Ganesh Festival – 2016

The Ganesh Festival is celebrated by Hindus to honour the birth of Lord Ganesha. The festival starts on Ganesh Chaturthi and ends on Ananth Chaturdashi.  According to the Hindu calendar, Ganesha was born on the
fourth day of the first fortnight which is known as Shukla Paksha in the month of Bhadrapad. This day usually comes in the month of August or September.

The festive celebrations are performed by families at home, by people at their places of work and in public places. Devotees bring idols of Lord Ganesh made of mud, clay or plaster of  paris (pop).The lord is worshipped for day and a half,
3 days, 5/6/7 days, 10/11days or 21 days depending on place and tradition. Some people consider last day of festival based on mahurat of Gauri visarjan which could come on 5/6/7 day of the festival and Ananth Chaturdashi falls on 10th or 11th day. On the last day of the festival, the idols are immersed in sea, river or a lake. Now-a-days artificial ponds  are also made for the immersion.

This festival is celebrated across India. It is most popular in state of Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Andra Pradesh and Telangana. In Maharashtra, Mumbai and Konkan region becomes the heart and soul during this festival.
The extended regions of Mumbai such as Kalyan-Dombivli, Bhiwandi, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar also celebrate this festival in a grand way.

As I stay in Kalyan, every year I visit most of the Ganesh mandals in Kalyan (West) area along with my family. This year we visited some Ganesh mandals
in Shivaji Chowk,  Tilak Chowk, Parnaka, Shubhedar Wada, Beturkarpada and Khadakpada.

Here are some photos captured during our visit to various mandals and Ganesh
visarjan at Ganesh Ghat.