Ganesh Chaturthi or Anant Chaturdashi is an occasion to celebrate the existence of lord Ganesh, the son of god Shiva and goddess Parvati. However, it is the festival of Hindus but people of all religions take part in Ganesh Mahotsav. This festival lasts for 11 days and devotees observe it with pomp & show.
Many minds want to inquire if pilgrims revere this deity intensely, why his visarjan (immersion) takes place every year.
The answer to this question lies in the history. Let’s take a look of what it states in support of Ganpati Visarjan.
To integrate: Do you remember famous freedom fighter Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak? Yes! It’s the very personality that gave rise to this tradition. Actually, it was the high-time for showing integrity to fight against British rule. And what else would be the good reason that a religious celebration to gather? So, he urged to restore the Peshwas’ tradition of celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi.
This announcement did magic and people began to congregate in huge numbers. Dr. Narendra Dabholkar (a famous Maharashtrian Socialist & anti-superstition activist) had a real story of that time about visarjan.
It goes, once the carnival was on and Brahmans were taking Ganesh’s idol for installation. A huge rally was organized following the urge of Lokmanya Tilak. At that time, untouchability was prevalent. Low caste people were disallowed to touch holy idol.
A low caste (cobbler) was witnessing the holy rally. He could not stop himself from taking blessing of lord Ganesh. He touched the feet of the idol. Watching it, Brahmin community got angry. Tilak, himself, was a Brahmin. He wanted to remove the barrier of caste system between integrity. So, he wisely put a proposal of immersing the idol in the sea.
He said, “Why don’t we drown lord’s idol if he is polluted by his touching. He will take away the evils or bad luck with him.” The community welcomed his idea and followed what he said.
Since then, this trend became a tradition.
To worship formless divinity in idol’s form: There is another reason behind this tradition. Hindus believe that god is ‘nirgun’ (shapeless). Human being feels it easy to pay trust to someone that has form. But with no face, how could we develop trust on his power?
This is why he is carved ‘sagun’ (form) to provide a face. This is how the divinity got its face. People search priest online and offline now to carry on the famous tradition across the country and worldwide.
The idol is carved with the clay of pond. During procession, his statue is worshipped with turmeric, vermillion and flowers. All these are boon for the aquatic animals, like tortoise, fish. They get organic substances for growth. It’s the only reason, only the clay should be carved into idol but not the Plaster Of Paris (POP) or plastic material.