Gaṇeśa Caturthī — welcoming Gaṇapati home
Bhādrapada Śukla Caturthī · August–September
Gaṇeśa Caturthī celebrates the birth of Gaṇeśa, remover of obstacles and lord of beginnings. Families bring a clay image of Gaṇapati home as an honoured guest for one and a half, three, five, seven or ten days, then bid him farewell with immersion (visarjana), often on Ananta Caturdaśī, asking him to “come again soon next year”.
To observe it at home, choose a natural clay (shāḍu) idol, unpainted or with natural colours — plaster-of-Paris idols and chemical paints harm rivers and the sea. Place it on a clean raised seat with a red or yellow cloth, and invite Gaṇeśa into it with prāṇa-pratiṣṭhā or simply with prayer. Offer dūrvā grass (traditionally 21 blades), red flowers, especially hibiscus, and modakas — steamed sweet dumplings of rice flour, coconut and jaggery — along with laḍḍus. Do āratī morning and evening; “Sukhakartā Dukhahartā” is the beloved Marathi āratī. For visarjana, many families now immerse the idol in a bucket or tub at home and pour the dissolved clay into the garden.
Maharashtra is the festival's heartland: Bal Gangadhar Tilak turned it into a great public celebration in 1893, and Mumbai's and Pune's maṇḍaps draw millions. Goa, Karnataka, Andhra and Telangana celebrate on a large scale too; in Tamil Nadu it is Vināyaka Caturthī, with kozhukkaṭṭai. Tradition advises not looking at the moon on this night; if you do by chance, hearing the Syamantaka story is said to set it right.
Tradition says that Pārvatī, wanting a guard of her own while she bathed, shaped a boy from the turmeric paste on her body and gave him life. When Śiva returned and the boy, not knowing him, blocked the door, Śiva's attendants fought him, and in the struggle the boy's head was cut off. Seeing Pārvatī's grief and anger, Śiva had his gaṇas bring the head of the first creature they found — an elephant — and restored the boy to life, making him leader of the gaṇas, Gaṇapati, to be worshipped first before every undertaking. Another tale says the Moon laughed at Gaṇeśa's round belly, and Gaṇeśa declared that whoever saw the Moon on this night would face false blame — which is why Kṛṣṇa himself was once accused of stealing the Syamantaka jewel.
Gaṇeśa · Vināyaka · Gaṇapati · Clay idol, dūrvā, modaka, visarjana · Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Telugu states · Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā