Ganesh Chaturthi 2023: Date, shubh muhurat, history, significance and all you need to know about Ganeshotsav (2024)

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Ganesh Chaturthi 2023: Date, shubh muhurat, history, significance and all you need to know about Ganeshotsav? ›

This year, Ganesh Chaturthi

According to historical accounts, the great Maratha ruler Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaja started Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in Maharashtra to advance culture and nationalism. Since then, it has continued. History has also made mention of celebrations akin to these during the Peshwa era in Pune.

Ganesh Chaturthi (guh-NESH cha-TUR-thee) is a festival that pays homage to Lord Ganesh, the remover of obstacles, and celebrates the day of his birth. Many recognize that Lord Ganesh brings order in this universe and worship him before embarking on a new endeavor, intellectual journey, or business enterprise.

Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated for a whole 11 days. It begins on the Chaturthi when people install the statue of Lord Ganesha in their homes and temples. This festival ends on Anant Chaturdashi with Ganesh Visarjan. The devotees of the Lord Ganesha offer their prayers to God.

Ganesh Chaturthi assumed the nature of a gala public celebration when the Maratha ruler Shivaji (c. 1630–80) used it to encourage nationalist sentiment among his subjects, who were fighting the Mughals.

Goddess Parvati was the creator of Ganpati. She, in the absence of Lord Shiva, used her sandalwood paste to create Ganesha and put him to guard while she had gone for bathing. While she was gone, Lord Shiva got into a fight with Ganesha as he did not allow him to enter, as per his mother's orders.

Ganesh Chaturthi is a ten-day festival that typically falls in the Hindu month of Bhadra (August or September). The celebrations commence with the installation of beautifully crafted clay idols of Lord Ganesha in homes and public places. These idols are worshipped with great devotion during the ten-day period.

The ritual is done to signify the birth cycle of Lord Ganesha; just as he was created from clay/Earth, his symbolic statue is as well. The idol is immersed in water so that Ganesha may return to his home after his 'stay' at the devotees' home or temple where the Ganesha Chaturthi rituals are conducted.

Another story says that Ganesha was created directly by Shiva's laughter. Because Shiva considered Ganesha too alluring, he gave him the head of an elephant and a protruding belly. Ganesha's earliest name was Ekadanta (One Tusked), referring to his single whole tusk, the other being broken.

Why is Ganpati's face covered? ›

Nowadays, it isn't workable for individuals to do the eye painting service or bring the craftsman back home to get it painted on; so they simply cover the eyes (and the face) in advance and reveal it in the wake of playing out the prana pratishtha at the propitious season of sthapana on Ganesh Chaturthi.

To worship Lord Ganesha during this festival, one must clean the house, welcome the idol, and offer durva grass, flowers, modaks, and karanji. The idol is placed on a raised platform, prayers and mantras are recited, and rituals such as Padya Samarpan and panchamrita snaman are performed.

I've read that early morning before 6am is best, and also about Pradosh Kaal being the best time to worship Ganapati, between sunset and dusk.

Besides the mythological stories, there is a scientific reason behind Ganesh Chaturthi. It is believed that during Visarjan, natural clay is suspended in large quantities in water bodies which cleanses the water owing to its medical properties.

He would have held a bowl of sweets in his lower left hand, which his trunk extends toward to eat. In his upper left hand, he would have held a rosary. In his upper right hand, he would have held a noose or a weapon. In his lower right hand, he would have held a broken tusk.

Ganesha the Hindu elephant god symbolizes protection and the removal of obstacles from one's path. He is one of the most popular deities in all of Hinduism. His elephant tusk symbolizes intellectual strength, adaptability, and efficiency.

The history: One of the oldest known Ganesh pandals in the state, the Lalbaug Sarvajanik Utsav Mandal, Ganesh Galli started the festival in 1928 to inspire people to fight for their rights in the pre-independence era.

In some he was created by Parvati, or by Shiva or created by Shiva and Parvati, in another he appeared mysteriously and was discovered by Shiva and Parvati or he was born from the elephant headed goddess Malini after she drank Parvati's bath water that had been thrown in the river.

There is an interesting story behind the legend of Ganesh visarjan. It is believed that Lord Ganesha returns to Mount Kailash to join his parents Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati on the last day of the festival. The celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi also denotes the significance of the cycle of birth, life and death.

Significance of Ganesha Jayanti

Ganesha Jayanti also known as Magha Shukla Chaturthi is a Hindu festival that celebrates the birth anniversary of Lord Ganesha, a popular deity who is considered to be the remover of obstacles and the god of starts and knowledge.