Tomorrow is the start of Ganesh Chaturthi, the Hindu festival devoted to the elephant headed deity Ganesha. While celebrated across India, it is a particularly big event here in Mumbai and preparations have actually been going on for quite some time.
Ganesha is one of the most popular Hindu deities, easily recognizable because he has the head of an elephant. (He also has 4 arms but that isn’t quite as distinctive in Hindu lore.) As the patron of arts and sciences and the god of wisdom, Ganesha is famous as being a scribe and as such his favour is often invoked at the beginning of writing projects and he is revered as the remover of obstacles. T has promised/threatened that she will get me a Ganesh statue for my desk to ensure that I get my book done in a timely manner.
The Ganesh festival begins in late August or early September, falling on the fourth day after the new moon in the Hindu month of Bhadrapada (yes, I had to look that up too.) This year it begins on September 5, and lasts for 11 days ending on the 15th of the month. Preparations, as I said, have been going on for some time. Families often have their own personal preparations, but some neighbourhoods also are very active in this regard.
Giant plaster statues of Ganesh are created each year, painted and decorated with great craft and care, and this is what we have been witnessing for the past few weeks. Driving around town we have watched as giant tents have been erected to house these statues, often 8-12 meters in height, and it was possible to watch the progression as artisans spared no expense and devoted great amounts of time preparing the statues. One they are finished they then parade them around for all to see.
We live very close to a giant traffic circle and it seems that at least 3 of the 7 streets have distinct Ganesha statues which for the past week have been taking their turns celebrating. They tour them around the circle and the neighbourhood with drums and lights with much dancing in the streets. It has been great fun to walk around and experience the festivities. Tonight the streets have actually been dueling back and forth so the city is alive with noise. Some of the celebrations are bigger than others – it seems that some streets are affiliated with political parties and as a result they are a bit more lavish in their presentations. We were more than a little startled when fireworks (and not the little hand held kind) shot up from the street next to us and exploded pretty much level with our balcony.
The street we live on is one of the major arteries down to the Arabian Sea where the statues will all be immersed in the water over the next week and a half. Amidst all the fanfare as we watched from our balcony, one little cart was hauling a smallish Ganesha statue, maybe 6 feet tall, pulled by a family of about 10 people. There were no flashy lights, no music, just the devout wanting to be among the first to place their statue in the water as the sun breaks tomorrow morning.
M
(Here are a couple of videos from our balcony tonight)
Great views for you guys!
What is the significance of immersing the statues in water? Is it to drown them so they can go to Ganesha’s heaven???? ☺ or is it to clean them off so they can be re-used the following year? I agree with T that you should have a statue on your desk so you can invoke the wisdom of Ganesha every morning when you sit down to write your book (not that you’re not full of wisdom already). I enjoy your posts very much. JJH
Amazing! Always interesting to see various religious practices being performed by the devout, especially when they aren’t trying to shove it down your throat. You have the opportunity to be a passive anthropologist and just experience it as it surrounds you and passes by. Your time there is only just beginning and there will be so much more to see and experience. Enjoy it!!