Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi!

Today is Ganesh Chaturthi, the birthday of the most popular of all Gods, Lord Ganesh. There are many legands about Him. The story goes that Goddess Parvathi, the consort of Lord Shiva, wanted someone to guard the door when she took a bath. She created a boy from the dirt in her body. He failed to recognise Shiva and did not allow him to enter. Angered, Lord Shiva cut off the boy's head. Upon Parvathi's insistance, he sent his guards to bring him the head of any other person. Finding no one in the vicinity, they brought him the head of an elephant and that is how Ganesh got to have the head of an elephant. In repentance of his mistake, Shiva granted special status to Ganesh and His name came to be invoked first on every occassion.

Ganesh Chaturthi is very popular all over the country, especially in the state of Maharashtra. The freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak started the practice of taking out processions in a bid to spread his political messages as the British would not ban a religious event. All over the country, idols of Ganesh are installed. At the end of a stipulated number of days, the idols are immersed in water after being taken out in a procession. Thus, the entire festival is one of immense joy, devotion and most of the time, plain fun!

The uni is closed for the festival today. Usually, it is normal practice for children who live outside to go home, the entire family gets together. But since it is the middle of the week, I could not cut classes. Instead, my parents are coming over with all the festival sweets. A feast awaits me! Yummmm!!!

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to all of you!

5 comments:

San Nakji said...

Darn, I didn't realise it was Ganesh's birthday yesterday. I didn't celebrate.... I have a little statue of him in my bedroom. I will apologise tonight...

Deepa Bhasthi said...

ganesh statues are really popular. you will find them everywhere, in every car, in every home... He is supposed to be very forgiving so its ok if you apologize late too!! ;-)

The Humanity Critic said...

good post. Just passing through, cool blog by the way.

San Nakji said...

I think he forgave me. I still have my job....

Kousik said...

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to you too. Thanks for dropping by in my blog and leaving a wonderful comment.