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Subject: ~/~ GANESH CHATURTHI ~/~
Replies: 11 Views: 1826
0skeyur0 24.09.10 - 01:12pm
It was around 1893, during the nascent stages of Indian nationalism, that Tilak began to organize the Ganesh Utsav as a social and religious function. He was the first to put in large public images of Ganesha in pavilions and establish the tradition of their immersion on the tenth day. The festival facilitated community parti tion and involvement in the form of learned discourses, dance dramas, poetry recital, musical concerts, debates, etc. It served as a meeting place for common people of all castes and communities, at a time when all social and political gatherings were forbidden by the British Empire for fear of conspiracies to be hatched against them. An important festival during the peshwaera, Ganesha Chaturthi acquired at this time a more organized form all over India largely due to Lokmanya's efforts. *
0skeyur0 24.09.10 - 01:15pm
Since then, Ganesh Chaturthi has been celebrated throughout Maharashtra as also in other states with great community enthusiasm and parti tion with the independence of India in 1949, it was proclaimed to be a national festival. *
0skeyur0 24.09.10 - 01:31pm
Today, Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated in the states of Maharashtra, Tamil nadu karnataka and andhra pradesh and many other parts of India. The fesival is so popular that the preparations begin months in advance. Days before the actual worship, homes are cleaned and marquecs erected at street corners to house the idols of the Lord. Elaborate arrangements are made for lighting, decoration, mirrors and flowers. The artisans who make the idols of Ganesh vie with each other to make bigger and better sculptures. The sizes of the relatively larger ones range any where from 10 meters to 30 meters in height. These are installed in marquees and in homes prior to the puja(worship). During the festival days, the lord is worshipped with great devotion and prayer services are preformed daily. The duration of the Lord's stay varies from place to place ; once the worship is complete, the statues are 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 with dancing and the sound of exciting drum-beats, devotional songs and exploding firecrackers. As the idol is immersed amidst loud chants of Ganesh Maharaj ki Jai! (hail lord ganesh), the festival comes to an end with pleas to the Lord to return the next year with chants of Ganpati bappa morya, pudeha varshi laukarya (hail lord ganesh, return again soon next year). Tourists from all over the world come to witness this wonderful event in the sun kissed beaches of Goa and Mumbai. *
0skeyur0 24.09.10 - 01:35pm
While celebrated all over India, Ganesh chaturthi festivities are most elaborate in states like maharashtra, goa (it is the biggest festival for konkani people all over the world), gujarat, karnataka and andhra pradesh, and other areas which were former states of the maratha empire. Out side India, it is celebrated in Nepal by the Newars. *
0skeyur0 24.09.10 - 01:37pm
In the 21st century, with the world turning fast into a global village, ganesh chaturthi is now celebrated all over the world, wherever there is a presence of a Hindu Community. *
VANDEMATARM (8)
