Ganapati Bappa Morya:
An important festival honours Ganesha for ten days starting with Ganesh Chaturthi, typically in late August or early September. This festival culminates on the day of Ananta Chaturdashi when images (murtis) of Ganesha are immersed in the most convenient body of water.
Hindus celebrate the Ganapati festival with great devotional fervour. While it is most popular in the state of Maharashtra, it is performed all over India. The festival assumes huge proportions in Mumbai and in surrounding belt of Ashtavinayaka temples. On the last day of the festival, millions of people of all ages descend onto the streets leading up to the sea, dancing and singing to the rhythmic accompaniment of drums and cymbals.
In 1893, Lokmanya Tilak transformed the annual Ganesha festival from private family celebrations into a grand public event. He did so “to bridge the gap between the Brahmins and the non-Brahmins and find an appropriate context in which to build a new grassroots unity between them” in his nationalistic strivings against the British in Maharashtra. Thus, Tilak chose Ganesha as a rallying point for Indian protest against British rule because of Ganesha’s wide appeal as “the god for Everyman.” Tilak was the first to install large public images of Ganesha in pavilions, and he established the practice of submerging all the public images on the tenth day.[wiki]
So…one could say that Ganapati was quite mutinous. 🙂 Extra celebrating is in order, I think. What are you doing today? Over the past three years, I’ve found that when some of you describe childhood memories of holidays which were important in your family, it’s as sweet as this. Speaking of sweet, eat a ladoo for me, would you? Thanks.
Ganesh Chaturdhi is also nice because in general, Lord Ganesh looks so much funnier/cooler than the other gods around.
I’m in Delhi and nothing’s happening. I guess we’re just not very mutinous here 🙁
i’ll still eat a ladoo in solidarity though!
Ganesh Chaturthi is a wonderful festival, and particularly well celebrated down South.
Its a shame that Bal Gangadhar used the festival both as a nationalistic movement, as well as to forment Hindu / Mulsim disunity. Things might have turned out for the better had Gokhale’s brand of nationalism won out over Tilak’s.
Very nice post, Anna, with lots of interesting themes, especially the combination – Mutiny + Food!
Ganesha is totally the People’s God, just as you say. He is of course, also ‘zoomorphic’ (with the elephant trunk) from having been extra mutinous and enraging his father Shiva, losing his own head in the process but gaining the grafted elephant head.
He is also exceedingly fond of sweets in the mythology, and I remember a lot of Modaks on Ganesh Chaturthi!
It’s not celebrated quite the same way elsewhere in India as it is in Maharashtra – where huge processions are taken out, especially in Bombay (Mumbai), with the ‘idol’ being immersed in the sea with a lot of celebratory enthusiasm, which often turns quite raucous, and competitive between neighborhoods too. Youtube has plenty of clips.
A very typical and reminiscent (Maharashtrian) Ganesh puja set-up, with the modaks on the plantain leaf. You don’t eat them before he has symbolically eaten them – and here’s an artist’s conception of what that might look like!
Sigh. I went to the Ganesh Temple in Flushing this morning with my mother. The idol was covered in rock sugar (last year it was baby bananas), and was beautiful. My experience, however, was far from beautiful. There was, like, a real live bouncer.
That’s sad. I guess it just tells you that the community has gotten big enough now that mega-events like this have the demographics, psychology, and crowd dynamics of ‘back home’.
You said it, bro!
Anna, In light of recent study completed by the Archaeological survey of India, which concluded that Rama the purported Hindu God never existed, is it appropriate to commemorate another mythological figure from the same canon?
btw, i humbly suggest a post on the rama [real or imaginary] issue?
don’t know why you chose to use the word purported. rama is a hindu god.
there is a difference between religious festivals commemorating a god and making economic and policy decisions based on these beliefs. i can totally understand the frustration of the asi, after being constantly hassled all these years by a sequence of messes, first babri masjid and now this. all that said, it was probably not the smartest thing to have filed an affidavit claiming that the concept of ram is just a myth. there might be other good technical and logical reasons not to support the sethusamudram project.
and all this for rama, who noble though he might have been in legend, always chose submissiveness over standing up for principle, be it going into exile, or standing up for his wife.
