Vinayak Chaturthi, also known as Ganesha Chaturthi; is set apart for the sole worship of Lord Ganesha, the common deity of all Hindus. As he is supposed to be very fond of rice puddings, these dishes are cooked on a very large scale in every Hindu house and offered to God, to be consumed by the members of the family, after the worship is over.
How is Ganesh Chaturthi celebrated?
The festival celebrates the birthday of Lord Ganesh, the Lord of wisdom, peace and fortune. The festivals are sometimes called Vinayak Chaturthi or Vinayak chavithi. The day celebrated by Hindus is widely celebrated in particular in Maharashtra.
A fresh image of Ganesh in clay is made and worshipped on this day. One hundred and eight different names of this God are repeated after the preliminary ceremonies and 108 different flowers are thrown in worship over them.
The origin of this worship is prehistoric. Yudhisthira, the hero of the Mahabharata, Damayanti, the queen of the Nishada King Nala, Indra, the Lord of Heavens, and even Krishna, the expounder of the Bhagavadgita are said to have devoutly worshipped Ganesh and to have obtained their desired ends.
History of Ganesh Chaturthi
Histories The Ganesh Chaturthi Festival has its roots back in the Maratha reign when Chatrapati Shivaji started it. The belief is based on Ganesha’s birth. Though this god is invoked on several occasions during the years, there is a special day in every year which is set apart, particularly for his worship, and this day is called the Vinayaka Chaturthi day, which falls on the fourth lunar day of the bright half of the month of Simha. The Tamils term this day Pillaiyar Chavutti day.
The story of Lord Ganesha’s birth
Vinayaka or Ganesh is the eldest son of Shiva and Parvati, or of Parvati only, according to the following legend, as he sprang from the dirt of her body. Shiva had gone from home and Parvati was left alone on the Kailasa; she wished to have a bath and not liking the idea of any person entering the house then, she rubbed her body with her hands and the dirt that rolled off produced a figure to which she gave life and named Ganesh. She then asked Ganesh to sit at the door and allow no one, however, he might be, to come in till she had finished her bath. Ganesh sat at his duty and while Parvati was bathing inside, Shiva returned home. He wanted to enter his house, but Ganesh would not allow him. After trying in vain to persuade him with gentle words, the great god used threats which, however, had no effect. He was at last compelled to cut off Ganesh’s head and force his way in. When the goddess who was within perceived her lord entering and when she came to know that Ganesh had been murdered, she would not speak to Shiva until her attendant was restored to life. In order to do this, Shiva gave orders to his army of the Bhutaganas to find the first living creature that slept with its head turned towards the north, to cut off its head and fit it into Ganesh’s body. The Bhutas searched and searched for a very long time and at last found an elephant asleep with its head to the north, and cutting off its head, they brought it and fixed it to the Ganesh’s body, and lo! he rose up Ma man in body and elephant in the face. This story also accounts for the belief of Hindus to avoid the northern aspect of sleep.
Who is Lord Ganesh?
Vinayaka (Lord Ganesh) is the eldest son of Shiva and Parvati and one of the most popular deities in India. He is the male Minerva and the Janus of public ways. His shrine is in every Hindu village. He is worshipped in every Hindu house. Every schoolboy begins his lessons after offering his usual prayers to Vinayaka. Every merchant commences his operation after first propitiating this deity. In marriages and every other kind of religious ceremony, Vinayaka is the first God whose help is invoked. Almost all the standard works in Sanskrit and the Vernacular languages begin with an invocation of the help of Ganesh.
Symbolism
Vinayaka’s figure is represented as the elephant in the face and a man in the body. The elephant’s head is regarded as the emblem of sagacity. In his image, he is always seated at his ease, with his legs folded under him on a lotus throne. He has four arms and they hold an elephant’s trunk, a noose, a mace, and a Modaka (rice pudding). He wears a crown. His ears are adorned with jewels and his forehead vibhuti – the sacred ashes. He wears a garland of pearls and precious stones around his neck. He is worshipped under the different names of Vinayaka, Ganesh, Ganapati, Pillaiyar, etc. As this most popular deity is worshipped in almost every village, there is a belief among certain people that he is the god of the Sudras and lower orders, who are generally uneducated. As an authority for this belief, the following couplet is sometimes quoted: –
Viparanam daivatam Sambhuh | Kshatriyanam tu Madhavah
Vaisyanam tu bhaved Brahma | Sudranam Gananayakah!!
The above verse means that Shiva is the god of the Brahmans, Vishnu of the Kshatrivas, Brahma of the Vaisyas, and Ganesh of the Sudras. This is a most fanciful verse, which is not at all corroborated by any other authority. If any regard is to be paid to this couplet, then no Brahman can worship Vishnu and no Vaisya can worship Shiva, facts which are absurd on their very face, as testified by both the ancient and modern ways of Hindu faith.
Worship and festivals
Ganesh worship is a prehistoric one and it goes without saying that the couplet sometimes quoted as an authority that Ganesh is the god of the Sudras is unfounded. On the other hand, he is worshipped by the highest class of Brahmans. There are also special sects who are called Ganapatiyas, whose sole devotion is to this deity. Vinayaka is the deity that rules over good and bad alike-controlling the evil in every case and preventing hindrances to success. He controlled all those qualities which overcame hindrances in every undertaking with their usual accompaniments-good living, plenty, prosperity, and peace. This is the one great and real reason for the popularity of the worship of this deity.
There is always a small shrine of Vigneswara, attached to all Shiva temples. In the Vishnu temples too he is worshipped as Tumbikkaialvar – the sage of the elephant’s trunk – and as Vishvaksena. Sometimes he has his own temples too. As he is the favourite son of Shiva, he receives honours equal to Shiva. His image is with sincere devotion adored by men and women alike. He is supposed to represent several personifications of sagacity, shrewdness, patience, and learning.
Why is Lord Ganesha worshipped first?
As a test of his wisdom, it is related that when he was a child and playing in company with his brother Subrahmanya (also known as Kartikeya, Murugan or Shanmukha), Shiva promised to present a mango to him who made a circuit around the world and returned first. Subrahmanya summoned his peacock, mounted it, and was ready for the journey. But Ganesh calmly went round Shiva, his father, and demanded the fruit. “But you never went round the world,” said Shiva. “What is the world, but your own holy self? I went round you. Ergo, I went round the world,” was Ganesh’s wise reply. Shiva was of course convinced, praised Ganesh for his shrewdness, and gave him the promised fruit, which however he shared with Subrahmanya. The peculiarity of this deity is that his worship is combined as it were with that of every other God. All sects unite in claiming him as their own. It is for this reason that his shrines are found generally associated with those of other deities – Shiva and Vishnu. The largest temple built solely in honour of Ganesh in India is the Uchchippillaiyar temple on the top of the famous and beautiful rock at Tiruchirapalli.
Of all the figures in Hindu Mythology, that of Ganesh or Pilaiyar must be most familiar to every European. In the bathing ghat of every river and underneath the pipal tree will be seen a figure in a sitting posture, short and stout, with a protuberant stomach and four hands, riding a mouse and with the body of a man and the head of an elephant. This is the image of Ganesh or Pillaiyar, and there is not a single village in the whole of India which does not possess at least half a dozen of these familiar images. The elephant head has only one full tusk and the other appears cut off in the middle, the result of a scuffle between Ganesh and Parasurama. The “belly god” is on this account called Ekadanta, or the single-tusked. Ganesh is said to have written the Mahabharata at the dictation of Vyasa – for it is said that the letter was so quick in repeating the epic that no mortal could have managed to follow him.
