Folklore goes like this – Goddess Parvati shaped Lord Ganesha out of the sandalwood dough, which she used for her bath and breathed life into him and called it her son. Now that very day she asked him to guard at the door she went to have her bath. When goddess Parvati’s husband, Shiva came back, the sandalwood made child who never had seen God Shiva, stopped him. This act of his made Shiva furious and he chopped off the head of the child and entered his house. Parvati, when discovered that her hand made son was no more, was distraught and pleaded Shiva to bring him back to life. Finding his wife shattered, Shiva cut off the head of baby elephant and fixed it on the body of Ganesha and since then Ganesha is the unique God who carries of his elephantine head with all the pride. With many more tales entitled to him he is the only God in India who is worshipped before any new job or any new activity is to be done. That no doubt seems so very interesting.

This day, when Lord Ganesha was sculpted out from the sandalwood dough, is celebrated as Ganesha Chaturthi and is his birthday. The mood of this festival is bold and over enthusiastic as compared to the other rituals and festivities celebrated here in India. One thing that caught my attention was the days dedicated to this festival, i.e. the celebration continues for five, seven, or ten days, some even stretching it to twenty one days, but now this long celebration is slowly becoming compact, courtesy the fast pace lifestyle, but then the ten day celebration is decent enough and the most popular. According to the Hindu calendar this festival commences in the month of Bhaadrapada, starting on the fourth day of the waxing moon period. The date usually falls between 20 August and 15 September.
The entire ten day affair is carnival, a fun and frolic event for the people. The first day goes all busy with the installation of the Ganesha’s effigy in the homes. And these homes are all decked and brightened up and ooze out all the traditional grace possible, making the entire site look all jovial and jubilant, and with the new age people here who finely blend the traditions and modernity give a twist to such events by theme based decoration or focusing on some current affair. This is something so cool.
And then where there are space constraints like those living in compact flats in buildings – all come together creating a pandal (also can be called as a lavish ceremonial gate or a place) which solves the purpose and a big idol of the God is placed in here. The priest chants the mantras which symbolically put life into the idol calling this ritual as ‘Pran Prathistha’ and it is believed that these 10 days Lord Ganesha live with them, and so again symbolically Ganesha is offered red flowers, grass blades and to eat Coconut, Jaggery, 21 Modaks (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). The statue is anointed with red unguent, typically made of Kumkum & Sandalwood paste. Vedic hymns from the Hindu scriptures are chanted throughout the ceremony giving the feel of purity and placidity. Rest days in between are carried on with the usual days affair but to worship Ganesha cannot be missed at all.

The 11th day is the final day of this gala event and with all the singing, dancing and fanfare the statue in all its glory is carried through the jam packed streets in a procession to be immersed in a river or the sea epitomizing a custom to see-off of the Lord on his voyage towards his abode in Kailash (Himalaya) and along with him he happily takes away the bad luck of his devotees, and all this portrayal is known as ‘Ganesh Visarjan’.

Singing aloud “Ganapathi Bappa Morya, Purchya Varshi Laukar ya” (O father Ganesha, come again speedily next year) can also force you to start taping your feet. And eventually, with the final offering of the flowers and coconut, with the entire dance and singing the high spirited crowds the big or small idols are immersed in the water, putting an end to ten day stretch of feasting and gatherings.
In Mumbai previously called as Bombay such public gatherings are a rage. To see the final procession of the immersion of the idol in the large sea, thousands and thousands of people gather and it’s a big challenge for the administration to let this event go smooth. And to make merry and enjoy the fest also becomes a reason to organize the cultural do’s like songs, dramas and orchestra and also some community activities like free medical checkup, blood donation camps, charity for the poor, etc. which is again make this festival to stand out from the other festivals in India.
Today, the Ganesh Festival is not only a popular festival; it has become a very critical and important economic activity for Maharashtra. Many artists, industries, and businesses survive on this super mega-event. But then there is a flip side to it too. The most devastating impact of this festival is to the environment and that is because of the drowning of the idol which is prepared by Plaster of Paris (PoP). The traditional ways were all environment friendly and the significance of the festival was also to preserve the mother Earth – the Ganesh icon was sculpted out of earth or mud taken from nearby one’s home. After worshipping the divinity in this earth icon, it was returned back to the Earth by immersing it in a nearby water body. This cycle represented the cycle of creation and dissolution in Nature. But today this festival has emerged as big commercial event and PoP replaced the natural clay or mud, making the idol easy to mould and lighter in weight and less costing, but in this process it had drastically impacted the nature and the environment in the worst possible ways. Thousands of idols are immersed in the water on this day, which has increased the level of acidity in the water and the content of heavy metals. The day after the immersion, shoals of dead fish can be seen floating on the surface of the water body as a result of this sudden increase.
Festivals are no doubt an escape from the regular humdrum of the lives but may such events and festivals can pronounce the old traditional ways and their significance which always has respected the ecosystem, and may continue to do so.

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