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.
word on the street is that tirupati ladoos have reduced in size in the past years. can somebody confirm? is there trouble in prasadise?
as for other species in the ladoo genus, there is at least rava ladoo, besan ladoo, maalaadoo (i don’t know if that’s another name for rava or besan ladoo) – i think these are the sand ladoos anna is talking about. personally, i think rava ladoo wins over boondi ladoo 8 days a week.
So was I! It’s great as a subtextual morality play, and makes kids think twice (or a hundred times) about challenging the pater familias 🙂
“I tried to deter without deleting. ;)”
actually, on second thought, that’s probably best. i don’t want to do down the slippery slope of asking for comments to be deleted as i usually think most of them – barring a few – should stand no matter what.
Here’s a weird news item from The Hindu regarding Tirupati laddus:
While I approve of his good taste, is this really a worthwhile issue for the government to ponder?
My favorite is boondi laddoo, though I also like besan laddoo and aata laddoo (also called pinni). Yum. What’s the sand laddoo that everyone is talking about?
Shiva was a virile 6’4 Scythian male, who was practicing a long lost martial version of yoga at his top secret bunker shrouded deep within the cold rugged climes of the Himalayas. He and his team of devas would train there for extended periods of time leaving periodically to perform acts of heroism using the powers they had gained from their training and exposure to radioactive meteorites.
Meanwhile Parvati was busy being faithful to her husband. Annoyed by constant intrusions she created a fat boy out of mud, and animated him with radioactive meteor rock in order to guard her purity.
Some seven years later Shiva felt like getting laid. He sends some devas out to bring Parvati to him immediately. The devas go in to pick up Parvati , but are confronted by Ganesh who is on guard duty while Parvati bathes herself. After many seconds of arguing with Ganesh the devas grow impatient and decide to use their powers to end this quickly.
Little do they know that Ganesh was animated from the same radioactive rocks that give them their powers. Ganesh deflects the attack with ease. Then proceeds to power up himself, and finishes off the deva minions with a energy blast.
Back at his lair Shiva senses a disturbance a big disturbance in the force. He and a team of devas fly down to confront Ganesh. Ganesh kills several of them with energy blasts before Shiva chops off Ganesh’s head and passes it to Saturn who deflects it into the Sun.
Parvati senses that there might be something going on outside so she cuts short her beauty bath and goes outside to check. Angered by the death of Ganesh, Parvati says she is not in the mood. Shiva bemoans that he could bring Ganesh back to life if only they could find a head to fit him.
Shiva kills several of the poor performers on his team of devas only to find out that Ganesh’s body is too fat to accept the transplanted heads. So he sends out the devas to find him someone who his fat enough to fit Ganesh’s body. One of the devas has the brilliant idea of using an elephant head, told it to his supervisor who told it to Shiva and took all the credit for the idea.
Dravidian Lurker – I think you may be right. I have once (long ago) had a sweet that was off-white, round, about 1.5 inches in diameter. I tried to bite it, and it underwent catastrophic structural failure – off-white semi-sweet powder now coated my hand, the front of my shirt and the floor. The cleanup job was not fun. Also it didn’t taste very good. That may be the sand laddu.
By the way, what is the preferred spelling – ladoo or laddu (or laddoo or ladu)?
“While I approve of his good taste, is this really a worthwhile issue for the government to ponder?”
maybe govt. officials get a portion of their temple dues/payoffs in laddus. (is there a preferred spelling?)
this came up because outside every packet of tirupathi ladoos, there was usually the annotation ymmv. people assumed it was just the name of the chef, yeduguri masticateudu mmmmladoogaru venkatakrishulu, but only y s rajasekhara reddy knew it is a disclaimer from the days of netspeak-savvy high tech cm, chandrababu naidu.
For all I know, that may be true.
A thought just struck me – would it be a popular move if the TTD organization made the laddu healthier? Given the increasing incidence of diabetes in India, and given that they wouldn’t want to harm their devotees (who are also their customers), it would make sense. Mutineers, any ideas on how to make a healthier laddu? A baked lentil ball sprinkled with aspartame? It should still be eatable, not just edible.
despite my playing fast and loose with the o’s and the u’s here, i prefer the phonetic “laddu”.
that might be, but imagine how much more unhappy your teeth would have been if it had been a concrete laddu.
oh i’m sure they are not hurting for repeat business. and, being completely cynical (and i am very sure this is not part of their calculation), sickness implies more propitiation of otherworldly entities implies more devotees implies more laddu sales. so there are competing pressures. i am sure somebody can write the lagrangian and come up with the optimal solution.
