GANESHA
FESTIVAL:
Ganesh is remembered on chauth or chaturthi, the 4th day of every month
of the Hindu calendered, but most of all on Ganesh Chaturthi which is celebrated
as his birthday. Ladoos are distributed on the day-by tradition ladoos
were placed in different corners of the house and eaten before the meal.
Milk is offered to idols of lord Ganesh at home and at temples, and Ganesh
puja is performed at all temples and prayer rooms. Fasting, feasting
and distribution of sweets offered to Lord Ganesh are important aspects
of Ganesh chaturthi rituals in India. Hindus pray to images of Lord Ganesha,
large and small, many of them made specially for the occasion by cottage
industries and street side artisans, and those that do
not wish to keep the idols alive by daily prayers, offerings and lighting
oil lamps, immerse them in the nearest water body (all rivers, lakes and
the sea which are sacred to Hindus).
TILAK'S
CONTRIBUTION:
Ganesh chaturthi was further promoted by Lokmanya
Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who brought to the cause of independence a fire
of religious revivalism. Tilak (1856-1920) was a Maharashtrian Brahmin
from Pune, who believed that self government could not be achieved by co-operating
with the British. His slogan, Swaraj (Home Rule) is My Birthright, was
echoed for miles on every side, and when he wrote articles in the Kesari,
applauding the action of freedom fighters and the death of 2 British women
in a bomb blast in Bengal, he was promptly brought to trial and sentenced
to 6 years imprisonment, resulting in a 6 day long riot in Bombay. He was
the first Indian freedom fighter to be given the kind of hero-worship,
later acquired by Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru , Netaji Subhash Chandra
Bose and Sardar Patel, by millions of people. After his release, he rose
to become an all-India leader, working with the likes of Anne Besant for
home rule, and was always respected as an intellectual.
One of Tilak's strongest movements to evoke nationalism through religious
passions was the organization of festivals like Ganesh chaturthi in Maharashtra,
which not only inspired feelings of Hindu unity in Maharashtra, but gave
freedom fighters an opportunity to meet when the British government illegalised
any gatherings, writings and slogans that could incite violence.
Thanks to Tilak, Ganesh Chaturthi became a major festival of Maharashtra,
where thousands of gigantic idols of lord Ganesh are immersed by huge processions
of worshipers shouting, Ganpati Bappa Morya, in the Arabian sea and rivers
of the state. The festival has now gained popularity all over India, with
celebrations in south India and Gujarat being no less spectacular than
those of Maharashtra.
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