After eleven days of celebrating and worshipping everyone’s beloved Lord Ganesha, preparations for his return to his own abode begin. For many, it is a time of bittersweet emotions as they bid Ganesha farewell and entreat him to come back quickly the next year. The idols of Ganesha are transported, amidst much dance and celebration, to the nearest body of water where they are then ceremonially immersed. This is known as visarjan: the act of returning an object used for worship back to nature.
People perform the visarjan for their Ganesha idols on the first, third, fifth, or seventh day after bringing them home. While not everyone keeps their idols of Ganesha for the entire duration that the celebrations last, the biggest and most popular idols around Mumbai bid farewell to their Ganpatis on the eleventh day which falls on the occasion of Anant Chaturdashi, a festival dedicated to Lord Vishnu. On this day, enormous processions of celebrating devotees make the journey to the Arabian Sea where the Ganpati idols are then transported farther into sea by boats and immersed.
The final day of the celebrations devoted to Lord Ganesha sees as much pomp and splendour as the day of his arrival. Devotees turn up by the hundreds, flinging coloured powder into the air and colouring each other’s cheeks with it while troupes of drummers carrying the huge dhols play them with fervent energy for hours, never seeming to tire. The devotees in attendance break out into energetic dances, chanting Ganesha’s name along with songs devoted to him that urge his quick return. The general atmosphere across the city turns electric, hordes of people accompanying the lord’s procession, and hundreds of others running up to the roofs to watch them go by.
The largest of the idols are loaded into the backs of trucks or lorries large enough to accommodate them, with the whole vehicle decorated and draped in flowers and garlands. Priests travel with the idols after performing a ceremonial aarti that flags off the idol’s journey to its visarjan. Owing to the size and fragility of these idols, the trucks drive on at a slow pace, allowing the idol to remain safe while also letting the devotees following the procession to follow at a manageable pace.
In the more recent years, there are hundreds of volunteers at every procession tasked with handing out bottles of water and small refreshments for those following the processions. Law and order agents and traffic policemen are kept busy trying to direct and redirect the processions along with the ubiquitous traffic across the city. The rhythmic beat set by the dhols lasts well into the night as the processions make their way through the streets.
The best known and most visited sites for visarjan are Juhu Chowpatty, Khar Danda, Shivaji Park Chowpatty, Versova Beach, and Girgaon Chowpatty. The beaches are usually filled with still-celebrating devotees until early next morning which is when the last of the grand Ganesha idols make their way into the sparkling sea.
Curious to learn more about Lord Ganesha? Click here to dive into the fascinating stories and rich history surrounding this beloved deity.
