In Hinduism, 10-day festival marking the birth of the elephant-headed deity Ganesha, the god of prosperity and wisdom. It begins on the fourth day (chaturthi) of the month of Bhadrapada (August–September), the sixth month of the Hindu Calender .At the start of the festival, idols of Ganesha are placed on raised platforms in homes or in elaborately decorated outdoor tents. The worship begins with the pranapratishtha, a ritual to invoke life in the idols, followed by shhodashopachara, or the 16 ways of paying tribute. Amid the chanting of Vedic hymns from religious texts like the Ganesh Upanishad, the idols are anointed with red sandalwood paste and yellow and red flowers. Ganesha is also offered coconut, jaggery, and 21 modaks (sweet dumplings), considered to be Ganesha’s favourite food.
At the conclusion of the festival, the idols are carried to local rivers in huge processions accompanied by drumbeats, devotional singing, and dancing. There they are immersed, a ritual symbolizing Ganesha’s homeward journey to Mount Kailas—the abode of his parents, Shiva and Parvati.
History-
It is obscure when the celebration began. It turned into a significant social and open occasion with sponsorship of ch.Shivaji Maharaj after Mughal-Maratha wars. It became mainstream again in the nineteenth century after open intrigue by Indian political dissident Lokmanya Tilak, who advocated it as a way to bypass the provincial British government restriction on Hindu social affairs through its enemy of open get together enactment in 1892.
Who is God Ganesh ?
In spite of the fact that not insinuating the old style type of God Ganapati,the soonest notice of Ganapati is found in the Rigveda. It shows up twice in the Rigveda, once in psalm, just as in song. Both of these songs suggest a job of God Ganapati as "the soothsayer among the diviners, proliferating incalculable in food managing among the older folks and being the master of summon", while the song in mandala 10 expresses that without God Ganapati "nothing close by or a far distance is performed without thee", as indicated by Michael. However, it is dubious that the Vedic expression God Ganapati which actually signifies "watchman of the hoards", alluded explicitly to later period God Ganesh, nor do the Vedic writings notice Ganesh Chaturthi. shows up in post-Vedic messages, for example, the Grhya Sutras and from that point old Sanskrit messages,.
For instance, carvings at Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain sanctuaries, for example, at the Ellora Caves, dated between the fifth and eighth century show God Ganesh respectfully situated with significant Hindu goddess (Shakti).
In spite of the fact that it is obscure when (or how) Ganesh Chaturthi was first observed, the celebration has been openly celebrated in Pune since the period of ch. Shivaji Maharaj (1630–1680, founder of the Maratha Empire). After the beginning of the British Raj, the God Ganesh celebration lost state support and turned into a private family festivity in Maharashtra until its restoration by Indian political dissident and social reformer Lokmanya Tilak.
Different researchers express that the British Empire, after 1870 out of dread of subversive congregations, had passed a progression of mandates that prohibited open get together for social and political reasons for in excess of 20 individuals in British India, however absolved strict gathering for Friday mosque supplications under tension from the Indian Muslim people group. Tilak accepted this adequately hindered the open get together of Hindus whose religion didn't command day by day supplications or week by week social occasions, and he utilized this strict exclusion to make God Ganesh Chaturthi to go around the British pilgrim law on enormous open assembly. He was the first to introduce huge open pictures of God Ganesh in structures in Bombay Presidency, and other celebratory occasions at the celebration.
In India, Ganesh Chaturthi is fundamentally celebrated at home and in broad daylight by nearby local gatherings in the focal and western conditions of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Goa and the southern conditions of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and eastern conditions of West Bengal, Bihar and Odisha.