Ganesh Chaturthi: Special aarti performed at Shreemant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati Mandir

As the ten-day-long celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi began today a special aarti was performed at Shreemant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati Mandir in Pune.

As the ten-day-long celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi began today a special aarti was performed at Shreemant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati Mandir in Pune. The deity of Lord Ganesha was incepted by Shri Dagdusheth Halwai and his wife Lakshmibai way back when they lost their only son to the plague epidemic and hence it is called Shreemant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati, the temple authorities said.

Every year, the Ganpati festival is celebrated with deep faith and enthusiasm at Shreemant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati Mandir, not only by Dagdusheth's family but by the entire neighbourhood. Tatyasaheb Godse, then in his early youth, was a zestful participant in the celebrations, they said. In later years, when Lokmanya Tilak made Ganpati festival a public celebration to bring people together for the freedom struggle, Dagdusheth Ganpati became the most respected and popular idol in Pune. In 1952, the responsibility of organizing the festival at Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati temple officially fell upon Tatyasaheb and his group of friends.

Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated every year with great fervour with thousands of devotees thronging temples and pandals for a darshan of the Lord. The Ganesh Chaturthi festival, which falls in the Bhadrapada month of the Hindu calendar, marks the birthday of Lord Ganesha, son of Shiva and Parvati. Also known as Vinayak Chaturthi or Ganeshotsav, the festival is characterised by the installation of Ganesha idols at home and in gilded pandals (make-shift stage).

The 10-day festival ends with elaborate immersion processions on Anant Chaturdashi. (ANI)

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