Today, 7th September, 2024, is Ganesh Chaturthi, the day to celebrate the birth of Lord Ganesha, revered as the Ruler of the People (Sanskrit Gana means people and Isha means ruler or lord). This 10-day annual festival begins on the fourth day (Chaturthi) of the month of Bhadrapada (6th month of the Hindu calendar). The Chaturthi Tithi Mahurat began yesterday, on 6th September, at 3:01 pm and will continue today till 5:37 pm. However, according to Drik Panchang, Ganesh Chaturthi is observed today.
In Maharashtra especially, Ganesha truly rules the peoples’ hearts – rich or poor, belonging to all religious denominations during this festival. Today, one seeks blessings of Ganesha, as He is the Lord of new beginnings, fresh starts, remover of obstacles, knowledge, and learning. According to Hindu scriptures, there are four states of consciousness – Jagruti (Awake), Swapna (Dream) Sushupti (Deep sleep) and the fourth (Chaturthi) is Turyavastha or transcendent state, the goal of every seeker of spiritual truth and bliss.
History Of The Festivity
References to Ganesha or Ganapati can be found in the Rigveda and the earliest Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations, according to historian Shri Rajwade, date back to the eras of the Satavahana (235 BC to the second century AD), Rashtrakuta (735 AD to 982 AD), and Chalukya (sixth to seventh century AD) dynasties.
According to historical accounts, the great Maratha ruler Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaja initiated Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in Maharashtra to advance culture and nationalism. Since then, it has continued. The celebrations were observed through the Peshwa era, after which it continued as an annual family celebration.
This family festival once again became a social or public festival during India’s freedom struggle. When British rulers banned public assemblies and cracked down on sedition, Lokmanya Tilak fought to make the Ganapati festival a social event for the Hindu community. Tilak acknowledged Ganesha’s appeal as ‘the Divinity of all people’ and popularised Ganesh Chaturthi as a national festival to become a meeting place for people of all castes and communities when the British prohibited social and political meetings to control the populace. The event encouraged community participation in intellectual dialogue, poetry recitals, plays, concerts, and traditional dances. Even Muslim leaders attended these annual gatherings and offered speeches exhorting citizens to strive for independence.
1892 onwards, Pune and Mumbai became packed with devotees, even though the British disallowed such large gatherings, but feared disturbing the religious sentiments of the people and thus, this ten-day fest was celebrated with patriotic gusto fuelled by a collective deep devotion and love for Ganesha. Even after seventy-seven years of Indian Independence from British rule, this festival is celebrated all over Maharashtra with great gusto.
Ritual Observations
Just like Zoroastrians thoroughly clean our homes before the holy ten Fravardegan days, Hindus also clean up their homes, wearing a festive look to welcome the celestial guest in the form of the elephant-headed divinity – Ganesha. At the start of the festival, idols of Ganesha are placed on raised platforms in homes or in elaborately decorated outdoor tents (Pandaal.) Worship begins with the Prana Pratishtha ritual to invoke life in the idol. This is akin to Zoroastrians consecrating fire and making the fire a conscious living energy of Ahura Mazda. Prana Pratishtha is followed by Shhodashopachara or the sixteen ways of offering homage. 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 offered coconut, jaggery, and twenty-one modak ladoo (sweet dumplings), considered to be Ganesha’s favourite food. During each day of the celebration, prasad, or food blessed by the deity, is distributed throughout the community. Followers also meditate on the many aspects of his form, which symbolize deeper spiritual truths, while many choose to observe fasts. On the last day of the festival (Anant Chaturdashi), Uttarpuja is performed, a ritual bidding farewell to Ganesha. The deity is carried in a public procession with devotional music to a nearby body of water in which Ganesha is immersed. This custom is known as Ganpati Visarjan and it symbolizes his return to Mount Kailash, a Himalayan peak where His parents, Shiva and Parvati, reside. Ganesha stays with us as our Divine and beloved guest for ten days and then leaves only to return the next year. This reminds us to value and cherish what we have now and know that what goes also returns anew.
Remover Of Obstacles
Lord Ganesha is invoked before commencing anything significant as the ‘Lord of Beginnings’. He is also known as Vighnaharta or remover of obstacles – a concept resonatings with the Zoroastrian concept of Verethragna or victorious (in overcoming difficulties).
What Vighnaharta Ganesha is to devout Hindus, Verethragna Bahram Yazata is to devout Zoroastrians. The Behram Yasht enumerates ten forms in which the divinity (Bahram Yazata) appears – as a swift wind, as an armed warrior and as an adolescent youth. In the remaining seven form he appears as a bull with horns of gold, a white horse with ears and a muzzle of gold, a camel, a boar, a bird of prey, a ram, and a wild goat. It is said that Verethragna Bahram Yazata comes to the aid of a devotee in any one or more of these ten forms and removes obstacles.
Lord Ganesha has eight forms, each with different attributes, symbolizing certain abstract qualities:
- Vakratunda (meaning twisted trunk) is the first form of Lord Ganesha. This incarnation’s purpose was to destroy the demon Matsaryasura, representing human envy, thus celebrating Ganesha’s triumph over envy. The mount of this form is a lion.
- Ekadanta (meaning single tusk) was born to kill the demon Madasura, representing intemperance among humans due to power and other vices. Ekadanta was born to triumph over intoxication emanating from power and pelf in humans. The mount of this form is a mouse.
- Mahodara symbolizes a big belly. This incarnation killed the demon of delusion known as Mohasura. This form destroys ignorance and negative thoughts. The mount of this form is also a mouse.
- Gajanana means the elephant faced. This form is said to have slain the demon of greed. The mount of this form too is a mouse.
- Lambodara means pot-bellied. In this form, Ganesha destroyed Krodha or the demon of anger. The mount of this form is also a mouse.
- Vikata means unusual shaped. The purpose of this form of Ganesha was to destroy the demon of lust. The mount of this form is a peacock.
- Vighnaraja This incarnation of Ganesha destroyed Mama or the demon of ego. Vighnaraja means the remover of all obstacles. His mount is a serpent named Sesha.
- Dhumravarna means smoke coloured and the purpose of this form was to overcome the demon of arrogance, Abhimanasura. The mount of this form is also a mouse.
Similarities With Behram Yazata
Just like Ganesha, Behram Yazad presides over success, victory and triumph, over external foes, as also over internal weaknesses and vices. Both bestows courage and confidence to persons embarking on any new journey or initiative. Just like Ganesha, Behram Yazata is also known by his appellations – Fattehmand, Firuzgar and Dushman Zadaar, meaning victorious and destroyer of enemies.
The name Behram comes from the Avestan term ‘Verethraghna’, meaning success or victory. Avestan Verethraghna is like the Sanskrit term ‘Shatrughna’ or destroyer of enemies. Just as Ganesha is Vighna-harta or destroyer of obstacles, so is Bahram Yazata Dushman Zadaar. Also, just as Ganesha is a very popular name among Indian boys, Behram is as popular a name among Iranian boys. During the Sasanian Empire, there were at least five emperors named Bahram.
Lord Ganesha is not only worshiped by Hindus, but, by Buddhists too. In Buddhism, Ganesha is referred to as Vinayaka (Master / Leader) and is worshiped in countries like Tibet, China, and Japan. His wisdom, knowledge, and ideologies are revered by devotees all over the world.
As Parsi Zoroastrians, we are worshippers of Ahura Mazda, the Lord of Wisdom, and in that same spirit of wisdom, we respect all that Ganesha embodies in terms of wisdom and removing obstacles to assist one and all in making new beginnings!
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