Religion and Politics

Indians Are Partying and Praying for Elephant-Headed God Ganesh

NPR’s Lauren Frayer reports from India’s west coast on the Ganpati festival, a celebration of Lord Ganesha, the elephant-headed Hindu god of wisdom and good luck. Frayer writes, “Families buy a Ganesh idol for the occasion, and pray over it at home, before processing toward the beach. Neighborhoods get together to erect temporary stages called pandals, on which they place giant Ganesh statues, and hold block parties around them.” The festival was started as a trick by a freedom fighter in 1893, when all public gatherings aside from religious ones were banned by the British.

Read at NPR

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