Ganesha

Deity

Ganesha · गणेश

Ganesha is invoked first. Before a housewarming, a wedding, the opening of a ledger or the start of a journey, the first offering of the day is made to him, which is why a Ganesh Puja so often opens a longer rite rather than standing on its own. The tradition names him Vighnaharta, the one who clears the way, and Ekadanta for the single tusk with which he is said to have written the Mahabharata to Vyasa's dictation.

He is the son of Shiva and Parvati. His vahana is the mouse, and the offering most associated with him is the modak, a steamed sweet dumpling made in numbers of twenty-one. Images show him with a broken tusk, a bowl of modaks and a hand raised in abhaya, the gesture of reassurance.

His festival is Ganesh Chaturthi, in the month of Bhadrapada, when an image is installed at home or in a public pandal, worshipped for a day and a half, five, seven or ten days, and then carried to water for visarjan. The immersion is part of the rite, not an afterthought: the image is made to be returned.

The order of the Ashtavinayak runs Moreshwar at Morgaon, Siddhivinayak at Siddhatek, Ballaleshwar at Pali, Varadvinayak at Mahad, Chintamani at Theur, Girijatmaj at Lenyadri, Vighnahar at Ozar and Mahaganapati at Ranjangaon — and then Morgaon again. A yatra that stops short of that second visit to Morgaon is held to be incomplete, which is why the eight are counted as a single journey rather than eight separate darshans.

• Ashtavinayak

Ashtavinayak · अष्टविनायक — The eight Ganesha temples of the Pune region, visited in order