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Ganesh
Chaturthi is celebrated on the birthday of Lord Ganesh
(Ganesha), the god of wisdom and prosperity on the fourth
day of the moons bright fortnight, or period from new
moon in the lunar month of Bhadrapada. The celebration
of Ganesh Chaturthi continue for five, seven, or ten
days. Some even stretch it to twenty one days, but ten
the most popularly celebrated. In the tradition of the
right hand path the first day is the most important.
In the left hand path tradition the final day is most
important.
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Ganesha
is the god of wisdom and prosperity and is invoked before
the beginning of any auspicious work by the Hindus. It is
believed that for the fulfillment of one's desires, his
blessing is absolutely necessary. According to the mythology,
he is the son of Shiva and Parvati,
brother of Kartikeya - the general of the
gods, Lakshmi - the goddess of wealth and
Saraswati-the goddess of learning. There are numerous stories
in Hindu mythology, associated with the birth of this elephant-headed
god, whose vehicle is the Mooshak or rat and
who loves Modaks (droplet shaped Indian sweet).
Legend has it that Parvati created Ganesha out of the sandalwood
dough that she used for her bath and breathed life into
him. Letting him stand guard at the door she went to have
her bath. When her husband, Shiva returned, the child who
had never seen him stopped him. Shiva severed the head of
the child and entered his house. Parvati, learning that
her son was dead, was distraught and asked Shiva to revive
him. Shiva cut off the head of an elephant and fixed it
on the body of Ganesha. Another tale tells of how one day
the Gods decided to choose their leader and a race was to
be held between the brothers- Kartikeya and Ganesh. Whoever
took three rounds of the earth first would be made the Ganaadhipati
or the leader. Kartikeya seated on a peacock as his vehicle,
started off for the test. Ganesh was given a rat, which
moved swiftly. Ganesh realised that the test was not easy,
but he would not disobey his father. He reverently paid
obeisance to his parents and went around them three times
and thus completed the test before Kartikeya. He said, "
my parents pervade the whole universe and going around them,
is more than going round the earth." Everybody was pleasantly
surprised to hear Ganesha's logic and intelligence and hence
he came to be known as the Ganaadhipati or leader,
now referred to as Ganpati.
There
is also a story behind the symbolic snake, rat and the singular
tusk. During one of his birthdays, His mother, Parvati,
cooked for him twenty-one types of delicious food and a
lot of sweet porridge. Ganesha ate so much that even his
big belly could not contain it. Mounting his little mouse,
he embarked on his nightly rounds. His mouse suddenly stumbled
upon seeing a huge snake. To adjust His belly, Ganesha put
the snake on as a belt around his stomach. All of a sudden,
he heard laughter emanating form the sky.
He
looked up and saw the moon mocking him. Ganesha infuriated,
broke off one of his tusks and hurled it at the moon. Parvati,
seeing this, immediately cursed the moon that whoever looks
at it on Ganesh Chaturthi will be accused of a wrong doing.
The symbology behind the mouse and snake and Ganesha's big
belly and its relationship to the moon on his birthday is
highly philosophic. The whole cosmos is known to be the
belly of Ganesha. Parvati is the primordial energy. The
seven realms above, seven realms below and seven oceans,
are inside the cosmic belly of Ganesha, held together by
the cosmic energy (kundalini) symbolized as
a huge snake which Ganesha ties around Him. The mouse is
nothing but our ego. Ganesha, using the mouse as a vehicle,
exemplifies the need to control our ego. One who has controlled
the ego has Ganesha consciousness or God-consciousness.
The
Celebrations: The festival of Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated
the states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra
Pradesh and many other parts of India. Started by Shivaji,
the great Maratha ruler, to promote culture and nationalism,
the festival was revived by Lokmanya Tilak (a freedom
fighter) to spread the message of freedom struggle and to
defy the British who had banned public assemblies. The festival
gave the Indians a feeling of unity and revived their patriotic
spirit and faith. This public festival formed the background
for political leaders who delivered speeches to inspire
people against the Western rule. The festival is so popular
that the preparations begin months in advance. Ganesha statues
installed in street corners and in homes, and elaborate
arrangements are made for lighting, decoration, mirrors
and the most common of flowers. Poojas (prayer
services) are performed daily. The artists who make the
idols of Ganesh compete with each other to make bigger and
more magnificent and elegant idols. The relevantly larger
ones are anything from 10 meters to 30 meters in height.
These statues are then carried on decorated floats to be
immersed in the sea after one, three, five, seven and ten
days. Thousands of processions converge on the beaches to
immerse the holy idols in the sea. This procession and immersion
is accompanied by drum- beats, devotional songs and dancing.
It is still forbidden to look at the moon on that day as
the moon had laughed at Ganesha when he fell from his vehicle,
the rat. With the immersion of the idol amidst the chanting
of "Ganesh Maharaj Ki Jai!"(Hail Lord Ganesh).
The festival ends with pleas to Ganesha to return the next
year with chants of
"Ganpati bappa morya, pudcha varshi laukar ya"
(Hail Lord Ganesh, return again soon next year).
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