Ganesh Chaturthi 2026

Ganesh Chaturthi marks the birth of Lord Ganesha, the elephant-headed son of Shiva and Parvati. As Vighnaharta — remover of obstacles — Ganesha is invoked at the start of every new endeavour, journey and ritual.

The festival was transformed into a public celebration by Lokmanya Tilak in 1893 as a way of bringing communities together against colonial rule. Today it is the largest community festival in Maharashtra and is widely celebrated across India and the diaspora.

The ten-day worship culminates in Anant Chaturdashi, when the murti is carried to a river or sea for visarjan — a reminder of the impermanence of form and the dissolution of all matter into the formless.

1. On Chaturthi morning, bathe and wear clean clothes. Install the Ganesha murti on a decorated chowki facing east or north.
2. Perform pranapratishtha — invocation of life into the murti — with the appropriate Vedic mantras.
3. Offer durva grass (21 blades), red flowers, modaks, coconut, jaggery and a ghee lamp daily.
4. Recite the Ganapati Atharvashirsha and the Sankashti Ganesh stotra each morning and evening through the festival.
5. Offer aarti morning and evening, ringing the bell and circumambulating the murti.
6. On Anant Chaturdashi, perform the visarjan — carry the murti in procession to a river or sea and immerse it with chants of "Ganpati Bappa Morya, pudchya varshi laukar ya".