A God for all seasons

After the British left, one of the purposes for the celebratory fest no longer existed, but the second, more important aim, can never really lose its significance. It is as vital today as it was a hundred years ago, perhaps even more so. And to attain this goal, Mumbai8217;s citizens have striven diligently yearafter year and given the festival as broad a dimension as it could have obtained.

It is rightly said that wherever Maharashtrians go, they take two things with them: Ganpati and drama. The festival first spread from the city to other parts of the state and then to other regions of India. Today, it is celebrated with fervour in all parts of the globe. Mumbai8217;s role in this amazing spread has been exemplary.

Nowhere is the festival observed on as big a scale as it is in the metropolis. The only comparison that can be made is with the Durga Puja in Calcutta. But the nature of celebrations in the city is far different from that in Calcutta. While the focus during Durga Puja is on religion, Mumbai8217;s Ganpati sees the cultural and social dimensions easily overshadowing religious rituals of observance.

Look at the various tableaux at Ganpati mandals across the city this year. The themes are overridingly social and aimed at creating public awareness on crucial national issues like the just-concluded Kargilconflict and the threat caused to the environment by that dangerous non-biodegradable pollutant, plastic. The Ganesh festival in Mumbai has always reflected societal concerns more prominently than the celebrations elsewhere. If one wants to see brilliant decoration and equally eye-popping light and sound effects, one might as well go to Pune. Ganpati in Mumbai makes a direct appeal to the social consciousness.

Then there is the involvement of the ordinary Mumbaikar in the celebration of the public festival. Scarcely is such involvement seen in places like Pune, Aurangabad, Nagpur or Chennai. The average Mumbai citizen, forever burdened by everyday problems, keeps aside his/her individual, familial and professional worries and participates wholeheartedly in the annual fest. The bustle and activity of the city continues; only, for ten days of the festival, it shifts from daily chores to a higher plane.

Room for participation is aplenty, and it acts as a training ground for many a person interested in publicaffairs. Youngsters who are part of the different Ganpati mandals get an opportunity to develop their organisational and managerial skills, therefore it is imperative that more educated youngsters enter the fray and take charge of all the mandals. It will help them grow personally and also put a halt to the slow degeneration we see.

Yes, as society has degenerated, so has this most magnificent of festivals. Certain distortions have crept in, and negativist, obscurantist and even criminal forces have attempted to exploit this festival for their own ends and succeeded to an extent. Educated youth can undo this harm by shedding their aloofness. The greater the participation of educated, well-informed youth in the festival, the more meaningful it will prove to be.

After all, the cultural zeitgeist still hasn8217;t caught up with Mumbai8217;s Ganpati, and there8217;s considerable scope for making the festivities more meaningful. Ganpati is the Lord of Knowledge, the bestower of wisdom. Greater intellectual inputs into thefestivities will result in the growth of an art and beauty-worshipping culture. Many programmes are held during the ten days of Ganeshotsav. They need to be more focussed on the development of the various arts, especially the performing arts like dance, music and theatre.

New talent will emerge due to such a sustained focus. Several of the top performers in the field of arts and culture have launched their career during the Ganesh festival, notable among them Prabhakar Panshikar, a towering personality in Marathi theatre, who openly acknowledges that it was this festival that provided the first outlet to his latent talent. A conscious and a far more organised effort must be made through this festival to encourage fresh talent and facilitate the flowering of art and culture.

In Pune, no immersion of Ganpati idols takes place. Only in Mumbai it does, but before they immerse their idols, Mumbaikars immerse themselves in the grand celebrations. Thanks to such involvement over the years, the city has addedits own special flavour to the celebrations. In return, the festival has given Mumbai a cultural richness it otherwise would have been deprived of. The one has enriched the other.

As told to Vaibhav Purandare

Jayant Salgaonkar is proprietor of Kalnirnay almanac and a religious scholar