As Vighnaharta’s sojourn enters the second day, a blithe spirit of festival that has become a global event surrounds his devotees.
However, in its 116th year, the cultural programmes that were once associated with the 10-day long festival have taken a backset. The focus increasingly is shifting on sight and sounds.
The Ganesh festival was introduced by the freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak in Pune in 1893 to bring about a social and cultural revolution. Another objective was to create awareness among the people and unify them to fight against British rule and free the nation from imperial rule. Over a century later, the themes of the festival as well as expenditure incurred on it have undergone a seachange.
In earlier days, sociocultural activities like quiz, debates, blood donation and tree plantation drives, sports competitions used to be main attractions of the festival.
Nowadays, the emphasis is more on lavish decorations with lakhs being spent on pendals, lighting, music system, and jewellery for idols and such other things. The introduction of polymers and glass fibre about a decade back has brought a revolution in decoration. The larger mandals spend between Rs 10 and Rs 15 lakh on the fest. The emphasis is to create a visual treat. Gone is the spirit of community participation.
Visitors today also spend a only a few fleeting minutes before the idols and move on. The festival is more a means of projecting the clout and resources of organisers.
About 50 years back, Ganesh festival could be organised for as little as Rs 16. Way back in 1967, the Dharampeth Sarvjanik Ganeshotsav Mandal had collected donations of just Rs 16.80 and entire festival was celebrated with that amount, a laughable sum in terms of today’s budget.
“When I started 42 years back, as young volunteer, we had managed to collect Rs 16.80 after days of hard work. The amount was big in those days. There was no stress on decoration. Except the Ganesh idol, all the other materials like decorations, vehicles, and Maha Prasad came from our home. The cost of our first idol was just Rs 3 and even that seemed very expensive,” corporator Baba Maind, president of the mandal, says.
He adds that with rising prices, the budget nowadays exceeds over Rs 10 lakh. Itwari’s Shri Shanti Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal secretary Ashish Budholiya agrees. “We have to handle lakhs of devotees who throng daily to take Darshan of idol. Our strength of 100 volunteers is insufficient to handle such a large crowd. We have created a replica of famous Tirumala temple and expecting five lakh people to visit us this year. We hardly find any time to conduct cultural activities. Moreover, installation and immersion both is big, lavish affair nowadays, and most of our time goes on managing that,” he explains.
Munna Jaiswal, the president of Shri Ashtavinayak Bahu-uddeshiya Sanstha, that has created a replica of Sheesh-Mahal, feels that with more stress on decoration, socio-cultural programmes are losing their popularity. “We pay a lot of attention on security and other aspects as lakhs of devotees visit our venue. Last year 4.5 lakh followers came to see our decoration and this year we are expecting over 6 lakh devotees. Our entire manpower remains busy in handling the crowd,” he says.
He says when they started in 1990, their budget was just Rs 36,000. “The times have changed and so is the cost. We used to do decorations by ourselves. Now everything, even the gate, is made by professional artisans invited from different parts of the country,” he stresses.
However, in its 116th year, the cultural programmes that were once associated with the 10-day long festival have taken a backset. The focus increasingly is shifting on sight and sounds.
The Ganesh festival was introduced by the freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak in Pune in 1893 to bring about a social and cultural revolution. Another objective was to create awareness among the people and unify them to fight against British rule and free the nation from imperial rule. Over a century later, the themes of the festival as well as expenditure incurred on it have undergone a seachange.
In earlier days, sociocultural activities like quiz, debates, blood donation and tree plantation drives, sports competitions used to be main attractions of the festival.
Nowadays, the emphasis is more on lavish decorations with lakhs being spent on pendals, lighting, music system, and jewellery for idols and such other things. The introduction of polymers and glass fibre about a decade back has brought a revolution in decoration. The larger mandals spend between Rs 10 and Rs 15 lakh on the fest. The emphasis is to create a visual treat. Gone is the spirit of community participation.
Visitors today also spend a only a few fleeting minutes before the idols and move on. The festival is more a means of projecting the clout and resources of organisers.
About 50 years back, Ganesh festival could be organised for as little as Rs 16. Way back in 1967, the Dharampeth Sarvjanik Ganeshotsav Mandal had collected donations of just Rs 16.80 and entire festival was celebrated with that amount, a laughable sum in terms of today’s budget.
“When I started 42 years back, as young volunteer, we had managed to collect Rs 16.80 after days of hard work. The amount was big in those days. There was no stress on decoration. Except the Ganesh idol, all the other materials like decorations, vehicles, and Maha Prasad came from our home. The cost of our first idol was just Rs 3 and even that seemed very expensive,” corporator Baba Maind, president of the mandal, says.
He adds that with rising prices, the budget nowadays exceeds over Rs 10 lakh. Itwari’s Shri Shanti Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal secretary Ashish Budholiya agrees. “We have to handle lakhs of devotees who throng daily to take Darshan of idol. Our strength of 100 volunteers is insufficient to handle such a large crowd. We have created a replica of famous Tirumala temple and expecting five lakh people to visit us this year. We hardly find any time to conduct cultural activities. Moreover, installation and immersion both is big, lavish affair nowadays, and most of our time goes on managing that,” he explains.
Munna Jaiswal, the president of Shri Ashtavinayak Bahu-uddeshiya Sanstha, that has created a replica of Sheesh-Mahal, feels that with more stress on decoration, socio-cultural programmes are losing their popularity. “We pay a lot of attention on security and other aspects as lakhs of devotees visit our venue. Last year 4.5 lakh followers came to see our decoration and this year we are expecting over 6 lakh devotees. Our entire manpower remains busy in handling the crowd,” he says.
He says when they started in 1990, their budget was just Rs 36,000. “The times have changed and so is the cost. We used to do decorations by ourselves. Now everything, even the gate, is made by professional artisans invited from different parts of the country,” he stresses.
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