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Ganesh Chaturthi (Gaṇeśa Caturthī)

Chapter · January 2018

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-024-1036-5_521-1

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Ruchi Agarwal
Mahidol University
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Ganesh Chaturthi (Ganeśa
Caturthī) ˙ different sizes. These images are installed in spe-
Ruchi Agarwal
Social Science Division, Mahidol University
International College, Nakorn Pathom, Thailand
Synonyms
Ganesh Chaturthi; Ganesh Festival; Vinayaka
Chaturthi
Origin and Celebrations
Ganesh Chaturthi, one of the most popular Hindu
festivals, celebrates the birthday of Ganesh
throughout India. It is a 10-day festival that com-
mences on Chaturthi (the fourth day) of the
Shukla Paksha (waxing moon) in the month of
Bhadrapada and ends on Anant Caturdashi (the
fourteenth day) of the waxing moon period
according to the Hindu lunar calendar. It usually
falls in August or September. It is a day celebrat-
ing the creation of a little boy, Ganesh, by his
mother, Parvati, as a personal gana (attendant).
Popular belief has it that Ganesh visits earth dur-
ing these 10 days to bless his devotees. Although
the festival is observed with great enthusiasm all
over India, it is particularly celebrated in Maha-
rashtra and is also called Vinayaka Chaturthi.
Preparation for the festival begins months earlier
# Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2018
P. Jain et al. (eds.), Hinduism and Tribal Religions, Encyclopedia of Indian Religions,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1036-5_521-1
with artisans crafting clay images of Ganesh in
cially decorated pandals (temporary structure
used in religious events) or at homes. They are
later sanctified and worshiped for 10 days accom-
panied by a great fanfare. The most famous and
the most visited Ganesh pandals belong to the
Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshostsav
Mandal, founded in 1934. Priests conduct regular
puja (what?) with chanting of mantras and offer-
ings of special modakas (sweet balls made from
rice flour, jiggery, and coconut), water, incense,
flowers, etc. Devotees sing and dance in joy while
shouting Ganapati Bappa Morya. On the eleventh
day of the festival, the clay images are taken in a
procession to immerse in water with devotees
dancing and singing as they bid farewell and
pray for the deity’s early return the following year.
Although Ganesh Chaturthi is believed to be
ancient in origin, it was not a part of
Maharashtra’s tradition until being introduced
during the Maratha Empire. It was the nationalist
leader Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856–1920), the first
popular leader of the Indian independence move-
ment against the British colonial rule, who
converted Ganesh into a powerful cultural and
religious symbol of unity among the
Maharashtrian people in an attempt to resist the
British rule [1]. Political opposition was restricted
during the British rule, but there was no interfer-
ence with religious observances, so the Ganesh
festival provided a way to show national unity. In
1893, Tilak reinvented the Ganesh Chaturthi from
2 Ganesh Chaturthi (Ganeśa Caturthī)
an annual family celebration into a public event.
This was a way of building national spirit and
showing unity of Hindu society by making the
festival a community-based enterprise [2,
3]. Ganesa Chaturthi was also a way of uniting
people earlier separated by the caste system.
Ganesh came to be seen as a god for everyone.
The caste system in India is a social stratifica-
tion of people into four main groups, priests,
warriors, merchants, and the peasants. The first
three are considered as the upper castes. The peas-
ants fall under the category of lower caste. Mem-
bership comes through birth, and there is a mutual
interdependence defined by occupations ritual
duties, roles, attributes surrounding purity and
pollution, specific customs, and traditions of wor-
ship [4]. Tilak saw the festival as a way of pro-
moting community participation and the
involvement of people from all castes together
for 10–12 days. In Maharashtra, the processions
to immerse Ganesh images in the sea became an
important mode of exhibiting and asserting Hindu
cultural and political identity. Today, the festival is
sponsored by business people in most of the cen-
tral Indian cities. It grows bigger every year and
has become the most expensive communal
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festival for businesses and individuals in central
India. For business owners, praying to Ganesh
brings prosperity, while abundant harvests are
ensured for the farmers.
Cross-References
▶ Ganesa
References
1. Sukumar R (2003) Elephants, gods, and people. The
interrelationship of culture and ecology, Chapter 2. In:
The living elephants: evolutionary ecology, behaviour,
and conservation. Oxford University Press, New York,
pp 55–80
2. Metcalf DB, Metcalf RT (2012) Civil society, colonial
constraints, 1885–1919, Chapter 5. In: A concise his-
tory of modern India, 3rd edn. Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge/New York, pp 123–166
3. Reza NM (2015) Religious processions as a means of
social conciliation, Chapter 15. In: Mathey K, Matuk
S (eds) Community-based urban violence prevention.
Transcript, Beilefeld, pp 268–279
4. O’Conner SJ Jr (1971) Hindu gods of peninsular Siam.
Artibus Asiae Publishers, Ascona