Puri Ganesh Chaturthi:
Sri Ganesh Chaturthi is the birthday of Lord Ganesh, and is one of the main Hindu festivals celebrated in Puri Sri Jagannath Temple with great enthusiasm and dedication. In Puri, the “Ganesh Chaturthi” festival is also known as “Ganesh Puja”. Various clay idols of Lord Ganesh are worshiped every year at different places in Puri during this festival. Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated in August – September in the Shukla Chaturthi of the Odia month Bhadraba.
Sri Ganesh is the symbol of knowledge, peace, prosperity, success and good fortune. According to Hindu religion, each Hindu ritual or ceremony must begin by worshiping Lord Ganesh. According to Hindu mythology, Lord Ganesh is considered “Vighna Harta” and “Vighna Karta”. In Sanskrit, ‘Vighna’ means obstacle, ‘Harta’ means remover and ‘Karta’ means creator, therefore Lord Ganesh is considered Vighna-Karta (Creator of obstacles) for evil demons and as Vighna-Harta (Eliminator of obstacles) for the right people. Lord Ganesh acts as a protector for all of us.
Traditionally, Sri Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated for 10 days all over India. On the last day (Anantha Chaturthi) of the festival, the idols are taken to Visarjan (immersion of the idol in water) in the sacred rivers and the nearby sea.
