Ganpati Aagman

The history of Ganpati celebrations, especially in Mumbai dates way back and isn’t all about religion!

- Souradeep Roy

The festivities start way ahead of the festival and this begins with the Ganpati Aagman or the welcoming of Ganpati.

The Festival has been celebrated in Maharashtra from the era of the great Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who was the founder of the Maratha empire. That was back in 1630–1680. But then gradually the festivities became limited to households and there were no such community-wide celebrations for a long time. According to some accounts, during the British Raj, all forms of public gathering was banned except for religious celebrations. Ganpati celebrations were restarted by the revolutionary Lokmanya Tilak, who found this as a great way of gathering and uniting the masses. Ganpati celebrations, which celebrate Lord Ganesha’s arrival from Kailash Parvat, were chosen as the festival because of the huge following from all casts, all social and economic classes and so on.

While Ganpati celebrations happen all around the world as well as across the length and breadth of India, the festival is vigorously celebrated in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The preparation of the festival begins months ahead of the date of the festival. Some of the biggest festivals include Lalbaugcha Raja, Andhericha Raja, Chintamani, Ganesh Gully, GSB Seva Mandal in Mumbai City and Dagdusheth Halwai,