Ganesh Chaturthi is one among the important festivals for the Hindus, celebrated throughout India as a birthday of Lord Ganesha, the beloved elephant headed son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. The festival is additionally known by the name Vinayaka Chaturthi that generally takes place between August and September. The Lord Ganesha is taken into account as a figure of wisdom, prosperity and great fortune. It’s believed that on today , the Lord comes down on earth to shower blessings upon his worshippers. The celebrations of the festival last for ten days during which the people bring the gorgeous idols of the Lord into their homes to worship. The festival is widely known with extreme enthusiasm and devotion by the people.

What are Rituals and History behind the Celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi Festival

Legend has it that the Goddess Parvati made a symbol of Ganesha from the glue of sandalwood batter that she utilized for washing. She offered life to the icon through her perfect forces. She then asked him to face outside the door and don’t let anybody inside till the time she takes a shower . When Lord Shiva, husband of Goddess Parvati returned, Ganesha who didn’t recognize him stopped him from entering the bhavan (house). This behavior of Ganesha made Lord Shiva angry and therefore the Ganas (Lord Shiva’s attendants) asked the Lord to show the kid an honest lesson in order that he never repeats the error again. Several Gods tried their best to appease Ganesha but that didn’t yield any fruitful results.

Seeing that each one the Gods were being defeated by a toddler one by one, Lord Shiva got angry and chopped off the top of the kid . When Goddess Parvati came to understand about the entire incident, she became very furious. She asked Lord Shiva to breathe life into the child; otherwise she is going to cause huge damage to the world . To pacify the anger of the Goddess, Lord Shiva instructed his Ganas and Devas to travel within the north direction and find the top of any dead soul . However, Devas were unable to seek out the top of a person , but after searching vigorously, they found the top of a dead elephant. Lord Shiva fixed the top of the elephant into the kid and gave him a replacement life. Lord Shiva also declared that from this very day, the kid are going to be referred to as the Ganesha.

Ganesh Chaturthi Celebrations

ganesh-chaturthi Ganesh Chaturthi is widely known with great joy and fervor in various parts of India, especially in Maharashtra. The preparations for the festival begin to start out from two to 3 months beforehand . The magnificent idols of the Lord Ganesha are made by the skilled artisans. the dimensions of the idols can range from very small to large statues. People install the statues in their homes and specifically prepared structures referred to as the Mandapas or Pandals. The pandals are wonderfully decorated with the twinkling lights, flowers and various other items. The homes are cleaned are decorated with rangoli. Puja and aarti is performed by the devotees every morning and evening. After the puja, modak (kind of prasad) is distributed among the relations .

After the installation of the idol, a priest is named to instill life into the statue through the special mantras and slokas. The Lord is worshipped for the amount of ten days and on the last day; the idol of the Lord is immersed into the river or ocean with singing and dancing. The immersing of the idol into the river signifies that the Lord is removing all the pain and sorrows of the people with him. This particular ritual is additionally referred to as Ganesh Visarjan in Maharashtra.