Ganesha Chaturthi Festival

Yesterday was Ganesha Chaturthi Festival! Ganesha is the elephant-headed god. He is the god of auspicious beginnings and good fortune. He is the son of Shiva and Parvati. He likes sweets and his bahon (animal companion) is a rat. He also just so happens to be my favorite Hindu god. The Ganesha Festival marks the beginning of the Hindu festival season in India. Legend goes that Ganesh is the first god to be worshiped each year because when his head was cut off and replaced with an elephant head (in a misunderstanding), his mother Parvati was very upset and crying so Shiva promised that Ganesha would be worshipped before all the other gods. The Hyderabad Ganesh festival is one of the biggest in all of India. It is a big deal, people come from all over. The festival lasts for 10 days. They make enormous statues of Ganesha and then on the last day of the festival, they immerse the idols in Hussain Sagar, the lake in the middle of the city. Huge crowds gather to see the statues being submerged. Because of security reasons, we are not allowed to go see this happen.


Yesterday there were Ganesh festivities all over campus. At the SIP House we had a small shrine set up for Ganesha. The kitchen staff also gave us prasad. Prasad is the blessed food that is leftover after the god has taken his fill of the offerings that he receives. It is very auspicious to eat some of it. There were also larger idols of Ganesha at the Student Canteen and the Dance Auditorium. When we went to the canteen, we were given coconut milk and sweets. One of the boys in charge there gave us cum cum for our foreheads (the red powder that makes the bindi). Then we poured a bit of rice covered in turmeric on our heads and threw the rest at the idol of Ganesha. The boy told us that the rice on our heads was very auspicious and said that we had to go see the moon that night because there is a story about Krishna and Ganesh and that somehow seeing the moon with rice on your head will bless you. He also took our picture with the idol - very embarrassing. It was so much fun to celebrate Ganesh festival.