Monday, August 31, 2009

Ganesha Chaturthi

By Pravin Kotian, Ph.D.
Birmingham, AL

Ganesha Chaturthi is celebrated as the birthday of Lord Ganesha. Ganesha Chaturthi or “Vinayak Chaturthi” is one of the major traditional holiest festivals of Hindus. Lord Ganesha happens to be one of the most popular deities and everyone seems to be in love with this cute, pot-bellied elephant god. The occasion sees pious worships to Lord Ganesha, who is widely worshipped as the supreme god of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune. The deity is also believed to be the remover of all obstacles and is also famous for being a trickster and for his profound sense of humor.

Nowhere is the festival celebrated with as much grandeur and gaiety as in India and is one of the biggest festivals in the state of Maharashtra. In the 21st century, with the world turning fast into a global village, Ganesh Chaturthi is now celebrated all over the world, wherever there is a presence of a Hindu community. The festival usually falls between 20 August and 15 September. The festival lasts for 10 days, ending on a day called ‘Anant Chaturdashi’.

The birth of Ganesha lies in the Holy Hindu scriptures. Lord Ganesha (or Ganapathi) was created by Goddess Parvati. According to the legend, Parvati wanted to bathe and having no-one to guard the door to her house, conceived an idea of creating a son who could guard her. Parvati created Ganesha out of sandalwood paste that she used for her bath and breathed life into the figure. She then set him to stand guard at her door and instructed him not to let anyone enter.

Meanwhile Lord Shiva returned from his meditation in mount Kailas but as Ganesha, who did not know Shiva, stopped him from entering Parvati’s chamber. Shiva, enraged by Ganesha’s impudence, drew his trident and cut off Ganesha’s head. Parvati emerged to find Ganesha decapitated and flew into a rage. She took on the form of the Goddess Kali and threatened destruction of the three worlds. Parvati was still in a dangerous mood. Seeing her in this mood, the other Gods were afraid and consulted Shiva. Shiva in an attempt to pacify Parvati, immediately dispatched his ganas (attendants) to get him the head of the first living creature they could find. Well, the first living creature happened to be an elephant. As instructed, the head was chopped off and brought back to Shiva, who placed it on Parvati’s son’s body, bringing him back to life.

Parvati was overjoyed and embraced her son; the elephant-headed boy was named by Shiva as Ganesha, the lord of his ganas. Parvati was still upset so Lord Shiva announced that anyone who worships Ganesha before any other form of God is favored. So Ganesh is worshipped first in all Hindu occasions and festivals. He is worshipped during every festival and before people undertaking a journey or embarking upon a new venture. You will also see him carefully guarding entrances to temples and homes, peeping out of calendars and happily gracing marriages and other such occasions.

The History of how Ganesh Chaturthi was first celebrated is still unclear. According to the historian Shri Rajwade, the earliest Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations can be traced back to the times of the reigns of dynasties as Satavahana [200 B.C. - A.D. 250], Rashtrakuta [753–982] and Chalukya [543–753]. Historical records reveal that Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations were initiated in Maharashtra by Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaja [1630 – 1680], the great Maratha ruler, to promote culture and nationalism. And it had continued ever since. It is believed that Lord Ganapathi was the family deity of the Peshwas. After the end of Peshwa rule, Ganesh Chaturthi remained a family affair in Maharashtra from the period of 1818 to 1894.

It was Bal Gangadharva Tilak - also known as “Lokamanya Tilak”, who brought back the tradition of Ganesh Chaturthi and reshaped the annual Ganesh festival from private family celebrations into a grand public event. During British rule in India social and political gatherings were forbidden in fear of conspiracies to be hatched against the British; the only exception was a funeral or a religious function. Tilak introduced a new way of celebrating the Ganapathi festival as - collective community worship. He called it ‘Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav’ or Public Ganesh festival. This helped Tilak evoke nationalism through religious passions by inspiring the feelings of Hindu unity in Maharashtra, but also gave freedom fighters an opportunity to meet, when the British government made it illegal to hold any political gatherings, writings and slogans. Since then this festival just like the many other Indian festivals that are celebrated with pomp and show, is an extraordinary testimony to the public place of religion in Indian life. With the independence of India in 1947, it was proclaimed to be a national festival and holiday.

