Ganesh Chaturthi is a major festival of Maharashtra, where thousands of gigantic
idols of lord Ganesh are immersed by huge processions of worshipers shouting,
Ganpati Bapa Morya. With time, the festival has now gained popularity all over
India, with celebrations in south India and Gujarat being no less spectacular
than those of Maharashtra. The year 1893 brought a major change in the
celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi. It was in this year that Lokmanya Tilak, an
Indian nationalist, social reformer and freedom fighter reformed the annual
Ganesh festival, from being a private celebration into a grand public event.
Till 1893, Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations were a private affair, not done on a
public scale. People used to celebrate it in a traditional manner. It was
Lokmanya Tilak who popularized Ganesh Chaturthi as a national festival, after
visualizing its cultural importance. The reason for this was to enhance the
sense of belongingness as well as togetherness among the citizens. It was also
done with an aim to build a new grassroots unity between the Brahmins and the
non-Brahmins.
History
Ganesh Chaturthi was an important festival during the Peshwa rule in Maharashtra.
It acquired a more organized form all over India during the Swaraj movement,
when Lord Ganesha was chosen as a rallying point for protest against British
rule, because of his wide appeal as "the God for Everyman". One of Tilak's
strongest movements to evoke nationalism, through religious passions, was the
organization of Ganesh Chaturthi in Maharashtra, which inspired feelings of
Hindu unity in the state.
Bal Gangadhar Tilak was the first person to install large public images of
Ganesha in pavilions and he was the one who established the practice of
submerging all the public images on the tenth day of the festival. Ganesh
Chaturthi soon started seeing community participation and involvement, in the
form of cultural events. It also served as a meeting point for common people of
all castes and communities, at a time when social and political gatherings were
forbidden by the British Rule. |
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