Ganesh Chaturthi is the festival of Maharashtra. On the fourth day of the bright half of Bhadrapad, Ganpati is brought home under a cloth to shouts of "Morya", installed, and kept for a day and a half, five, seven or ten days. Every lane has its public mandal with a towering image, lights and loudspeakers. On Anant Chaturdashi the images go to the sea in processions that last through the night and into the next day.
The story
The household worship is ancient; the public festival is not. In Pune in 1892 Bhausaheb Rangari set up a public Ganpati, and the next year Lokmanya Tilak took up the idea in his newspaper Kesari, as a way for people to gather when political meetings were banned. Within a decade it had spread across the Marathi country.
The eight self-manifested Ganpatis of the Pune region, the Ashtavinayak, are older by far, as is the family shrine of the Peshwas.
गणपती बाप्पा मोरया, मंगलमूर्ती मोरया! पुढच्या वर्षी लवकर या!
Ganpati Bappa Morya, auspicious one, Morya! Come early next year!
The cry at arrival and at immersion
How it is kept
- PratishthapanaThe clay image is installed at home in a decorated makhar.
- Ukadiche modakSteamed rice-flour dumplings filled with coconut and jaggery, twenty-one of them.
- AratiMorning and evening, beginning with "Sukhakarta Dukhaharta", composed by Samarth Ramdas.
- GauriMidway through, Gauri is brought home for three days and sent off with Ganpati.
- VisarjanProcessions with dhol-tasha and lezim; in Pune the five Manache Ganpati lead.
Why this date
Ganesh Chaturthi is the Chaturthi of the bright half of Bhadrapad, on the day it is present at midday.
Ganesh Chaturthi in other years
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Monday | |
| 2027 | Friday | |
| 2028 | Wednesday | |
| 2029 | Tuesday | |
| 2030 | Sunday | |
| 2031 | Saturday |
More Marathi festivals
24 AugustGokulashtami and Dahi Handiगोकुळाष्टमी · दहीहंडी
7 OctoberDurga Ashtamiदुर्गाष्टमी
17 AugustNarali Purnima and Raksha Bandhanनारळी पौर्णिमा · रक्षाबंधन
8 OctoberKhande Navamiखंडेनवमी
18 JulyGuru Purnimaगुरुपौर्णिमा
9 OctoberDasaraदसरा
Where to see Ganesh Chaturthi
In Maharashtra
- Lalbaugcha Raja, MumbaiMaharashtraThe most visited Ganpati in the country, with queues of a day and more.
- Dagadusheth Halwai Ganpati, PuneMaharashtraThe city's richest and best-loved, in a different palace each year.
- Kasba Ganpati, PuneMaharashtraThe town deity of Pune and first of the five Manache Ganpati.
- Girgaon Chowpatty, MumbaiMaharashtraThe beach where the largest images are immersed.
- Siddhivinayak, MumbaiMaharashtraThe temple at Prabhadevi, open through the night.
Across India
- HyderabadTelanganaThe Khairatabad Ganesh and the immersion at Hussain Sagar.
- PanajiGoaChavath, Goa's biggest Hindu festival, kept at ancestral homes.
- PillaiyarpattiTamil NaduA rock-cut Ganesha sixteen centuries old.