Category Archives: Ganesh Festival in Uttar Pradesh
Ganpati fervour grips Lucknow
Ganpati fervour has caught on in the City of Nawabs and for the first time, the 10-day festival is being celebrated in Lucknow on a large scale.
Ganpati pandals have been put up at over two-dozen place sin the state capital and the biggest of them is at the Ramadhin Utsav Bhavan.
The Ganpati idol, dressed spectacularly in a silk attire embellished with traditional gold and silver jewellery, is placed in a pandal decorated in yellow.
Mr Satish Agarwal, general secretary of the Shri Ganesh Prakatya Samiti that has organised the pandal, says that the footfalls of devotees are increasing by the hour. “There are about one lakh people who visited the pandal for Ganpati darshan and we are now holding Bhajan programmes every evening after aarti. We have also got people from Mumbai to prepare modaks because there are no traditionally prepared modaks available in Lucknow as yet.’
At another Ganpati pandal organised by Sai Sewa ashram, the idol installed is an eco-friendly one and use of plastic products, including carry bags, is banned inside the pandal.
Suresh Prajapati, an idol maker, says, “This year we hade more orders for Ganesh statues than for Durga idols. For us, this time of the year is spent in making Durga idols but this year we are working double shifts to cope with orders for Ganesha idols. We have orders for Ganesh is different sizes — from an eight-inch statue to six- and eight-foot statues. The maximum number of buyers is those who bring Ganpati home.”
Rajiv Sharma, a software engineer, who started bringing Ganpati home for three days since last year, admits that he was inspired by visuals of Ganpati festival in Maharashtra. ”I thought that in north India we worship Ganpati before doing an auspicious work so we should also bring him home. We bring him home for three days but we want to celebrate the festival on a bigger scale from next year,” he says.
Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/east/ganpati-fervour-grips-lucknow-496
Industrial City – Kanpur, welcomes Lord Ganesha with festive fervour
Those who believe that Mumbai is the only city which glows blindingly with religious fervour on Ganesh Chaturthi had to witness the scale and intensity of celebrations in the industrial town of Kanpur on Wednesday to set their beliefs right.
With various dedicated committees having sprung up over the past few years, as many as 600 small and big tableaux were set up on the first day of Ganesh Utsav in the city.
These would, over the coming days, witness prayers and devotion offered to Ganesha, as well as cultural programmes amid the ringing notes of ‘Ganpati Bappa Morya.’
But apart from the big statues placed in these tableaux, smaller forms of the Lord were also welcomed in thousands of city homes. Idol makers from the city said the tradition has spreadover the years, and this year’s celebrations are perhaps unprecedented.
The fact that the city is home to more than 2000 Maharashtrian families is largely responsible for this trend. Talking to TOI, Prakash Kharwardkar, the organiser of Sarvajanik Shree Ganesh Utsav Samiti, said the purpose of celebrating Ganesh Utsav in a big way is not only traditional or religious.
“We are trying to get the culture of Maharashtra to the north and facilitate integration in the spirit of our country’s ideals,” he said.
While hurried workers were seen trying to give a finishing touch to the ‘pandals’, local shopkeepers are busy putting up attractive stalls outside temples and in markets. Thousands of devotees thronged the popular Ganesh temples at Suterkhana, Shivalaya, and Bithoor on the occasion.
Long queues were witnessed outside the temples since early morning for the Lord’s darshan on the auspicious occasion. The beelines of the barefoot devotees were energized every now and then by chants of ‘Ganpati Bappa Morya.’
In the evening, people thronged the Ganpati pandals where Maha-Aarti was performed with Bhajan Sandhya and playing with gulal.
The district administration meanwhile has geared up for the occasion with as many as 500 civil police and PAC personnel looking after the security at pandals. Fire stations have also been asked to stay alert throughout the day and be prepared for exigencies.
Lucknow residents write letters to Lord Ganesha, seek fulfilment of their wishes
Hundreds of Lucknow-based devotees have written a letter to Lord Ganesha to seek fulfilment of their wishes during the ongoing Ganesh Utsav festival.
There was a beeline of devotees standing in a queue to pay obeisance before the deity and to offer their letter of wish-list. Devotees believe that Lord Ganesha would fulfill their wishes.
“We have written this letter thinking that, at present times as we have wishes and we face difficulties in our life, and he is our leading deity, whom we worship on all auspicious occasions, so we are hopeful that our wishes will be fulfilled,” said Neelam, a devotee.
The festival is celebrated with enthusiasm and fervour across India, but the uniqueness of celebration in this city is that people irrespective of their caste, age, and sex come out and pray to the holy almighty and seek his blessings.
Organisers of Ganesha Utsav believe that Lord Ganesha fulfils everyone’s wishes if they write their wishes on the letter and offer it to the deity during this festive season.
“The wish list that is kept here and all those devotees who write their wishes in it and offer it in our temple, we believe that it is surely fulfilled by the deity,” said Satish Aggarwal, organiser.
The annual celebration falls between the months of August and September.
It marks the birthday of Lord Ganesha as numerous rituals are performed while a colourful statue of the portly Hindu god marks the event.
This year the ten-day long festival began on September 01.
This festival is celebrated in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Gujarat and Maharashtra, where hundreds of thousands of Ganesha idols are worshipped during the festival and later immersed in free flowing water. (ANI)
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Lucknow welcomes Lord Ganesha
Amidst chants of ‘Ganapati Bappa Moryaa’, devotees welcomed Lord Ganesha on the first day of Ganesh Chaturthi on Thursday. The deity was brought to the puja pandals where rituals of staphana were performed.
Elaborating more on the Ganesh Utsav, DK Joshi said, “Idols are carried from the market with their faces covered amidst chanting and the sound of cymbals. By the evening, the idol is seated in majestic splendour in the puja premises. Ganesha is installed as the omnipotent one who takes precedence over all others at a place where the family members can gather around.”
He said that, the priest then performs a ritual by which the idol is said to be imbued with life. Next follows the traditional puja wherein the deity is incarnated through a smaller terracotta idol. After this the Ganapati Aarti is sung and modak (special sweet item made for the Lord) offered to the deity.
