!!! GANPATI BAPPA MORIYA NBTIANS!!!

In India

              Ganesh Chaturthi starts with the installation of Ganesh statues in colorfully decorated homes and specially erected temporary structures mandapas (pandals) in every locality. The pandals are erected by the people or a specific society or locality or group by collecting monetary contributions. The pandals are decorated 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.

                The priest, usually clad in red or white dhoti and

 uttariyam (Shawl), then symbolically invokes life into the statue by chanting mantras. This ritual is the Pranapratishhtha. After this the ritual called as Shhodashopachara (16 ways of paying tribute) follows. Coconut, jaggery, 21 modakas, 21 durva (trefoil) blades of grass and red flowers are offered. The statue is anointed with red unguent, typically made of kumkum and sandalwood paste. Throughout the ceremony, Vedic hymns from the Rig Veda, the Ganapati Atharva Shirsha Upanishad, and the Ganesha stotra from the Narada Purana are chanted.

                  Ganesha is worshiped for 10 days from Bhadrapada Shudha Chaturthi to the Ananta Chaturdashi, On the 11th day, the statue is taken through the streets in a procession accompanied with dancing, singing, and fanfare to be immersed in a river or the sea symbolizing a ritual see-off of the Lord in his journey towards his abode in Kailash while taking away with him the misfortunes of his devotees.This is the ritual known as Ganesha Visarjane in Kannada, Ganesh Visarjan in Marathi and Vinayaka Nimarjana or Vinayaka Nimajjanam in Telugu. At individual homes the Visarjan/Nimajjanam is also done on 3rd, 5th or 7th day as per the family tradition. All join in this final procession shouting "Ganapati Bappa Morya, Pudhachya Varshi Laukar ya" (O lord Ganesha, come again early next year) in Maharastra and "Ganesh Maha Raj ki, Jai" (lord Ganesha, victory is yours) in Andhra Pradesh. After the final offering of coconuts, flowers and camphor is made, people carry the idols to the river to immerse it.

                        The main sweet dish during the festival is the modak (modak in Marathi, modakam/kudumu in Telugu, modaka in Kannada and modagam in Tamil). A modak is a dumpling made from rice flour/wheat flour with a stuffing of fresh or dry-grated coconut, jaggery, dry fruits and some other condiments. It is either steam-cooked or fried. Another popular sweet dish is the karanji (karjikai in Kannada) which is similar to the modak in composition and taste but has a semicircular shape.

                 In Andhra, kudumu (rice flour dumplings stuffed with coconut and jaggery mixture), Vundrallu (steamed coarsely grounded rice flour balls), Panakam (jaggery, black pepper and cardamom flavored drink), Vadapappu (soaked and moong lentils), Chalividi (cooked rice flour and jaggery mixture), etc., are offered to Ganesha along with Modakams. These offerings to god are called Naivedyam in Telugu.

                   In Andhra, Clay Ganesh (Matti Vinayakudu in Telugu) and Turmeric Ganesh (Siddhi Vinayakudu in Telugu) is usually worshiped at homes along with plaster of paris Ganesha.

                       Public celebrations of the festival are hugely popular, with local communities (mandalas) vying with each other to put up the biggest statue and the best pandal. The festival is also the time for cultural activities like singing and theater performances, orchestra and community activities like free medical checkup, blood donation camps, charity for the poor, etc.

                  Today, the Ganesh Festival is not only a popular festival, it has become a very critical and important economic activity for Mumbai,Hyderabad, Vishakhapatnam, Bangalore and Chennai. Many artists, industries, and businesses survive on this mega-event. Ganesh Festival also provides a stage for budding artists to present their art to the public. In Maharashtra, not only Hindus but many other religions also participate in the celebration like Muslims, Jains, Christian and others.

                  This festival managed to re-establish the unity among the Indians during British Era.

