The celebrations of Ganesh Festival have an interesting history behind them. It was the Peshawas of the erstwhile Maratha Empire who started the tradition of community celebrations in the eighteenth century. During the time of Baji Rao Ganesh Festival was celebrated on a large scale and this popularity attained by the festival continued to grow as a tradition till the British seized power. They discontinued the Ganesh Festival and later tried to revive it with state funding to gain the sympathy of the masses, but was not successful. Towards the end of the nineteenth century Bal Gangadhar Tilak, nationalist and one of the foremost leaders of Indian Independence began to organize the Ganesh Chaturthi Utsav as a socio- religious function and Ganesh festival thus rekindled the spirit of nationalism among Indians.

Legends of Ganesh Festival
There are various legends related to Ganesh Festival. Perhaps the most popular one is the one, which talks about how Ganapati was created by Parvati, wife of Lord Shiva, as she needed a doorkeeper while taking bath. However, while Parvati was taking her bath, Lord Shiva happened to come there and as Ganesha did not know him, he did not allow him to enter the house. As a result, Lord Shiva got angry and he beheaded Ganesha. But after realizing that he had beheaded his own son, Lord Shiva immediately dispatched his ganas (attendants) to get him the head of the first living creature they could find. The first living creature happened to be an elephant and as instructed, the head was chopped off and brought back to Shiva, who placed it on Parvati’s son’s body, bringing him back to life. This elephant-headed god was welcomed into the first family of the Hindu heavens and named Ganesha or Ganapati, which literally means the chief of the ganas, or the attendants of Shiva.



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