Ganpati Festival sights and sounds
exploRED
Pune, India
In my Indian yoga home of Pune, one of the most well-known
beloved Ganesh. An elaborate procession and ceremony brought
of all Hindu deities is the elephant-headed god Ganesh, or
the deity to his honored place to stay for the duration of the
Ganpati, as he is fondly called in the Maharashtran metropolis.
festivities. The air was filled with the sound of drums and all
Revered as the remover of obstacles, Ganpati has endured
around us were colorful floats and beautiful large-scale rangoli
considerable challenges such as the wrath of his father Shiva
patterns drawn straight onto the streets using fine-colored sand.
when the young Ganpati forbade him from disturbing the
Meanwhile, in every home in Pune, special altars were erected,
sleep of his mother, Parvati. Enraged, Lord Shiva cut off
occupying half the living room, where aarti or more intimate
Ganpati’s head and replaced it with that of an elephant’s, as the
worship and devotion took place several times a day.
story goes. Ganpati is evident in almost every street corner and home,
brought to the river, immersed in its waters, and returned to
where his statues and images are worshipped daily with
the mother god. I braved the heavy throng of Indian devotees
offerings of flowers, food and candles, not unlike Filipinos’
bearing their gods and final offerings; the air was thick with the
devotion to the Sto. Niño. But once a year this religious fervor
scent of incense and flowers, dense with the sounds of chants
culminates in a 10-day celebration called the Ganpati Festival,
and prayers and a visual cacophony of color against candle
and in September 2011, I was fortunate enough to have been
light—all so spiritually intoxicating even for a Filipina Catholic
there to celebrate with my Pune family.
like me. There are many things amazing and breathtaking about
Special altars called mandals were erected along the streets by society patrons to house karwahe-sized figures of the
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At the end of 10 days as ritual dictates, all Ganpatis were
India, but none more than the unconditional spiritual devotion so strongly held in their hearts.
TEXT AND PHOTOS BY POPI LAUDICO
A 10-day festival for a beloved god culminates in a rich and spiritually intoxicating river procession
2/7/13 8:08:00 PM