Yes, Anna! In the light of the scientific fact that cancer tumors contain dihydrogen monoxide, is it appropriate for children across the US to drink it everyday?
What are you gonna do, Anna. To hindus, you are not hindu enough. To christians, you are not christian enough.
As a followup, Anna, given that the Death Cap mushroom has been shown to cause severe liver poisoning, is it appropriate to talk about stir-fry recipes with portabellas and shiitakes from the same canon of mushrooms.
I also humbly request a post made of metal with a basketball hoop [with or without net] on it.
pingpong, how dare you equate ganesha to a portabella and rama to a death cap mushroom? rama is the truffle of the pantheon, and ganesha is certainly at least a morel. mmm, morels.
My bad. Enjoy your morsels of morels. But beware of the false morels.
but thank goodness for the morel police who will keep me honest. morel of the story: don’t truffle indian feathers.
So he stood up for his wife but it wasn’t on principle?
At least she wasn’t stood up by him.
Ganesha on the other hand was ready to travel – he always carried his trunk with him. He once walked into a bar and the bartender asked him “Why the long face?”.
Somebody trying to poison the thread even before the first 10 comments were made. Wow.
Anyway, this person obviously has a beef with political Hinduism of the VHP-type…which is a very valid concern for anyone….but to extend that antagonism to the cultural or non-political aspects of the religion, which are after all the dominant themes in the Indian psyche (for the majority), is stupid, or just hateful. That’s like saying “Now that we know there was never a Ram, is it appropriate that Ram Mandirs should still be allowed to stand”? Such statements or intentions will only serve to antagonize a lot of non-political Hindus and make them rigid and defiant (which will translate into increased support for the VHP-types). How about a little respect for a culture? Many of the people celebrating may not literarlly believe in a lot of the stories that have been handed down, but participating in festivals like these can be a connection to their roots, their heritage, their family traditions, whatever…fulfill a psychological role. To others, the various stories lumped together as ‘Hindu mythology’ may represent simply great stories, with deeper themes and insights into various things (like human nature for example) packaged in simple ways that anyone can understand. To me, they are part of India’s cultural heritage and they show the genius of the Indian people down the ages…much as Greek and Roman mythologies show the genius of those two societies back in antiquity. These epics and stories are also great literature. And these festivals add color to people’s lives. Those aspects should be kept separate from the condemnation of the politicising and intolerance that mark organisations like the VHP and others.
My two cents.
not only didn’t he stand up for his wife, he didn’t doff his hat to her when she got in the flying palanquin either.
did you hear about the one when ganesh walked into a bar? he went, “ouch!”
I never realised there was whole genre of Ganesh jokes. You learn something everyday.
cf. this. s/guy/ganesh/g.
No one is forcing you to participate in the (according to you) inappropriate commemoration of “another mythological figure from the same canon.” Me? If there are friends and well-wishers around to share sweets and yummy food, it’s all appropriate. 🙂
Amitabh, #18, I heart you. Good wishes and respect to you, sir.
I agree. Nicely said, Amitabh.
Wonderful example of erudite and learned intolerance, shows that education is far from being a sufficient condition for any kind of wisdom.
Thanks for the posting, Anna, brings back many memories of good times and family togetherness.
Amitabh @18: Word, brother!
Your reference to Greek and Roman mythologies is also totally apropos.
I also agree with dravidian lurker: An affidavit to say that Ram never existed is an order of magnitude crazier than claiming that the archipelago connecting Sri Lanka and India was built by him.
Anonymous troll. That’s brave of you hiding behind a fake name and trying to stir things up.
Anna, In light of recent study completed by the Archaeological survey of India, which concluded that Rama the purported Hindu God never existed, is it appropriate to commemorate another mythological figure from the same canon?
First, and foremost, whether Rama existed or not is moot to the thousands of years of mythology, and society, and culture (festivals, and everything included) based on it.
Either curisuos is being disingenuous or did not understand the crux of ASI brief to Supreme Court at all – The main point was that Adam’s Bridge (between Sri Lanka and India) is most probably a geomorpohological feature rather than manmade. And, mythological texts alone cannot be used to prove the presence of events happened, and the existence of persons/ gods in it categorically. The court case was not about Rama’s existence but should a canal be built.
