Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Maharashtra and Vinayagar- Part 6 ( concluding part )

22 9 10

Today being the Chaturdasi day, it is the day of Visarjan ( Immersion ). The Ganesh utsav which starts on Chaturthi day ends on Chaturdasi when the Lord is immersed in water.

The reason for immersion is a way of saying goodbye to the Lord who descends down on earth from Ganesh Lok to partake in the festivities. We invoke Him and He willingly comes and stays with us. So when the time comes, He returns to His abode. This is marked by the ritual of immersion.

In Pune the main immersion procession concludes at the banks of the river Mula near the junction of Lakshmi Road/Tilak Road.

The immersion procession of the five important Ganapatis, known as the manache Ganapati is a visual treat in itself. These five Ganapatis which are among the oldest in Pune, get precedence over hundreds of other Ganapati idols in the procession/immersion function. The first of these five Ganapatis, The Kasba Ganapati leads the procession in Pune and is the first Ganapati to be immersed.

*The Kasba Ganapati immersion procession is unique in many ways. The procession of this Ganapati alone is more than half a Km long and there are series of bands, Silambaattam, folk dances, and what not. It is a treat to hear and watch more than 60 persons beating the huge drums in a highly rythemic fashion .

* The Tambadi Jogeshwari Ganapati comes second after Kasba Ganapati. This is amongst one of the Ganapatis that Tilak had started for the cause of social uprisement. Now the mandal is 107 years old. The idol of this Ganapati is unique that resembles the elephants of Africa and is always kept in a silver palkhi.

* The Guruji Taalim Mandal established in 1887 is the third manacha Ganapati. This was the first mandal in Pune to celebrate its 100 years even before Tilak started Ganesh festival for social awakening.

* The Tulshibaug Ganpati was installed in 1901. As Tulshibaug was the biggest market place in Pune at that time, traders from various places used to come here. It was thought that the message of independence movement could be spread by word of mouth through these traders at that time. This was the first mandal to present a moving tableau way back in 1952.

* The Kesari Wada Ganapati is the fifth Ganapati of honour in Pune. Lokmanya Tilak had established the idol of Ganesh for this mandal in the year 1893.

* While the above 5 ganapatis are immersed in the daytime itself, Sriman Dagdusheth Halwai Ganapati procession takes place after 8 pm as the chariot in which the Ganapati is taken will have beautiful decoration with jewellary which will glitter under thousands of serial bulbs in the night.

The immersion function was initially over by midnight in the earlier years . Now a days with more and more Ganesh pandals coming up every year, it takes two full days for the function to get over. This is inspite of the fact that many pandals choose to have immersion from the 5th day of festival itself( to avoid the rush on the Visarjan day )

Elaborate arrangements are made by the city police for ensuring a smooth procession and many roads are closed for traffic for the whole day today.

We, I, Magesh, Suba, Sughosh and Mahathi had a wonderful view of the procession of the five important Ganapatis today. We left our home at 1030 am and after parking our car about 1 km before Lakshmi Road walked to Lakshmi Road .

As the procession had just started at the other end of Lakshmi Road ( about 3 Km's away ), we decided to walk the stretch to meet the procession on the way.

What we saw then was unbelievable. We have heard of Red Carpet welcome when a VIP visits. Here on Lakshmi Road it was also a Red Carpet Welcome for the Ganapatis coming in that route for immersion , but it was a different kind of Red Carpet .Yes, it was Red Carpet of Rangoli.

In the middle of the road, Red Carpet Rangoli was put for a width of about 3 feet and on both the sides and inside the Carpet area, various excellent designs of flowers etc were drawn in white Rangoli. At junctions of four roads, very big round Rangoli Kolam were drawn ( each Kolam would be about 30 feet diameter and more than 10 different colors had been used in each kolam ).

When we were walking in the Lakshmi Road , we could see this Rangoli taking shape in the last stretch of the road. Hundreds of girls and boys were engaged in this marvellous hand work and it was a visual treat to watch the Rangoli being put with such expertise and precision that when somebody sees this from a distance, he/she will easily take it to be a real Red Carpet with beautiful borders and designs inside it . ஆயிரம் கண் போதாது இதை கண்டுகளிக்க.,

Then came the procession in the order mentioned above. We had excellent darshan of these Ganapatis and enjoyed the drums and other dances. After seeing these five Ganapatis, we walked back for some distance and then took an Auto to our Carpark by another road ( Lakshmi Road was full of people) and returned home by 4 30 pm ( after having lunch in a hotel ).

Today was a very satisfying day as we could see a number of our beloved God Vinayagar idols in eyecatching procession. One must see atleast once in his/her life time , the Visarjan procession in Pune .

During the procession, the following are chanted by the devotees.

(This chanting is to be said in the same manner as we say -
Namah Paarvatipathaye..... HaraHara Mahaadeva )

Ganapati Bappa ...... Moriya ( Oh father / Lord Ganesha.... Moriya* )

MangalMurthy......... Moriya* ( That which purifies both internally as well as externally is auspicious (mangal). An image bringing auspiciousness is thus Mangalmurti )

Pudhchya Varshi ...... Lavkar yaa ( come again speedily next year ).

* Moriya Gosavi was a 14th century saint of the Ganapatya sect. He was a great devotee of Ganesha. The word Moriya in "Ganapati Bappa Moriya" is attributed to him. This depicts the inseparable relationship between God and a devotee."


Ganapati Bappa ........ Moriya
MangalMurthy......... Moriya
Pudhchya Varshi ..... Lavkar yaa


OM GANESHAYA NAMAHA

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