Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav or Ganapati festival is a public festival celebrated in different parts of India in honor of Ganapati (or Ganesh, a Hindu God). This festival is very popular in Maharashtra, and it is celebrated in many homes privately as well as by various mandals publicly (mandals are public trusts that collect money and celebrate festivals like this). Public Ganesh festival or Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav as it's popularly known was started sometime in the 1890s by one of the Indian freedom movement leaders Lokamanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak. His intention was to unite people from diverse groups, enhance their social belonging, and instill a feeling of patriotism while celebrating the festival. His aim was also to promote the dream of Indian independence and home rule. According to me celebrating a public festival in this manure was a great idea to educate and unite the masses for some common cause. During those times, under British rule, people were prevented from gathering in large numbers, so the public celebration of this festival gave people and their leaders a unique opportunity to gather together and share their ideas without inviting the wrath of concerned authorities.
This was all fine during the pre-independence era or even a few decades after independence. Festivals like this provided a much-needed occasion for social interaction on a large scale, but we see a very different picture altogether today. The way this festival is celebrated today is totally different than the way it was started. Public education or spreading awareness is hardly a motive today behind celebrating this festival. I know that things change with time and different generations look at things differently but this festival has undergone drastic changes in a bad way. Except few honorable exceptions, most mandals celebrate this festival for the sake of public show-off. Their main aim is to celebrate it as lavishly as possible by using public donations with hardly any noble motive behind it. The collected money is wasted on useless activities. Also, the use of loudspeakers creates a lot of noise pollution in that area creating discomfort to elderly people and young kids who are sensitive to loud noise, While collecting donations for this festival many mandals forcibly extract money from many business owners who oblige under pressure to avoid any unpleasant scenario. Many mandaps (pavilions in which idols and decorations are installed) are erected in such a way that they interfere with traffic and create inconvenience to commuters. Now, there is one mandal at each corner of the street, so instead of uniting people this festival today is dividing people. Every neighborhood wants its own mandal and there is fierce competition among them to collect donations and have grand celebrations. During Ganapati visarjan day, thousands of idols, big and small, are immersed in lakes, ponds, wells, rivers, and sea. Many of these idols are made of plaster of paris and use synthetic colors, immersing so many idols in streams creates a lot of water pollution and puts additional stress on our environment. These all are very serious issues and we need to address them properly, many other festivals are also celebrated publicly, which also create more or less the same issues and most importantly nowadays these festivals divide people, create some tension rather than bring people together. The main purpose behind celebrating these types of festivals is lost, what we see today is just a waste of money and resources in the name of God.
Unfortunately, any effort to reform anything related to such festivals is seen as direct interference in people's right to practice their religion. It hurts their religious sentiments and may result in protests and even communal riots. Because of this, it is considered a very sensitive issue and any government rarely wants to interfere in it. Despite all these things some rules related to the use of loudspeakers and the construction of mandals have been introduced. Many organizations encourage people not to immerse their idols in rivers or lakes. Actually, not all rules and regulations are followed strictly but some of these things show some positive signs and help to reduce the impact of such festivals on people and the environment.
Fights between two groups because of some trivial issue during these festivals are common. This raises an important question, whether public celebration of these festivals unites people or divides them? Are these festivals giving some people another opportunity to create communal tension or to display their strength? As I mentioned earlier celebration of festivals publicly was a very brilliant idea when it was introduced, but the current state of affairs begs the question, do we still need it in its current form? Do we really need so many mandals? Can't we have just a few limited mandals in each city and celebrate the festival without using loudspeakers that actually play totally unrelated songs at full volume? Can't we avoid all water and noise pollution just by taking a few simple steps? Is it that difficult to change the way this and many other festivals are celebrated to take care of our environment and be considerate towards people living in that area? We also need to ask, in its current form is it the same festival that Tilak started? Is it serving the same purpose for which he started this festival? Answers to all these questions may force us to introspect and come up with some major reforms.
Last year I wrote a post about Ganesh visarjan, in this post I asked some questions about the impact of this ritual on our environment. We need to ask similar questions about all these festivals and practices which put unnecessary stress on our environment and cause inconvenience to people. It doesn't matter to which religion such festivals and rituals belong, we need to introduce some major reforms for all of them. Most things related to this festival have changed, the money involved is huge, the songs they play are from current movies, and techniques used for decoration are the latest, so why not have a new eco-friendly way to celebrate the festival? What's wrong with it? Social interaction in a friendly and healthy atmosphere is always a good thing, but, are these festivals providing that atmosphere? If not, why not? We must ask such questions if we want to bring back the original spirit of this and many other festivals which seems to be totally lost in all this glitter and loud music.
