History

Ganesh Chaturthi or Vinayak Chathurthi or Ganesh Puja is among the one of the grandly celebrated festivals in India. It is celebrated on the occasion of Lord Ganesha or Vinayaka's birthday, which is on the 4th day of the bright fortnight of Bhadrapada (August-September). Lord Ganesha is an the elephant-headed god.

Ganesh puja festival starts in the morning, when devotees listen to the legends related to Lord Ganesha. As a part of the prayer, one hundred and eight different names of Lord Ganesh are chanted. One flower is placed on his idol as each of his names is chanted. Lord Ganesha's favorite snack is supposed to be modhak (a ball shaped pudding). They are prepared by the dozens on the Ganesh Chaturthi day and placed before his idol, before they are consumed by the devotees.

Lord Ganesha who is an elephant-headed God controls the psychic centre in the body (Kundalini). Ganesha's importance in the Hindu pantheon is underlined by the fact that no prayer in Hindu religion can be performed without first invoking his name. 'Om' the chief mantra of Hindu religion, in fact, refers to Lord Ganesha. So even Vaishnavites (devotees of Lord Vishnu) worship him before starting any prayer. His idol has four hands, one of which holds a goad, another holds a rope, and there is a sweet in the third hand. The last one is in a blessing posture. His vehicle is a mouse which symbolizes effacing of the ego. Among his assets are that he is considered to be the destroyer of greed and selfishness and so also the Lord of power and wisdom. His elephant head epitomizes the Atman (the transcendental being), and his human body signifies Maya or the materialistic being. Other names of Lord Ganesha are Ganapati, Vigneshwara, Ekadanta, Gajanana, etc.

His idols are made of clay, which are later immersed in water on the tenth day following the puja, or before that on an odd day only. The ceremony wherein the idols are immersed is known as Visarjan or Nimajan as it is also known. Though the festival is most popular in Maharashtra, states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka do not lag far behind. Pandals (podiums) are erected on every street and cultural programmes are organized during these festivities.

There are quite a few legends related to Lord Ganesha's birthday. According to one of the popular ones, Goddess Parvati, wife of Lord Shiva, created Ganesh by carving out a human idol from the dirt of her body. She then infused life into this image. She then asked this boy to stay put at the entrance of the house and not allow anyone as she was going in for a bath. Lord Shiva, who came back to his house, was disallowed by this boy. Furious with this boy's behavior, who he did not know was created by Parvati, Lord Shiva beheaded him. Parvati who came out after having her bath grieved upon seeing her son's beheaded body. Shiva then realizing his mistake immediately summoned his celestial army and ordered them to bring him a head of any living being they sighted sleeping with its head facing the north. They found an elephant sleeping with its head facing the north. They severed the elephant's head and took it to give to Lord Shiva. The head was affixed to the body. Life was infused this time by Lord Shiva. This was Ganesha.