Ganesha
Ganesh Chaturthi
Ganesha comes home for ten days, from sthapana to visarjan.
Tithi: Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturthi
In the simplest words
Ganesh ji comes home! For up to ten days a clay Ganesha is our guest, with modaks, aarti and music, and then we walk him to the water to say 'come again next year'.
The story & purpose
Parvati shaped a boy from sandal paste to guard her door; Shiva, refused entry, struck his head, then restored him with an elephant's and named him first among all who are worshipped. His birth tithi brings him home as the year's dearest guest.
The rest of the story
Tilak made the festival public in 1893 Maharashtra and turned a household puja into ten days of community life and music.
Ten days later the visarjan returns the clay to water. Arrival, honoured stay, letting go: the whole of devotion, rehearsed annually.
What is done
Sthapana & pran pratishtha
The murti is installed in a chosen muhurat and invoked with life.
Daily puja & modak
Morning-evening aarti; 21 modaks and durva grass as his dearest offerings.
Visarjan
On the 1.5th, 3rd, 5th, 7th or 10th day, the farewell: Ganpati Bappa Morya, come early next year.
Best timings
Sthapana and puja in madhyahna (midday), the hour of his birth.
Exact muhurat varies by city and tradition; for the precise hour, consult a local panchang for your location.
Worth knowing
Tradition skips moon-sighting on this night, because the moon once laughed at Ganesha.
Mumbai's Lalbaugcha Raja darshan lines run into lakhs daily.
Eco-murtis of unbaked clay and plant colours are reclaiming the visarjan. They dissolve without trace, as the rite intends.