Ganesh Chathurthi, one of the biggest and most auspicious festivals in Hindu mythology, is on Friday. It is an 11-day festival that celebrates the birth of Lord Ganesha, son of Lord Shiva and deity Pravati. The celebration begins on the day of Chaturthi. On this day, devotees get Lord Ganesha’s idol at home, perform pujas, make offerings, worship God and then on the tenth day, immerse the idol in the water in the form of visarajan. 

Lord Ganesha is the God of peace, prosperity and wisdom. Performing his puja can eliminate all the hurdles from the path.

History and Significance

According to Hindu mythology, Goddess Parvati created Lord Ganesha using sandalwood paste and added her blood into the making. Once he emerged out as a human, she asked baby Ganesh to guard the entrance while she took a bath. This is when Lord Shiva arrived at the entrance and told Ganesh that he wanted to visit Goddess Parvati.

Unperturbed of the fact that Lord Shiva was his father, Ganesha refused to allow him to pass through. This made Lord Shiva angry and he severed the child’s head. When Goddess Parvati realised what had happened, she was heartbroken. 

Seeing Goddess Parvati overwhelmed with grief, Lord Shiva promised to bring baby Ganesh back to life. He instructed his followers to search for the head of the first living creature they could find. However, they could only find a baby elephant’s head. That is how Lord Ganesha came back to life with the head of an elephant. This is why he is also known as Gajanan.

Story of Ganesh Visarjan

The 11-day Ganesh Chaturthi celebration concludes by immersing Lord Ganesha’s idol in the water, known as Visarjan. However, there is a back story to this process.

It is believed that Lord Ganesha returns to Kailash Pravat on this day to join his parents Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. The celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi also denotes the significance of the cycle of birth, life and death. It is believed that when the idol of the Ganesha is taken out for immersion, it also takes away with it the various obstacles of the house and these obstacles are destroyed along with the visarjan.