Ganpati bappa morya! Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations have burst forth and the playful benign deity bobs between swelling crowds. No god is perhaps hailed so heartily as one’s own, no idol reproduced in as many variations and no object of worship seen as so playful and so non-threatening.
A Vishnu and a Shiva temple may rarely be seen next to each other, Shaivites and Vaishnavites may be rivals but Ganesh idols co-exist with all other gods and goddesses. Ganesh is happy to sit next to his immortal colleagues because he gets along with everyone.
In fact, Ganesh cuts across the Hindu pantheon as well as across classes. From super star Salman Khan to mill workers in Mumbai’s Lalbaug, the potbellied elephant-headed god of Read More