This was all fine during the pre-independence era or even a few decades after independence. Festivals like this provided a much-needed occasion for social interaction on a large scale, but we see a very different picture altogether today. The way this festival is celebrated today is totally different than the way it was started. Public education or spreading awareness is hardly a motive today behind celebrating this festival. I know that things change with time and different generations look at things differently but this festival has undergone drastic changes in a bad way. Except few honorable exceptions, most mandals celebrate this festival for the sake of public show-off. Their main aim is to celebrate it as lavishly as possible by using public donations with hardly any noble motive behind it. The collected money is wasted on useless activities. Also, the use of loudspeakers creates a lot of noise pollution in that area creating discomfort to elderly people and young kids who are sensitive to loud noise, While collecting donations for this festival many mandals forcibly extract money from many business owners who oblige under pressure to avoid any unpleasant scenario. Many mandaps (pavilions in which idols and decorations are installed) are erected in such a way that they interfere with traffic and create inconvenience to commuters. Now, there is one mandal at each corner of the street, so instead of uniting people this festival today is dividing people. Every neighborhood wants its own mandal and there is fierce competition among them to collect donations and have grand celebrations. During Ganapati visarjan day, thousands of idols, big and small, are immersed in lakes, ponds, wells, rivers, and sea. Many of these idols are made of plaster of paris and use synthetic colors, immersing so many idols in streams creates a lot of water pollution and puts additional stress on our environment. These all are very serious issues and we need to address them properly, many other festivals are also celebrated publicly, which also create more or less the same issues and most importantly nowadays these festivals divide people, create some tension rather than bring people together. The main purpose behind celebrating these types of festivals is lost, what we see today is just a waste of money and resources in the name of God.
Unfortunately, any effort to reform anything related to such festivals is seen as direct interference in people's right to practice their religion. It hurts their religious sentiments and may result in protests and even communal riots. Because of this, it is considered a very sensitive issue and any government rarely wants to interfere in it. Despite all these things some rules related to the use of loudspeakers and the construction of mandals have been introduced. Many organizations encourage people not to immerse their idols in rivers or lakes. Actually, not all rules and regulations are followed strictly but some of these things show some positive signs and help to reduce the impact of such festivals on people and the environment.
Fights between two groups because of some trivial issue during these festivals are common. This raises an important question, whether public celebration of these festivals unites people or divides them? Are these festivals giving some people another opportunity to create communal tension or to display their strength? As I mentioned earlier celebration of festivals publicly was a very brilliant idea when it was introduced, but the current state of affairs begs the question, do we still need it in its current form? Do we really need so many mandals? Can't we have just a few limited mandals in each city and celebrate the festival without using loudspeakers that actually play totally unrelated songs at full volume? Can't we avoid all water and noise pollution just by taking a few simple steps? Is it that difficult to change the way this and many other festivals are celebrated to take care of our environment and be considerate towards people living in that area? We also need to ask, in its current form is it the same festival that Tilak started? Is it serving the same purpose for which he started this festival? Answers to all these questions may force us to introspect and come up with some major reforms.
Last year I wrote a post about Ganesh visarjan, in this post I asked some questions about the impact of this ritual on our environment. We need to ask similar questions about all these festivals and practices which put unnecessary stress on our environment and cause inconvenience to people. It doesn't matter to which religion such festivals and rituals belong, we need to introduce some major reforms for all of them. Most things related to this festival have changed, the money involved is huge, the songs they play are from current movies, and techniques used for decoration are the latest, so why not have a new eco-friendly way to celebrate the festival? What's wrong with it? Social interaction in a friendly and healthy atmosphere is always a good thing, but, are these festivals providing that atmosphere? If not, why not? We must ask such questions if we want to bring back the original spirit of this and many other festivals which seems to be totally lost in all this glitter and loud music.
Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.
[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]
Links:
1. Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav
2. Do we need to do Ganesh visarjan??
Links:
1. Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav
2. Do we need to do Ganesh visarjan??
No comments:
Post a Comment