Beginning with the pious chant, which praises Lord Ganesha and seeks for his blessing, we are here a step away from the holy festival of Ganesha Chaturthi. Ganesh Chaturthi or Vinayaka Chaturthi is a grand festivity which is celebrated to commemorate the birth of Lord Ganesha. Lord Ganesha is the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati who is also known as the elephant headed god that showers his devotees with wisdom, intelligence, fortune and prosperity as well as removing the obstacles.
The festival of Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated every year with dance, music and other events for a period of eleven days. The devotees get a chance to interact with other devotees irrespective of dividing differences of the society. The sense of all as one entity was brought in by the leaders like the Peshwas and Chhatrapati Shivaji, who believed in reviving the feeling of unity within through this festival. Apart from being a national celebration, this festival also has its mythological importance. The birth of Lord Ganesha is associated with many legends and one such legend is the story from Shiva Purana, which begins with the loneliness of Goddess Parvati, who terribly misses Lord Shiva, because Lord Shiva went away from her for a long time.
Meanwhile, the caretakers of Goddess Parvati became very sad about knowing her depression and loneliness, so they chalked a way to make her happy. They created a doll out of ubtan (body mask) scrubbed off from the body of Goddess Parvati which later turned into a beautiful young boy. He was named as Vinayaka by goddess Parvati and raised as her own. After a period of fourteen years, when Lord Shiva came back, he met Vinayaka who was guarding the doors of the goddess. When Lord Shiva tried entering he was stopped by Vinayaka which made him furious. Since, he did not know who Vinayaka was, he beheaded him out of anger. On knowing of what he did, goddess Parvati was extremely hurt and devastated. To make up for his wrongs, Lord Shiva placed the head of an elephant on Vinayaka's lifeless body and blessed him that he would be worshiped first of all the deities.
A famous myth associated with the festival, is the Moon curse, because of which it is considered inauspicious to see the moon at the night of Ganesha Chaturthi. The story that follows this curse, is from the Skanda Purana. The legend is about how Lord Ganesha cursed the moon for laughing at him when he was not able to balance himself when he binged the feast and the lads. Hence, one can see how this festival has its sweet and savory celebrations as well as tangy legends which one cannot give a miss.
Ganesha Chaturthi is celebrated in the months of August or September which are also known as Bhandra according to the Hindu calendar. This celebration is carried on for a period of five to ten days based on the geographical location of celebration. Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated to the fullest in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Gujrat. The common customs that are followed include erection of the idol of Lord Ganesha at homes and pandals which are decorated with flowers and lights. Furthermore, Lord Ganesha is offered with fruits, foods and sweets like modak and ladoo by the devotees. Sweet meats like modak and ladoos are special preparations for the festival, since lord Ganesha loved these sweets.
When the celebratory phase of eleven days pass, the idol of Lord Ganesha is then immersed in water body to bid him a hale and hearty good bye so that Lord Ganesha can visit back the following year. But with celebration and immersion comes along a self realization of environmental pollution which is caused by the idols. So, the least we can do is to use biodegradable idols that do not pollute the water bodies and let other aquatics live at peace. Also, one can use small idols of Ganesha that can be immersed in the bucket so that the tradition goes on but minimalist harm to the environment.
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Ganesh Chaturthi is also celebrated in Odisha. He is the symbol of knowledge. Many schools and colleges celebrate this festival too to take the blessing of Ganapathi for a better career in the field of knowledge.
Ganesh Chaturthi is mostly celebrated in Maharashtra, but nowadays it is celebrated in other states also and thus it can be considered as the medium of national unity.