GANESH CHATHURTHI

  Vinayagar Chathurthy  

         Ganesh Chaturthi/ Pillayar chathurthi/Vinayagar Chathurthi was celebrated on the 4th day of Bhadrapada is one of the popularly known festivals of Hindus celebrated all over the country. It is commemorated as the birthday of Lord Ganesha and to rejoice it people bring the clay idol of Lord Ganesha to their home and also huge pandals are made and decorated heavily with fresh flowers, colorful clothes and decorative lights. These pandals then become the temporary abode of Lord Ganesha for the ten days of festivities. After this, the worshiped idols are taken in a grand procession with great pomp and joy for the immersion in the river, sea or lake. Lord Ganesha holds great significance and honor in Hindu religion as he is the one who is worshiped before all the gods and goddesses and also before the starting of any good work. 

Why you should not see the moon on Ganesh Chaturthi?

      Answer for this question is starts with a mythical story,"It was Ganesh's birthday and he had been invited for dinner at a devotee's house. Ganesh had a very heavy meal and was returning home on his mouse, when a snake crossed their path. Seeing this, the mouse got very frightened and ran away, in the process felling Ganesh. Ganesh fell and his stomach, which was very full, burst open. Seeing this the moon burst out laughing. Ganesh felt very humiliated, so he killed the snake and tied it around his stomach. He then gave chase to the moon who ran for his life. The moon managed to evade Ganesh

and hid in his palace. Ganesh soon came there and stood guard outside, telling the moon, "Where will you go now? You have to come out sooner or later and then I'll take my revenge".
It became very dark, as the moon refused to come out. This resulted in chaos on earth. The gods went and pled with Ganesh to free the moon. Ganesh finally relented and let the moon come out, but cursed him saying, " You hid in your house like a thief. Therefore, anybody who sees you on my birthday, will be implicated as a thief". This is the reason why we are not supposed to look at the moon on the auspices of Ganesh Chaturthi. This was also the reason why Shri Krishna was accused of stealing the Shymantaka gem".