Aspartame has a bad rep. Jaggery maybe? Or Stevia? 🙂
“Aspartame has a bad rep. Jaggery maybe? Or Stevia? :)”
agave laddus? 🙂 but then would Ganesh be the same without his pot belly?
Somebody’s been watching too much Smallville 🙂
Since when did today’s Sri Lanka become Lanka of the Ramayana? I always thought scholars thought that Lanka was somwhere South of the Vindhyas. What I mean is, if Sri Lanka was still called “Ceylon” before the name change, would people still consider it to be Lanka of the Ramayana?
We would be better without ours! (Those of us so endowed anyway)
I’m not blaming temple food for health problems like obesity or diabetes, but this is a big opportunity for temples to show that they’re health conscious, that they’re capable of adapting and that they can still be relevant if they want to. It’s not impossible – I know of temples that enforced the use of unpainted pottery idols of Ganesha and immersed them in a steel tank, as opposed to immersing plaster of paris idols in the sea, after it was pointed out by environmentalists that the paint on the plaster models was toxic with heavy metals and that the plaster itself hung around for a long time, changing the pH of the water. Making the prasadam low-fat and low-sugar is surely not impossible. This can be done both at the temple level and at the individual level.
Of course, if Dravidian Lurker is correct in #62, this is irrelevant for the temple.
dont knock potbellies. also, “Pot bellies make a man look either oafish, or like a gorilla. But on a woman, a pot belly is very sexy. The rest of you is normal. Normal face, normal legs, normal hips, normal ass, but with a big, perfectly round pot belly.”
mind, the g-man is quite athletic too. if mere mortals like ranatunga could, why not ganesha?
Incidentally, one of the many names of Ganesh is lambodar (literally big belly).
“We* would be better without ours! (Those of us so endowed anyway)”
the ganesha comment was a joke – although i do think he looks better with a pot belly than without – i’ve seen both. a Ganesha minus his pot belly is like a thin Obelix – not the same. but i agree that, as with the movement towards environmentally-friendly dyes, materials etc., nothing wrong with temples offering healthier versions of their prasadam.
Nice post Anna, mmm….ladoos and kozhakottai (I only ate the filling too)…*drool
I have to say to all my Iyengars that Ganesh/Ganpathi/Vinayaka is probably my favorite just because he does have that universal appeal in what he symbolizes.
Seeing Ganesh Chaturti in Maharashtra (Bombay especially) is quite the experience has some commenters have said. The tours of the different neighborhood’s statues is an awesome sight. And of course, the kalkande (rock candy) and ladoo and jalebi and peda and …*drool…that you get at the sites are always a plus! I think my little cousins walk around just for that:P
“if mere mortals like ranatunga could, why not ganesha?”
what about ramesh powar:) not quite athletic, but he’s proving to be handy.
My Thatha has said this comes from asking “yaar ode pillai?” (whose son is this?)–in context of the story some of us have heard our whole lives.
Anyone know if this is concrete? I mean it always made sense to me…
Coincidentally, I was also thinking about the environmental impact of all the statues (Ganesh and Durga) that are immersed in the sea/water.
pingpong, would love to read more about this!! Would you by any chance remember the source of this information of statues going green? Tx.
i think pillaiyaar comes from the same decapitation story narrated earlier when a c*** blocked shiva asks parvati, “who dat?” in a related note, does somebody know the stories behind pillaiyar kuttu and thopikkaranam?
“Ganesh Chaturdhi is also nice because in general, Lord Ganesh looks so much funnier/cooler than the other gods around.”
yes!!!!
this is my fav post anna j! ladoos all around!!!
but more so, peace and love to all.
Amit@75:
Here’s a story from The Hindu: link. And a different take from the BBC: link.
I find that both these links (and some more) are also in the Wiki article which also has a section on the environmental impact: link.
I put some Bermuda grass that my mother sent me in front of my Ganesh statue this morning! Happy Ganesha festival, woot woot!
Last year, just around this time, I was there and yes. The free ladoo size has gone down from the last time I had visited (think 2000).
Never had the time to go for the paid ladoo, someone else needs to fill in that info.
And people thanks for the whole ‘how he got his head’ story. 🙂
pingpong, thanks! Yes, the Hindu article was very interesting, and I do think that in this instance, education and working with everyone involved will bring about the desired results. Now I’ll have to do some research on whether the “green” statues are being adopted elsewhere too. Wow!!
Funny because my Iyengar friend took an “oath” that his sins would be “taken care of” if he promised to pay only to vishnu. And as fate would have it, his girl friend at that time (now his wife) LOVED vinayaka. Still not sure on how he handled that.
That obstacle probably cleared itself. 😀
I hadn’t heard of people in Hinduism promising to pray to only one god before this. Is it common?