Outside India

    Tamil dancers on the streets of Parisduring the 2009 Ganesh Chaturthi festival

             Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated in the UK by the migrant Hindu population as well as the large number of Indians residing there. The Hindu culture and Heritage Society, UK - aSouthall based organisation celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi for the first time in London in 2005 at The Vishwa Hindu Temple. The Idol was immersed in the river Thames at Putney Pier. Another celebration organised by an Gujarati group has been celebrated in the Southend-on-Sea which attracts over 18000 devotees.Annual celebrations also take place on the River Mersey at Liverpool.

              The festival is similarly celebrated in many locations across the world. The Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh USA, an organisation of Hindus based in the US organises many such events to mark the Hindu festivals.

              In USA, Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated by various associations of Telugu speaking people. (Telugu Association of North America, Bay Area Telugu Association and Balaji Temples across USA.)

            The Philadelphia Ganesh popularly known as PGF is the largest Sarvajanik (fully contributed by public funds) Hindu festival in North America. Since 2005 the festival is conducted every year in Bharatiya Temple, Chalfont, Pennsylvania. The 10 days are marked by processions, devotional programs, cultural events, India filmi-orchestra and a weekend carnival. While the Marathi community plays a big role in organising the festival, participation from all communities such as Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, North Indian, Bengali etc. is seen as the reason for its success and uniqueness.

                 In Canada, Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated by associations of Marathi-speaking people. (MBM in Toronto, MSBC in Vancouver, etc.)

                 Celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi in Mauritius dates back to 1896. The first Ganesh Chaturthi Puja was held in the 7 Cascades Valley next to Henrietta village by the Bhiwajee family who is still celebrating this pious festival for more than a century. Over the years the festival gained such popularity on the island that Mauritian government has attributed a public holiday for that day.

                 It is not known when and how Ganesh Chaturthi was first celebrated. Ganesh Chaturthi was being celebrated as a public event in Punesince the times of Shivaji (1630-1680), the founder of the Maratha Empire. The Peshwas, the de facto hereditary administrators of the Empire from 1749 till its end in 1818, encouraged the celebrations in their administrative seat Pune as Ganesha was their family deity (Kuladevata). With the fall of the Peshwas, Ganesh Chaturthi lost state patronage and became a private family celebration again till its revivial by Indian freedom fighter and social reformer Lokmanya Tilak.

               In 1893, Lokmanya Tilak transformed the annual domestic festival into a large, well-organized public event. Tilak recognized the wide appeal of the deity Ganesha as "the god for everybody",and popularized Ganesh Chaturthi as a national festival in order "to bridge the gap between Brahmins and 'non-Brahmins' and find a context in which to build a new grassroots unity between them", and generate nationalistic fervour among people in Maharashtra against the British colonial rule.Tilak was the first to install large public images of Ganesh in pavilions, and also established the practice of submerging in rivers, sea, or other pools of water all public images of the deity on the tenth day after Ganesh Chaturthi.

              Under Tilak's encouragement, the festival facilitated community participation and involvement in the form of intellectual discourses, poetry recitals, performances of plays, musical concerts, and folk dances. It served as a meeting ground for people of all castes and communities in times when, in order to exercise control over the population, the British discouraged social and political gatherings.

        

   

When Parvati came to know about this, she persuaded Shiva, to restore Ganesha to life. Shiva ordered his servants (Gana) to bring the head of any creature that they come across first. An elephant, the wisest of animals, appeared and became the spontaneous donor in the head transplant of Ganesha. Shiva attached the head of the elephant to the torso of Ganesha. After looking at the child (Ganesha), Parvati asked Shiva that who will consider this god with the face of an elephant.

Understanding Parvati's viewpoint, Shiva blessed the child, Ganesha that he will be the lord of beginning and people will worship him first, before any other God in any kind of undertaking. He ordained that the annual worship of Ganesha, should take place on the fourth day of the bright half of Bhadrapada (August-September).

        Why is Lord Ganesh called eka-danta 

Shiva and Parvati once again began to live happily in their abode at mount Kailash.

Many years later, Shiva was taking a nap when Ganesh was guarding him. At that moment Parashuram, the Brahmin warrior, came to see Shiva. Much to his dismay he was stopped by Ganesh. Parashuram was unwilling to take orders from anyone. As a result, a big fight ensued. Finally, Parashuram threw his powerful ax towards Ganesh. Ganesh stopped the ax with his tusk which broke. Thus Ganesh lost one of his tusks and began to be known as Eka-danta, or "One Toothed."

