mythical part. Its said that Parvati took off the turmeric past ( also called Haldi )from her body , which she used for bathing and created a statue of a young boy. She breathed life into it. She named him Ganesha. Ganesha was loyal to her and only her. He would not ever deny any of her wishes. However she loved him as a son and she did not think anything else about him.

Now remember, till now Ganesha was just a normal boy. He did not have the head of an elephant. He was just like a normal kid with 2 hands, 2 legs :D etc etc.

So once, while Parvati was having a bath, She asked Ganesha to guard the house and not let anyone inside. Ganesha ever loyal to his mother stood guard outside the house. In sometime, Lord Shiva came home with his entourage. However Ganesha did not allow anyone inside. He stood guard and refused to allow any of the huge entourage accompanying Lord Shiva inside. He did not even allow Lord Shiva inside. Lord Shiva became enraged. He decided to remove this boy for enraging him. He ordered his army to kill the boy. However the boy created by Goddess Parvati herself was way too powerful. He defeated all of them. Lord Shiva was surprised. There were very few that could ever defeat his entourage with such ease. He decided to kill the boy himself. Enraged with anger, The usually peaceful Lord Shiva was a scary sight indeed.

The destroyer of the world ( Shiva) is a scary sight to behold when he is angry. No one can withstand his anger and that is the universal truth.

That day he decided that the boy should die. He beheaded ganesha and walked inside. On reaching inside, when Parvati saw him she was confused. She asked him how did he enter inside. Now Shiva said, " This is my house, Why cant I enter ".

Parvati : Yes my lord, it is your house. However I had asked my son Ganesha to guard the house and let no one inside.

On hearing this Shiva was confused. He told her the whole story. The anger of Parvati knew no bounds now. She was enraged beyond imagination. She summoning all of her ferocious multi-armed forms, the Yoginis arose from her body and threatened to destroy all. Lord Brahma and other Lords in the universe quickly came to try to pacify her. The world was a creation that they all cherished and they did not wish to see their children ( humans ) perish in this manner. They pleaded and begged Parvati to try to reconsider her stance.

By now, Shiva also had calmed down. He realised what a grave mistake he had done. He decided to try to re compensate his wife by amending his mistakes. He asked his followers to go north and find the first creature who was sleeping facing North.

They waited for a long time. His followers had to travel very long distances. Shiva lived in the mountains and it was a lonely place obviously. There was not much habitation around him. The silence was eerie sometimes. But it was also what was really pacifying when he used to meditate. After a long, wait his followers came back. They were holding the head of an elephant. It was the first creature that they found sleeping facing north.

Lord Shiva Promptly took the head and put it on top of the headless body of Ganesha. He did his magic and the head was fixed to the body. Lord ganesha's body was back. He blew life into the body once again. Ganesha came back to life with a startle. Seeing his mother he was extremely happy. He quickly ran to her and hugged her.

And thus the Elephant God was born.

There are several stories about Lord Ganesha. I will write about one of them in the next post :)

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