Ganesh Puja or worship is referred to as Ganesha Chaturthi or Vinayaka Chaturthi and is the day Lord Ganesha is worshiped all across India. The festival day is always the Fourth day of the waxing moon of the dark fortnight. Normally this happens during the English calendar period of August-September and the festival lasts for a massive ten days. For those that do not know, Lord Ganesha is the Elephant headed god in the Hindu pantheon and is considered the first worshipped among all Hindu gods. He is the god who removes obstacles, grants wisdom to the worshipper, and is part of every religious and social event.

No worship commences without first worshipping him, such is his power in Hinduism. There are many wonderful tales connected with his creation and of how he came to have the face of an elephant. Of the many, one of the commonest tales, it is said the Lord Shani or Saturn whose glance could destroy, it is he who looked on the face of the baby boy to Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati, thereby destroying his face. At the behest of Goddess Parvati, Lord Shiva procured the head of an elephant and brought him back to life. From that moment onwards, Lord Ganesha was accepted to have the face of an elephant and the body of a human.

In India, western India sees the biggest celebration of this grand festive event in comparison to the rest of the country. People can see large temporary bamboo structures decorated with coloured cloth covering that  and houses the huge idols of Ganesha and worshipped during this entire ten-day period all over. It is believed that in western India, King Shivaji began the present form of the ten day worshipped. He wanted to create an occasion that fostered unity among the people of his kingdom. However, in the rest of India, the worship of Ganesha is undertaken with equal fervor however, the festivities may not stretch up to ten days as in western India. All the Hindus who live in various nations across the world also celebrate this day be it in the USA or Great Britain, to some places in Africa and many more countries around the world.

There are many aspects to the worship of Lord Ganesha, which sets it apart from worship of other Hindu gods, and Goddesses. He is usually offered tiny shoots of grass, which is called Durva in Indian Language. Further, he is offered Coconuts, as it is his favorite food, followed by Ladoos, which are round Indian sweets prepared with Clarified butter. In fact, there are so many ritualistic differences in Ganesha worship, which is quite different from the puja of any other Hindu god.

Another very interesting fact is the symbology of the Ganesha image, which many would not perhaps know. Let us look at the image of Ganesha and explain. He has a trunk that allows him to not just pick up large objects, but he can also pick up a needle if required. He has large ears, which means he listens to every prayer his devotee makes, in contrast he has small eyes, which gives him very sharp eyesight. In comparison, his large ears and a small mouth denote he listens more than he speaks. He has four hands, one of which holds a lotus that symbolizes enlightenment, and his other hand holds a goad, which denotes that he guides his devotees towards the correct direction in life. In another hand, he holds a bowl of Laddus, which signifies the sweet rewards for leading a life guided by wisdom. His fourth hand is poised to grant us our prayers. He has a broken tooth, which denotes that the world is one and there is absolutely no duality. He is shown riding atop his steed which is a rat and this denotes that he has control over his desires which is a trait humankind should also follow. In fact there is more to this and would require a number of paragraphs just to explain the symbology. However, we hope this small effort to explain easily will give you a fair idea on the importance of Ganesha is the Hindu religious scheme. We pray to Ganesha to grant us the wisdom and help us lead a fruitful life.