My father is what you call a true and proper history geek. The earliest conversations I remember
having with him are of the history of India, the history of words, history of daily objects;
essentially, conversations centring around the history of any and everything. Naturally, it was
through my father I first learned the history of Ganesh Chaturthi.
The British Raj was very detrimental to India. The detriment was evident through the more
obvious consequences like poverty, heavy duties on imports, segregation in public spaces, lack
of Indian representation in the Indian government itself, and so on. But the less apparent
damage was seen in the lack of unity and brotherhood amongst our own people. This was first
noticed by Lokmanya Tilak. Tilak took inspiration from Javale, a Pune citizen, who set up the
first public Ganapati idol and used it to mitigate this problem.
He came up with the ingenious idea of utilising the Ganapati festival as a reason for social
gatherings within the community. Javale was unable to convert the festival into a large-scale
community event and in his time, it was restricted to family-specific celebrations. Tilak, however,
transformed this small-scale event into a magnificent public spectacle that came to hold great
significance for ending societal strife. He introduced the concepts of having big idols, holding
events that encouraged displays of talents like dance and song; and Visarjan, or the
submergence of the idol on the tenth or eleventh day of the festival.
What was most fascinating was how Brahmins and non-Brahmins, the poor and the rich, Hindu
and Muslims, all people seemed to come together to celebrate the Amit or incomparable lord.
Tilak’s efforts to promote and spread brotherhood and national pride were hugely successful.
Knowing the enchanting historical significance of this festival has made this celebration of lord
Ganesha very close to my heart. But in the present times, I am saddened to have to highlight
the dark side of this auspicious event. Political parties use it as an excuse for promotions and to
extort money from locals to set up grand mandals. The recent incidents of communal and
religious violence in the name of God further tarnish the sanctity of this festival. It all leads me to
question- is this manner of celebrating something that Tilak would’ve been proud of starting?
Although Tilak isn’t here to answer my question, any layman can tell that it’s a blatant no. So,
what’s the solution? How do we reinstate the golden days of Ganesh Chaturthi?
For starters, we should go back and refer to our history books. There we will clearly see the
effort that went into making this event one of unity and brotherhood, not separatism. If we once
again learn to embrace the unity that this event strives to inspire amongst us, we can make it
enjoyable and accessible to all. Secondly, we will see that this festival is about the simple
celebration of our elephant God, a celebration of being good and charitable followers of Him.
The greed our politicians displayed in minting out money does not reflect the good karma our
lord compels us to practice. If we decide to celebrate it with an honest and humble heart, we not
only make the event successful in its purpose but also practice the teachings that our lord instills
in us. Lastly, and most importantly, finding ways to keep old traditions and values of communal
togetherness alive and integrating innovative principles of today can help make it an event that
is equally important to all generations to come. This ensures that even after many years, each
and every person will hold the same joy and excitement in anticipation of Ganapati Bappa
coming home.