Their brief is neither earth shattering, nor something new or revealing. This holds to all religions, and their texts, and their religious sites……be it Adam’s bridge, Shroud of Turin, wagehera, wagerhera.
I wish they had worded it smartly……whether Suez Canal of India should be built is another question, and should Adam’s bridge be left untouched, also whales, etc. is another issue.
I was trying to procrastinate the task of putting together tomorrow’s Ganesh Chaturthi presentation for kiddies in our (Hindu) Sunday school, and decided to see what was up on SM, when lo and behold! My entire presentation at my fingertips 🙂 This just goes to show that it pays to visit SM. Thanks Anna! May you get many modaks today!
Anna, In light of recent study completed by the Archaeological survey of India
It wasn’t a study, it was a compilation of their ideas based on existing literature to the supreme court – essentially a brief on a canal case. Perhaps a quite sound one but very poorly worded.
The more I read about it, I think ASI directors who wrote the reports are dumb asses that they worded it so badly which could have been put in clear plain words rather than pulling in everything in Hinduism to it – just answer the existence of Adam’s Bridge – like one (a scientific organization) would answer the existence of Grand Canyon, Red Sea, Dead Sea wrt to Christian faith, Old Testament – just the issue at hand – Culture Minister Ambika Soni claims that she had asked for corrections/ changes that those guys did not make. What can I say?
Recently, when Abhi wrote a thought-provoking post on Mother Theresa, early in the thread I expressed misgivings so inarticulately, my discomfort with the entire news story must have been painfully apparent. I’m not even a huge fan of MT, nor am I Catholic, for that matter, but I worried about the discussion becoming hostile to Christianity, which is a part of my life, and an important one at that. I was concerned that the entire “hot issue” would become proxy for people who wanted to mock the mythology of a man in the middle east 2,000 years ago and that ugliness would creep in; I don’t know if it did, I couldn’t bear to look.
Everyone has the right to their thoughts and obviously, should feel free to express them, that’s only fair. But we should also, always remember that it is probably, almost always the case that whatever it is you think is an amusing news story or something to debate raucously…is a part of someone else’s faith, core beliefs, identity. It is a situation which is ripe for pain, offense and anger. You could take this to ridiculous extremes, but you don’t have to– most of us were taught, by our parents, to tread carefully around religion, out of a respect which ought to be mutual.
Someone’s mythology is someone else’s messiah. I wish we would be so sensitive as to keep that in mind continually, not because it’s self-serving or b/c I feel like perching above some high horse, but because it’s the kind thing to do. Courtesy mandates that you not hurt someone or make them uncomfortable, that if anything you strive to achieve the opposite. It’s the right thing to do.
Holidays are perhaps the only doors which “others” have to religions with which they are unfamiliar. There’s the potential for a lot of beauty there, for joy which creates a deep, internal understanding which permeates how we think and treat each other. My memories of synagogue-hopping at Purim or celebrating Vaisakhi at the Maryland Gurudwara have made me extra fond of Jewish and Sikh culture. That’s nothing novel, but it is powerful.
Now I want to know more about this holiday, specifically what sweets are involved, because I heard that
a) Ganapati loooooves sweets (which just enchants me, since I eat cake for breakfast and dessert after lunch and dinner!) b) he’s associated with my second favorite childhoold breakfast: kozhakottai! (I loved eating the excess filling, which was nothing more than freshly-ground coconut/thenga with an egregious amount of brown sugar)
🙂
amen anna 😉
Kozhakattai… Now I am hungry. Most pictures of ganapathi carry the sweet, like here (on the left hand bottom corner).
Now that I think about it, peda was the sweet of choice at the siddhi vinayak temple in bombay.
Also, ganapathi’s name in tamil is pillaiyaar, stands for ‘who is this kid’ (pillai – kid, yaar – who). I don’t remember the story but it was some rishi who did not know who the kid was.
And his elephant head was a transplant from the nearest living creature (again someone should remember the exact story, I do not).
I cross-posted my comment on my personal blog, HERstory, should anyone want to discuss any of what I wrote (or take me to task for not just eating cake for breakfast, but old skool, Safeway birthday cake, at that); that will keep further digressions away from this thread.
