Ganesh Chathurthi

Ganesha is the Hindu god who helps one to overcome all obstacles. He is generally the first deity approached in any religious ritual. He is the son of Shiva (the destroyer) and Parvati. In the West he is known as the ‘Elephant God’ because he is the god with an elephant’s head.

There are many legends that explain Ganesha’s unusual appearance. One has it that he was born with five elephant heads; another, that he was beheaded by his father in a fit of rage who then replaced his human head with an elephant’s head at his mother‘s pleading. In still another legend Vishnu replaced his human head with an elephant’s head after Shani (Saturn) incinerated the baby’s head with his evil eye.

There are too many such legends to recount here. Suffice it to say, Ganesha is considered to be a happy, carefree god. He is intelligent and is said to have penned the divinely inspired Mahabharata, as he was said to be the fastest scribe. Once in a contest his father contrived, Ganesha and his brother (Subramania) were to race around the world. Subramania dutifully took off and circled the globe whereas Ganesha simply walked around his parents. He was declared the winner.

Today was the first day of the Ganesha festival. I have never seen the streets of Chennai so empty of traffic. As we breezed through the city, we encountered crowds of people clustered around major and minor Ganesha temples (of which there are many in this city). All around the various festival sites stalls were set up selling garlands and small stylized umbrellas made of brightly colored paper.

An annual festival honors Ganesha, starting on Ganesh Chathurthi, which typically falls in late August or early September. The festival begins with people bringing in terracotta idols of Ganesha, symbolizing Ganesha's visit. The festival culminates on the day of Ananta Chaturdashi, when representations of Ganesha are immersed in a river, lake, or ocean to chants of “Ganapati Bappa morya; pudchya varshi lavkar a…” (Ganesha, father of mine; come again next year).

Peter Koelliker; pkoelliker8@yahoo.com