With Ganesh Chaturthi around the corner, devotees around the country are all set to celebrate the festival with colourful processions, bustling music, and energetic dance moves.
With Ganesh Chaturthi around the corner, devotees around the country are all set to celebrate the festival with colourful processions, bustling music, and energetic dance moves.
The Hindu festival is dedicated to the Lord of new beginnings, Ganesha. The celebration is marked with the installation of the deity's idol at home and at elaborate pandals.
Celebrated with great fame in India, especially in Maharashtra, a unique effort has been made in Aurangabad city, where the Swami Ganesh Pratishthan Mandal installed an eco-friendly Ganesh idol in Kharadi village of Aurangabad.
Also, Mumbai Traffic Police has made elaborate arrangements ahead of the upcoming Ganpati Festival for smooth flow of traffic and for preventing inconvenience to commuters. Traffic Police will keep a watch at strategic locations like Girgaon Chowpatty, Shivaji Park Chowpatty, Bada Masjid Bandra, Juhu Chowpatty and Ganesh Ghat-Powai for monitoring and regulating traffic flow during procession and immersion.
Hindus in Goa are also gearing up for Ganesh Chaturthi with great enthusiasm.
Devotees in Bangalore also added a touch of eco-friendliness in their celebrations as they made an idol using sugarcane, shunning Plaster of Paris (PoP).
The festival of Ganesh Chaturthi will begin from September 13
If you have decided to bring Ganpati Bappa into your home and make him a guest for 10 days, you will have to follow the rituals and pooja. You can call a pundit to perform the Pranpratishtha or you can do it yourself. Here is how -
1. Clay idol of Ganesha
2. Red flowers - preferably hibiscus
3. Durva grass
3. Modak(Sweet rice dumplings) or any sweet will do
4. Coconut
5. Sandalwood paste
6. Janve (Sacred white thread)
7. Betel leaves
8. Raised platform
9. Ghee lamp
10. Kalash
These days you get all these ingredients in a pack. Opt for that if you cannot gather them one at a time.
Step by step ritual -
1. Clean your house
2. Take a bath
3. Fill the Kalash with water and decorate it with Betel leaves. Put coconut on top of it.
4. Put the Ganesh idol on the raised platform
5. Put the Janve (Sacred thread) on the idol's left shoulder.
6. Deck the idol with garlands and red flowers.
7. Offer Durva grass
8. Put tilak of Sandalwood paste on the idol
9. Recite the following Mantra from Rigveda to do the Pranpratishtha
"ganananh tva ganapatim havamahe kavim kavinam – upamashravastamam jyeshhtharajam brahmanan.h brahmanaspata A nah shrivnvannutibhih sida sadanam" (Rig Veda 2.23.1)
"ni shhu sida ganapate ganeshhu tvamahurvipratamam kavinam na rite tvat.h kriyate kinchanare mahamarkam maghavan.h chitramarcha" (Rig Veda 10.112.9)
10. Light the ghee lamp and sing the aarti
11. Offer the Modak and pray.
Rules for performing puja at home are always flexible. Strict rituals are meant for temples and for Vedic pundits who are trained to perform them. All you have to do is pray to Ganesha with a clean and calm mind.
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