Among my immediate family and relatives, not that I know of. Though everyone had their own favorite god. My grandma loved Ram, my mom is more of a Krishna fan, and an uncle of mine is a big Hanuman devotee. But in all the home temples, there are idols and/or pictures of many gods.
samashrayanam, i think.
mmm I love Moduk (which is kozhakottai in marathi, i think). And puran poli. Thanks for the recipes, chachaji, but they are far to complicated for my culinary abilities. I’m having visions of Moduk goo all over the cutting board and counters.
I may join the Marathi festivities in Edison, NJ where the ‘most convenient body of water’ to float Ganesha in is the neighbor’s swimming pool! Ugh, then again that probably means video tapes of 7-year-old me in a fluffy pink dress danceing on stage will be pulled out (there’s a 10 day day and night stage show).
Happy Ganesh Chaturti, all. Ganapati Bappa Morya, Pudhchya varshi lavkar ya! (come quickly next year)
In many streets in Tamil Nadu, if a house faces onto another street/ road at a T-junction one will find a small statue of pillaiyar placed at a strategic location (normally embedded into the wall). On asking around, I was told the following story.
Pillaiyar wanted a woman like his mother Parvathi. As a result of his elephant head his dateability was pretty low. Further, his standards were next to impossible coz Parvati was the quintessential yummy mummy / super mom all rolled into one. He was advised to hang out at strategic locations like a three way junction to meet a potential wife. He still looking for the perfect woman. Hence, the statue in front a house at a T-junction. I think many single women pray to Pillaiyar to help them find a good husband.
Feel free to correct the parable.
No God’s existence is provable or disprovable.
The burden of proof for proving a God’s existence is on the person who makes such an assertion.
i’m going to nip this one in the bud, guys–asserting the existence of something/person like God is an unfalsifiable proposition, useless as a hypothesis for any experiment as there exists no way to definitively prove this assertion wrong.
enough said.
tamasha, that temple has different decorations for each of the ten days leading up to ganesh chaturthi. i went on thursday – they had a haldi decoration, which was really nice. though each one i’ve seen over the years has been nothing more than spectacular – they really do a geat job for this festival, as i guess they should…
melbourne desi @ 77 – i was told that it’s to ward off bad luck that have house at a t-junction is bad for vaastu, so that’s one of the first things people put in when they build/move into a new house. i did notice an excessive amount of them in madras the last time i was there, and when i asked my uncle, this is what he told me…
ROFL.. on the stories about “Pillaiyar”. I didn’t know that before..
Well.. when the “vinayaka idol” drank milk I was in college and there was a joke circulating that girls stopped wearing vinayaka chains now that vinayaka started drinking milk..
Anyhow I have fun memories of Vinayakar chathurthi involving myself with friends in the local pillaiyar temple festivities.
agreed, what i could see of it was beautiful. (shiny!) so so crowded though. everyone got aggravated and it wasn’t very holy.
but yeah, ganesh is awesome. i remember being amazed by him ‘drinking’ up the milk he was offered when i was little.
Thank you. Not the time, not the thread. I thought I made that clear
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I think Kozhakattai is the Malayalam and Tamil word for it, not the Marathi one, but I could be wrong. Mmm, kozhakattai…
Idiyappam. 🙂 With sugar and coconut, nothing more. Sorry I missed the question earlier!
Ah yes, idi-yappam, the thunder cake. 🙂 I could eat them all day with kurma or with coconut milk.
We really need a video for assorted Indian breakfast food in the spirit of the notorious Pancakes video.
chakarai sacrilege!!! i’ll try to not knock it before I try it, but even the eating of banana with idiappam seems somehow wrong. My constant food-porn wet dream is the softest of just-steamed idiappam, the just-right sodhi and veggie sambol…is that still acceptable at brekkers?
this is a huge luxury for me – completely reminds me of my childhood. and made even better by the wide availability of raw sugar in the states – coarse, just like in india (that fine table sugar never cut it for me when it came to idiyappams). and yeah, kurma is also great. i recently tried idiyappams made from red rice – it was great! is that a sri lankan speciality? i bought it at a health store run by sri lankan tamils, so i couldn’t figure out whether the red rice is attributed to the health or sri lankan aspects of the store…
I dunno if it’s healthier, but amma says that it is easier to not screw up the batter if you use the red maa. Usually a family gathering necessitates red idiappam while a dinner for 2-4 points to the white variety.
You’re welcome. The easiest thing by far to make (and in quantity) is the ‘panchakajjaya’ (p.11) – if you have the beaten rice (poha) to begin with. And modak filling can be quite dry, as I remember, need not be gooey. Enjoy.