When is Ganesh Chaturthi in 2012?

By Kavita Srivastava

Ganesh Chaturthi in 2012 is on 19th September. Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated as the birthday of Lord Ganesh. Ganesh Chaturthi falls on the fourth day of the Hindu month of Bhadrapada, which falls around August or September as per English calendar. The occasion, Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated with great fervour and enthusiasm in India as well in some other countries where majority of Indian are settled in abroad. The ambience during Ganesh chaturthi becomes very lively and enthusiastic with the devotional songs, dances and drum beats being a part of the procession observed by the devotees of Lord Ganesh.

Ganesh is regarded as the god of wisdom and prosperity as per the Hindu scriptures and is invoked before the beginning of every auspicious work by the Hindus. It is believed that for the accomplishment of one's desires and to finish any underway task successfully, his blessing are absolutely essential.

About Ganesh Chaturthi

Legend has it that Lord Ganesh was created out of the sandalwood dough by the Goddess Parvati that she used for her bath and breathed life into him. Parvati commanded Ganesh to stand guard at the door as she went to have her bath. When her husband, God Shiva returned, the child who had never seen Lord Shiva did not let him go inside his own house. This behaviour precipitates Lord Shiva resulting he amputates the head of the child and entered his house. When Parvati learned that her son was killed, was upset and asked Shiva to revive him. Shiva cut off the head of an elephant and fixed it on the body of Ganesh and breathed life into him again.

Another fable describes, one day the Gods decided to choose their leader and a race was to be held between the brothers Kartikeya and Ganesha. Whoever completed three rounds of the earth first would be made the Ganaadhipati or the leader. Kartikeya seated on a peacock as his vehicle, started off for the test. Ganesha was given a rat. Ganesha respectfully paid bow to his parents and went around them three times and thus completed the test before Kartikeya standing other Gods astonished then he justified his acts he said, "My parents encompass the whole universe and going around them, is like going round the earth." Gods were astonished to hear Ganesh's intellect and hence he came to be known as the Ganaadhipati or leader, now referred to as Ganpati.

There is also a story behind the symbolic snake, rat and the singular tusk. During one of his birthdays, His mother, Parvati, cooked for him twenty-one types of delicious food and a lot of sweet porridge. Ganesha ate so much that even his big belly could not contain it. Mounting his little mouse, he embarked on his nightly rounds. His mouse suddenly stumbled upon seeing a huge snake. To adjust His belly, Ganesha put the snake on as a belt around his stomach. All of a sudden, he heard laughter emanating form the sky.

He looked up and saw the moon mocking him. Ganesha infuriated, broke off one of his tusks and hurled it at the moon. Parvati, seeing this, immediately cursed the moon that whoever looks at it on Ganesh Chaturthi will be accused of a wrong doing. The symbology behind the mouse and snake and Ganesha's big belly and its relationship to the moon on his birthday is highly philosophic. The whole cosmos is known to be the belly of Ganesha. Parvati is the primordial energy. The seven realms above, seven realms below and seven oceans, are inside the cosmic belly of Ganesha, held together by the cosmic energy (kundalini ) symbolized as a huge snake which Ganesha ties around Him. The mouse is nothing but our ego. Ganesha, using the mouse as a vehicle, exemplifies the need to control our ego. One who has controlled the ego has Ganesha consciousness or God-consciousness.

Ganesh Chaturthi Festival

The festival of Ganesh Chaturthi was started by Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaja, the great Maratha ruler, to promote culture and nationalism, the festival was re-energized by Lokmanya Tilak to spread the message of freedom struggle and to defy the British who had banned public assemblies. The festival gave the Indians a feeling of unity and revived their patriotic spirit and faith.

Ganesh statues are installed in streets as tableau and in homes by the devotees, and arrangements are made for lighting, decoration, sound and the most common of flowers. Devotees perform the pooja of the idols of Ganesh regularly. The artists who make the idols of Ganesh compete with each other to make bigger and more magnificent and elegant idols. Some of the idols are humongous; they can be measure from 10 meters to 30 meters in height. Thousands of processions converge on the beaches to immerse the holy idols into the sea. This procession and immersion is accompanied by devotees, drum- beats, devotional songs and dancing.

It is forbidden to look at the moon on Ganesh Chaturthi as the moon had laughed at Ganesha when he fell from his rat. As a result Goddess Parvati immediately cursed the moon that whoever looks at it on Ganesh Chaturthi will be accused of a wrong doing. With the immersion of the idol of Ganesh devotees hail for the Ganesh, the chanting of "Ganesh Maharaj Ki Jai!". The festival ends with pleas to Ganesha to return the next year with chants of "Ganpati bappa morya, pudcha varshi laukar ya"