| Ganesh Chaturthi - the fourth day of
Bhadrapad month is a specific day for Ganesh. It is very emphatically asserted by
Dnyaneshwar in Maharashtra, where the importance and spread of Ganesh worship in the of
Bhadrapad Mahina (August – September ) is the greatest, the bright fourth of lunar O R I G I N O
F G A N E S H U T S A V
It so happened that one sardar of
Peshwa named Nanasaheb Khajgiwale in 1892 visited the palace of Gwalior, where he came
across Ganesh Utsav. People from all walks of life participated in this utsav. Seeing
this, Nanasaheb got delighted and decided to start the same kind of festival at Pune, the
capital of Peshwa. Accordingly, in 1896 Shri Khajgiwale, Shri Ghotawadekar and Shri Bhau
Rangari arranged a Sarvajanik PublicGanesh Utsav and in the same year, Ganesh immersion
ritual was also started.
In the next year i.e. 1897, the
number of Ganesh mandals increased alarmingly, and the question of whose Ganpati will be
the first in cavalcade was hotly debated. At this crucial time, Shri Lokmanya Tilak and
Shri Annasaheb Patwardhan were called to resolve the issue. They gave first preference to
Jijamata Prasthapit Kasaba Ganapati Ganesh Utsav mandal. Thereafter, people started
celebrating Ganesh Utsav on a large scale.
G A N E S H F E S T I V A
L I N M U M B A I
K eshavji Naik Chawl (Girgaon) was the
pioneer in starting the Ganesh Utsav in Mumbai with the figure being around 2500 at
present thereby signifying the ever increasing popularity of this festival. It is
celebrated with great fervor and pomp in old Mumbai- Southern region and Central region.
Each mandal has it’s own way
of celebrating the festival. Some of them lay emphasis on performing pooja while some lay
emphasis on carrying out social activities like blood donation camps, free medical
checkups, scholarships to poor and bright students and so on.
The immersion of the worshipped
image takes place not earlier than the afternoon of the second day all over Maharashtra.
The immersion period could be a day and a half or five or a higher number of odd days
later untill the last day of bright fourteenth, which is known as Anant Chaturdashi.
The size of the Ganesh idols
ranges from 3/4th of an inch to over 25 feet. The shape of the idols also
varies depending upon which form the mandals want to depict. There is no evidence in case
of region other than Maharashtra that the installed idol was kept or could be kept for
longer period. The disposal of worshiped idol is to be made preferably in the sea or
running stream or may be made in pond or well, which must be other than one’s own.
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