Celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi!’

Lord Ganesha is the most worshiped Hindu God and is considered as a symbol of wisdom and good luck. Lord Ganesha is also regarded as the reliever of all obstacles. Hindu households have prominent space for Lord Ganesha’s photos, idols and other decorative items. Any festive occasion or new beginning is started with offering prayers to Lord Ganesha.
Lord Ganesha, is represented with only one tusk, and is known as Ek Dant. According to Hindu mythology, Ganesha once broke his tooth and thrown it at the Moon for laughing at his belly. He even cursed the Moon. Although the curse was undone, the myth about looking at the moon is a bad omen still remains.
The festival of Ganesh Chaturthi is marked as the birth of the Lord of Wisdom. And the festival is celebrated across the country for 10 days with zeal and grandeur. The excitement begins months in advance as sculptors develop countless idols of Lord Ganesha of different poses, colours and sizes. After days of celebration, family and friends, eventually immerse the idol in the sea marshaled by a procession of bells, drums and music. Devotees emotionally bid farewell to Lord Ganesha and request him to return again the next year.
Ganesha is predicted to be a bachelor but there are numerous instances where Ganesha is represented with two wives named as Ridhi and Sidhi. Both of them were created by Brahma to appease Ganesha who was distraught at not having any wife when several Gods and deities had more than one.

Let’s enrich with some of the quick facts about the festival:-
• The festival of Ganesh Chaturthi begins from the fourth day of the waxing moon period, on Shukla Chaturthi and ends on the 14th day of the waxing moon period known as Anant Chaturdashi.
• Lord Ganesha has around 108 names, including Vighna Harta (the remover of obstacles) and Buddhi Pradaayaka (the giver of wisdom and intellect).
• Apart from his birth, Ganesh Chaturthi is also the day when Lord Shiva declared Ganesha to be above all Hindu Gods.
• Maharashtra entertains grand scale Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations.
• The festival has four main rituals-- Pranapratishhtha is the process of infusing the deity into a idol, Shhodashopachara is the way of paying tribute to 16 forms Ganesha, Uttarpuja is the Puja after which the idol could be shifted after it's infusion, Ganpati Visarjan is immersion of the lord ganeshas’Idol in the river.
• The festival was celebrated since the time of Maratha King Shivaji, but a Sarvajanik Ganesh idol was installed first by Bhausaheb Laxman Javale.
• The festival was changed from a private celebration to a grand public event by Lokmanya Tilak to bridge the gap between Brahmins and non-Brahmins and to find a worth context to build a new grassroots of unity between them".
• In 2014, there were 10,000 Ganesh idols in the pandals of Mumbai alone.
• It is said that the number of Ganesh idols brought home last year was 1, 80,650 and the number is significantly increasing each year.
• The longest immersion procession is that of Mumbai’s Lalbaugcha Raja, which starts at 10 am and ends the next morning, taking nearly 24 hours. The second longest procession is that of Mumbai’s Andhericha Raja, which starts at 5 pm and ends early morning next day.
• Lord Ganesha is also worshiped in Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Nepal and China.

By: Saksham Gupta
Content: https://www.rediff.com/getahead/report/specials-bappa-morya-10-facts-about-ganesh-chaturthi/20150919.htm