There are many stories of Lord Ganesha regarding his origin and various others which tell about the nature and traits of his character. Ganesha is known as the god of wisdom, literature and worldly success. He is known as the eldest son of Lord Shiva and Parvati (Uma), younger brother being Kartikay. Here are some legends associated with lord Ganesha.

         

Lord Shiva said: "Beloved and wise -Ganesha! You did not go round the world". Ganesha replied: "No, but I went round my parents. My parents symbolize the entire world.'' The argument was settled in favour of Ganesha and thereafter recognized as the elder of the two brothers. Ganesha got a fruit as reward from his mother Parvati for this.

       Ganesha and His Love for Laddoo

   Lord Ganesha is very fond of Laddoo (Modaka - a sweet delicacy). Once upon a day of Ganesha Puja, Ganesha went from house to house and accepted the offerings of laddoo. He stuffed himself to the capacity and decided to take a ride on his mouse at night. Along the moonlit road they got to see a large snake and the troubled rat stumbled, with the consequence Ganpati fell down .He hit the ground hard and as a result his stomach burst open. All the laddoos came out but Ganesha again stuffed them into his stomach. He caught the snake and tied it round his belly. Moon witnessed the whole event and laughed heartily. Lord Ganesha lost his temper and furiously looked about for something to throw at his tormentor. Getting nothing, he pulled out one of his tusks and hurled it at the moon. He cursed the moon that no one should look at the moon on the day of Ganesha Puja .If anyone would look at it , he will get a bad name ,criticism or ill reputation. If anyone gets to see the moon by chance, he would be free from that bad name or blame, after hearing the story of Lord Krishna's clearing, his personality in respect of the Syamantaka jewel. Thus, Ganesha was happy to proclaim this.

       

The most serious impact of the festival on the environment is due to the immersion of idols made of Plaster of Paris into lakes, rivers and the sea. Traditionally, the idol was sculpted out of mud taken from nearby one's home. After the festival, it was returned back to the Earth by immersing it in a nearby water body. This cycle was meant to represent the cycle of creation and dissolution in Nature.

However, as the production of Ganesh idols on a commercial basis grew, the earthen or natural clay (shaadu maati in Marathi and banka matti in Telugu) was replaced by Plaster of Paris. Plaster is a man-made material, easier to mould, lighter and less expensive than clay. However, plaster is non-biodegradable, and insoluble in water. Moreover, the chemical paints used to adorn these plaster idols themselves contain heavy metals like mercury andcadmium, causing water pollution. Also, on immersion, non-biodegradable accessories that originally adorned the idol accumulate in the layers of sand on the beach.

Recently there have been new initiatives sponsored by some state governments to produce clay Ganesha idols.

On the final day of the Ganesh festival thousands of plaster idols are immersed into water bodies by devotees. These increase the level of acidity in the water and the content of heavy metals.Several non-governmental and governmental bodies have been addressing this issue. Amongst the solutions proposed are as follows:

• Return to the traditional use of natural clay idols and immerse the icon in a bucket of water at home.
• Use of a permanent icon made of stone and brass, used every year and a symbolic immersion only.
• Recycling of plaster idols to repaint them and use them again the following year.
• Ban on the immersion of plaster idols into lakes, rivers and the sea.
• Creative use of other biodegradable materials such as papier-mch to create Ganesh idols.
• Encouraging people to immerse the idols in tanks of water rather than in natural water bodies.

To handle religious sentiments sensitively, some temples and spiritual groups have taken up the cause.

Noise pollution is also an unfortunate outcome of this joyous festival.

Eco friendly Ganesh Idols

When Ganesh idols are made out of paper mache, instead of POP, it does not create pollution. Very important thing is that these idols are cheaper than other idols. Similarly, these idols dissolve quickly in water and paper mache is not harmful to water hence there is no water pollution, as well as there are no remains of idols left on the seashore.