The festival is so popular that the preparations begin months in advance. About two or three months before Ganesh Chaturthi, life-like clay models of Lord Ganesha are constructed and sold by skilled artisans. These beautiful statues depict Lord Ganesha in various poses, sometimes in a dancing mood, at other times with a small drum or in a simple sitting pose with one hand showering blessings on the observer. The artisans, many of whom make a living out of creating idols, compete with each other to make bigger and better sculptures of the Lord resulting in some magnificent creations that captivate the attention of spectators. The sizes of the relatively larger ones range anywhere from 10 meters to 30 meters in height. Most of these statues are life-sized figures but can also be smaller, of about one or two feet.

This form of community celebration has become a norm. And today many communities gather subscriptions from a group like a neighborhood puja committee or on behalf of a residential area, market, or organization for the purchase of large idols of Ganesh. Specially erected temporary structures mantapas (pandals) or marquees are set up in houses and at street corners in every locality to house the idols of the lord. The pandals are erected by the people or a specific society or locality or group by collecting monetary contributions. The mantapas are decorated elaborately specially for the festival, either by using decorative items like flower garlands, lights, etc or are theme based decorations, which depict religious themes or current events. Each locality makes its own special pandal. People attribute considerable social significance to the pandals as communities compete with each other to put up a more outstanding one.

On the actual festive day, idols of the Lord are installed in every pandal and a priest, performs a holy ritual known as “Pranapratishhtha” to invoke life into the statue amidst the chanting of sacred verses (mantras). This ritual is followed by another one called “Shhodashopachara” (16 ways of paying tribute). Items like coconut, 21 durva (trefoil blades of grass, 21 modakas, jaggery and red flowers are offered to the deity. The statue of the Lord is anointed with a red mixture of kumkum (saffron or turmeric) and chandan (sandalwood paste). All through the ceremony, Vedic hymns from the Rig Veda and the Ganapathi Atharva Shirsha Upanishad as well as the “Ganesha stotra” from the Narada Purana are chanted. Special Prasad and food (cooked without onions and garlic) are prepared to mark the first day of the puja.

Aarti (a ritualistic puja with hymns) is performed twice a day - in the morning and in the evening. Most people attend the evening aarti, Sometimes a few families get together in someone’s house for the aarti. They actually rush home from work to take part in the festivities and gather around the brightly-lit Ganesha, as they sing hymns, everyone is given some flowers and rice in their hands. These are later showered on Ganesha. People offer prasad of modaks or pedas (a type of sweet), coconut, hibiscus or any other red flower, sheaves of grass, vermilion, turmeric powder and rice. People try to make a visit to as many pandals as possible with their friends and family and get a “darshan” (view) of the deity. The duration of the Lord’s stay varies from place to place; it can be one, three, five seven or ten days.

The festival comes to an end on the day of Ananta Chaturdashi. On this day, the idols of Ganesha are taken from various pandals, doorsteps, localities and puja rooms for a truly royal ride. Every one, old and young, joins Lord Ganesha in his farewell journey but with festive merriment as the deity is believed to take away with him all the misfortunes of his devotees. They dance and sing songs and play with color on this day. The procession and immersion is accompanied with dancing and the sound of exciting drum-beats, devotional songs and exploding firecrackers. The schools are closed and offices are given half day to join this procession. The streets of Mumbai are packed with multitudes as each locality comes out on the streets with its Ganesha. Amidst shouts of ‘Ganapathi Bappa Moriya Pudhchya Varshi Lavkarya’ (Marathi for - Oh Ganapathi My Lord, return soon next year), a sea of humanity carries the idols to the waters of the Arabian Sea. Firecrackers announce the arrival of the procession that halts every now and then for people to get a last glimpse of their favorite God and seek his blessings, for he is the remover of all obstacles.

The idols are carried into the holy waters, and face the direction of the local community centers they started their journey from, till their visarjan, or immersion. In other towns and villages, folks carry the idols to the local river or tank for the visarjan ceremony. As dusk takes charge of the skies, people return to their localities and homes, awaiting Ganesha’s return the following year. Artists and sculptors start imagining how they will make an even nicer Ganesha next year. The community at large thinks of superior and more elaborate pandals and processions, on there way back home and to work. In this country of almost a billion people, Ganesha plays his part. He generates work, adds meaning to their life and gives them hope.