Monsoon · 14 September 2026 – 25 September 2026
Ganesh Chaturthi
गणेशचतुर्थी · The remover of obstacles arrives
About
ॐ गं गणपतये नमः
Ganesh Chaturthi celebrates the birth of Ganesha, remover of obstacles. His image is installed in homes and pandals for ten days and immersed on Anant Chaturdashi to the cry of “Ganpati Bappa Morya — come again soon next year.”
Origin
The story of Ganesha’s birth appears in the Shiva, Skanda, Brahmavaivarta, and Ganesha Puranas, and Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturthi is held to be the day of his appearing. The public form of the festival grew in Maharashtra under the Peshwas, who made Ganeshotsav a state occasion. In 1893 Lokmanya Tilak moved it out of the household and into public pandals, turning it into a means of bringing people together and stirring the sense of freedom.
Why it is celebrated
Ganesha is worshipped first: no undertaking, wedding, housewarming, journey, or book begins without invoking him, for he presides over intelligence, discernment, and good fortune. His very form is instruction — wide ears to listen more, small eyes for concentration, a large belly to digest all that comes, and a mouse for a mount to say that small desires must be reined in. The ten days gather a neighbourhood into one courtyard, and immersing a clay image teaches that what arrives will return; attachment dissolves and only the feeling remains.
The katha
Once Parvati went to bathe and there was no one to keep the door. From her sandal and turmeric paste she shaped a beautiful boy, breathed life into him, and told him to let no one in. Shiva returned in time and the boy barred his way. In the quarrel over who he was and what right he had, Shiva’s anger rose and his trident took the child’s head. When Parvati learned of it her grief and fury were like the end of the world; she said the boy must live or nothing would. Shiva sent his ganas to bring the head of the first creature they met facing north — it was a young elephant. With that head the child rose again, and Shiva made him Ganapati, lord of his hosts, with the boon that he be worshipped before any undertaking.
Stories & episodes
Ganesha’s stories are stories of intelligence prevailing. When Vyasa needed a scribe for the Mahabharata, Ganesha broke off his own tusk for a pen and wrote without pause — and so is called Ekadanta. In the contest to circle the earth, Kartikeya set off on his peacock while Ganesha walked around his parents and said his world was right here, winning the mango. When the moon mocked his form he was cursed, and on relenting Ganesha ruled only that the moon must not be looked at on Ganesh Chaturthi night. Kubera, proud of his wealth, invited him to dine, and Ganesha ate the whole treasury and was still unfed — until Shiva offered a handful of roasted rice and satisfied him, teaching that the feeling is the feast. The breaking of his tusk in the encounter with Parashurama belongs to the same cycle.
Rituals & customs
A clay image consecrated and worshipped with the sixteen offerings; durva grass, shami leaves, red flowers, and sindoor; modaks, laddoos, puranpoli, and coconut as prasad; the Atharvashirsha, Ganapati Stotra, and the aarti “Sukhkarta Dukhharta”; aarti each day and immersion in procession on Anant Chaturdashi.
Where it is celebrated
Foremost in Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Andhra, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu; Mumbai’s Lalbaugcha Raja and Pune’s Dagdusheth are the best known; kept at home as Vinayaka Chaturthi in the north.