Ganesh Chaturthi: welcoming Ganesha home
Ganesh Chaturthi celebrates the birth of Lord Ganesha, the remover of obstacles. It falls on the fourth lunar day of the bright half of Bhadrapada.
When it falls
Ganesha is said to have been born at midday, so the image is installed and worshipped in the madhyahna (midday) period of the day on which Chaturthi is current then.
How it is kept
- Sthapana A clay image is welcomed home or to a pandal and given life through the prana pratishtha puja.
- Daily worship Morning and evening aarti, with modak, Ganesha’s favourite sweet, and durva grass.
- Visarjan Families keep Ganesha for one and a half, three, five, seven or ten days. The festival ends on Anant Chaturdashi with immersion.
A public festival
In 1893 Lokmanya Tilak made the private festival a public one in Pune, bringing communities together. Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh celebrate it most widely today.
Tradition advises against looking at the Moon on Chaturthi night, recalling the story of the Syamantaka jewel. Clay images and natural colours keep the immersion kind to rivers and lakes.