Ganesh Visharjan
Ganesha Chaturthi is one among the Hindu festival that celebrates the rebirth of the great Lord Ganesha. It has been believed that the Lord Ganesha makes his presence on Earth during this festival time. The festival happens for 10 continuous days and one can witness this festival even in countries like Singapore, Canada, Thailand, Burma, Trinidad and Guyana. The last day of the festival is known as the Ganesh Visharjan. During the eleventh day, the Lord Ganesha statue will be immersed into the water body like a lake, river or in a sea. The Lord Ganesha statue would be taken to the water body after completing the final providing of coconuts and flowers.
The process in which the huge statues of Lord Ganesha getting immersed in water after the Ganesha Chathurthi festival is known as Ganesh Visharjan. The statue is taken through the streets and many devotees come along dancing and singing. More than thousand of people would join the street and make the whole atmosphere chanting about Lord Ganesha. Ganesh Maharaj Ki Jai and Ganapati Bappa Morya are the famous slogans that would be chanted by the devotees during the street procession. Ganesh Visharjan is also known as Vinayaka Nimajanam by the Telugu language speaking region people.
What is Ganesh Visharjan?
Every Hindu devotee would worship the Ganesh idol for ten days during the Ganesh Chathurthi and on the eleventh day the idol would be taken through the street to immerse it in the nearby rivers. Years ago people would immerse the Ganesha idol only in the Yamuna or in the Ganga holy river. But now a day the idols are immersed in the closest water bodies that are available to the devotees. The main reason for immersing the Ganesha idol is that, the Hindu God would take the water body as a path to reach the Kailash which is said to be the residence of Lord Ganesha. Devotees from Hyderabad immerse the idols in the Hussain Sagar. The huge Ganesha idols are taken from the trucks by making use of ropes and cranes and they are immersed into the water bodies. The Government of India takes proper precautions every year during the Ganesh Visharjan as many people gather together to celebrate the return of Lord Ganesha to Kailash.
The Ganesh Visharjan takes place in some regions according to the family tradition in which they belong to. Some of them perform Ganesh Visharjan during the 5th, 3rd or the 7th day. The Lord Ganesha idol will be immersed in a bucket or tub with water.
Ganesh Visharjan in Mumbai
Mumbai city in India holds the record of immersing more than 150,000 statues of Lord Ganesha during the Ganesh Visharjan date. The Ganesha Visharjan in Mumbai takes place in a grand manner and the Ganpati Mandals will guide the street procession. Many numbers of musical instruments will be accompanied during the street procession, Tasha and Dhol are some of the common instruments among them. The Ganesh Visharjan would happen one full night and it will be continued till the next day morning.
As Mumbai is a crowded city, people would rush over to witness the Ganesh Visharjan and most probably the roads would get closed and the local people can take the trains to reach the places inside the city. The Ganesh Visharjan is a slow moving procession and the devotees would enjoy every bit of it by dancing and chanting slogans about Lord Ganesha. The huge idols of Lord Ganesha would be carried on trucks. The devotees celebrate the street procession by bursting crackers all the way. The Ganesha idols are immersed in various sizes. Red powder would be thrown all over the devotees during the street procession. People living in Mumbai make use of the Arabian sea to immerse the Ganesha idol during the Ganesh Visharjan day.
Ganesh Visharjan in River Thames
During the year 2005, more than 10,000 people witnessed the first immersion of the great Lord Ganesha idol at the famous river Thames. This marked the beginning of Ganesh Visharjan in the Great Britain. The Shobha Yatra would get started from the Vishwa Hindu Mandir in the Indian-dominated Southall and it would later on proceed towards the Ram Mandir, at the King street. The idol is immersed in the river Thames with the presence of some dignitaries. The Ganesha idols are carved using plaster of Paris and they are brought to Britain from Pune. Helen Deas, the deputy head of the British High commission gave permission for Ganesh Visharjan as it would bring strength and affection between the people from UK and India. Brij Mohan Gupta, the chairman of the Hindu Culture and the Heritage Society made a press release saying that the Lord Ganesha idol was carried on the streets and immersed in the river Thames to get the blessings of Lord Ganesha and to bring world peace.