Ganesh, son of Lord Shiv and Parvati, is a god of wisdom, intellect, knowledge and good fortune. He is also worshipped as the god of Remover of Obstacles and Lord of Beginnings. This elephant-headed God is one of the most popular and widely worshipped in India. Ganesh has 108 different names, some of them are - Ganpati, Vinayak, Chaturbhuj, Omkara.
Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated every year during the months of August and September, depending upon the Hindu Calender. It is widely celebrated all over India but in states of Maharashtra, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat it holds a very special significance. The festival was popularized by the prominent Indian freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak to generate nationalistic pride among the people of Maharashtra against the British rule.
For the festival, people install beautifully decorated statues of Ganesh at home and every locality sets up pandals, big and small, depending upon the monetary contribution given by the people of a particular locality. Each Pandal competes for the award of best Pandal. For ten days Ganesh is worshipped and on the eleventh day he is taken through a procession and immersed in a river/sea. People beat drums, dance and sing "Ganpati bapa morya, agle baras tu jaldi aa" and other devotional songs.
This year Ganesh Chaturthi falls on 11th Sept.
No comments:
Post a Comment