Let’s get back on track about celebrating! 🙂
awww, son can’t f*#$# with Pillaiyaar! The story I was told went like this: Mumsie (parvati) had a hankering for a son that the earthbound, human version of procreation just couldn’t satisfy. She thus crafted a child from sandalwood paste (with a human head–she apparently was not THAT cool), animated the paste sculpture and set him to guard the door while she took a luxurious bucket-and-empty-yogurt-container bath out back.
Fairly soon thereafter, Daddy (Siva) comes around (little paste-animated tyke doesn’t know who he is–i feel tremendous empathy with deity here) and demands to know why his path leading to his wife is obstructed by an incredibly obstinate child.
As in many Hindu mythological stories, a fantastic and long-winded battle ensues with the eventual victor being Siva–who quite unceremoniously severs his son’s head in the process (the time-out corner was not a known methodology then). After Parvati returns from her bath, she instructs the now contrite dad to source another head–which just happened to be an elephant. I can’t quite remember how it was selected (anybody want to fill in?).
Even though I don’t really pray anymore the, “obstacles, begone!” thought is still somewhat calming.
i thought #9 was being sarcastic, but maybe not. oh well. , well said. it’s not within the asi’s purview to determine whether Hindu Gods are real/not real. or even if that’s what they feel, that’s not a reason to automatically assume a structure can be demolished ( i would say the environmental concerns outweigh the religious ones). they should merely have stated their view that the “bridge” is not a man-made structure but built by nature. not that that excuses demolishing any non-man-made structure per se. whether some/all hindus/no hindus choose to believe that Rama was a historical figure/not so is none of their allegedly secular business in determining what to do about the bridge.
“Their brief is neither earth shattering, nor something new or revealing. This holds to all religions, and their texts, and their religious sites……be it Adam’s bridge, Shroud of Turin, wagehera, wagerhera.” “The more I read about it, I think ASI directors who wrote the reports are dumb asses that they worded it so badly which could have been put in clear plain words rather than pulling in everything in Hinduism to it – just answer the existence of Adam’s Bridge – like one (a scientific organization) would answer the existence of Grand Canyon, Red Sea, Dead Sea wrt to Christian faith, Old Testament – just the issue at hand – Culture Minister Ambika Soni claims that she had asked for corrections/ changes that those guys did not make. What can I say?”
do you honestly think they would have had the spine to make a similar announcement about the existence of any revered figure from another religion with such certitude and arrogance? they’d be quivering in their shoes. during the cartoon uproar and da vinci code uproar, the indian government went out of its way to avoid “hurting the religious sentiments” of those concerned. the pm went out of his way to lecture the danish leader. i wonder what indian asi officials and govt. officials would say if they went to say, bali or other places in indonesia or thailand where the Ramayana is revered and enacted? would they have the gall to tell those people that Rama doesn’t really exist so don’t treat as special any places there associated with him? as much as people are carping about the vhp and bjp’s predictable response (although someone should tell them that hinduism isn’t going to collapse because of what the asi says), what did they expect? that they would keep quiet and not make a fuss like any other group in india? the asi statement was highly and intentionally provocative, not because it undermines or tests the “faith” – a rather meaningless statement from a hindu viewpoint — but about what KPS Gill calls Perversity of Secularism
According to the story I know, it was turmeric and saffron powder, but maybe sandalwood paste was used more often in the South? The kid was named Vinayak. After he was killed, Shiva told the gods to head north and chop off the head of the first living creature they came across, which happened to be an elephant. Damn, where was PETA? 😀
Parvati also insisted that Vinayak be the leader of the ganas, hence the name Ganapati or Ganesha.
I have this irrational, obstinate desire for threads which either deal with a guest blogger saying Good-bye or religious holidays to not only stay on topic, but kind. It’s not the space for criticism, of either a person/their posts…or issues related to a religion. 🙂
One of these days I have to write a post about ladoos– I’m very confused by them and they’re my favorite mithai. The ones I thought were Southie are apparently not…and the third kind remind me of sand. I love ladoos! This is important to me! WWGD? 😉
Yup. Hence the bad anecdote about “Pillayar kovil uppuma oosi pochu” being mistranslated as “Sunwho temple salt powder needle went”. [“Pillayar temple upma got spoilt”].
Shiva intruded on Parvati when she was showering. She got annoyed with his lack of respect for her privacy and decided to build a bodyguard who would be loyal only to her, which she did from the chandanam (perfumed sandalwood paste) on her body. She made this fellow come to life and told the newly created Ganesha not to let anybody in. Surprise, surprise, he didn’t let Shiva into her room. He then called his (male) buddies Vishnu and Brahma and all the Devas, but the little guy would not budge. At some point tempers flared, somebody threw a punch, and there was a full scale police action. There were heavy casualties among the Devas, nearly all of whom were unimportant characters wearing red shirts. Eventually one of the big guys stepped in and beheaded Ganesha. When Parvati learned of this, she gave Shiva the cold shoulder, colder than the one given by the miffed cannibal wife to her husband. She also gave the Devas quite a tongue lashing. (Some people say she created a bunch of women out of a Freudian nightmare who then ate up all the Devas). Anyway, Shiva and friends eventually got tired of the gratuitous lack of sex (or gratuitous violence) and decided to bring Ganesha back to life. Except that one of them asked “Dude? Where’s the head?” [the guy who asked this later became the patron god of Quentin Tarantino movies]. So they set out in a random direction (north) and killed the first animal they saw (an elephant), whose head they brought back with them and fixed on the headless Ganesha. And that’s how Ganesha got an elephant’s head. He was then heard to complain that he could not get a date on Saturday night. I don’t know if this is all genuine canonical mythology or made-up mythology. 😀
First question: what was the first?
As to what sweets are involved, “We got both kinds: fried and steamed!”. But both are made sweet, with the pooranam (filling) made of the coconut-jaggery powder Anna mentioned.
In my family however, for the past few years we have usually made five or fewer that are sweet, and the rest we have filled with a non-sweet filling made of steamed, dried and pounded lentils (mostly toor dal) with a little red pepper powder. This is mainly so that people in my parents’ generation can eat it without worries of spiking blood sugar levels. The nice thing I like about this is that it’s flexible enough to accommodate special dietary needs.
The spell sticko topico as mastered by Hari Puttar usually does the trick. 😀
sticko topico! 😉
No God’s existence is provable or disprovable.
oops, sorry
re #34: i posted before reading that, so sorry for off-topic post (although in fairness, post #9 should be deleted then to deter off-topic posts:))
back to ladoos:)
??? There are different types of laddus? Yeah, wikipedia does say so. I only know the Tirupati type (dry) and the ones I find at Haldiram’s that were soaked in syrup and are not strong enough to remain spheres. The Tirupati type had flattened non-spherical boondis but the whole was a sphere, while in the Haldiram version the individual boondis were perfect spheres but the whole was like an oblate ellipsoid under the weight and the interstices held a lot of sugar syrup. So far I haven’t encountered any sandy laddus.
But where were they on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram?
😀 Sorry for the technical description of laddu structure – got a little carried away!
I suspect that the two types can be achieved by varying the soaking time and the boondi-to-syrup ratio. I don’t think the sugar-to-water ratio plays a big role.
ITA, but when I woke up from my nap, there were already so many responses to it, it was difficult to undo the damage. I understand this issue is huge, just from the number of tips on the News Tab and I wanted to respect that (and those of you who feel so strongly). I tried to deter without deleting. 😉
I have seen three kinds of ladoos! And yes, one was “sandy”. Yick.
I was told the “Parvati bathing, Shiva catching hell for decapitating her baby” story often when I was small but I didn’t know some of this other information. I love the explanation behind “Pillaiyaar”! More of that, please. That was one sweet epiphany. 😀
Other than laddoos and modaks, another big thing at Ganesh Chaturthi are pooran poli, which are flatbreads with a delicious sweet filling (pooran, or pooranam, as pingpong@40 mentions). I found a super recipe book for all kinds of Ganesh Chaturthi sweets here. Has recipes for nearly half-dozen different kinds of kozhukottai, plus pooran poli, laddoos, kheer, and modaks, everything!