First Darshan of Lalbaugcha Raja With Release of Picture Postcards and Special Cancellation!

Ganapati (Lord Ganesh) Festival, the biggest 11-day social-cultural-religious festival of Maharashtra, begins this Wednesday, August 27, 2025 with thousands of Sarvajanik (public) and Gharguti (household) Ganesh idols being installed and worshipped across Mumbai and Maharashtra. Throughout the decades of this mass-based pulsating Ganesh Festival Lalbaugcha Raja Puja has been enjoying a special place among the millions of devotees, not only of the state but across India, with His First Darshan being a most sought-after event following which the endless queues mark all of the 11 days. 

For Ganesh Festival-2025 the First Darshan of Lalbaugcha Raja for the digital and print media was organized on Sunday evening, the 24th of August 2025, by The Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal at Lalbaug, Mumbai. 

On this occasion, Amitabh Singh, Chief Postmaster General of Maharashtra Postal Circle, released a set of four picture postcards on "Ganesh Utsav: Cultural Heritage of Maharashtra" along with a special cancellation.

These four Picture Postcards are specially designed for this event by Padma Shri awardee Achyut Palav who was present for the release function. 

Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganesh Utsav Mandal Chairman Babasaheb Sudam Kambale; Secretary Shri Sudhir Sitaram Salavi; Dr. Sudhir Jakhere, APMG (BD) Maharashtra Circle; Yadagiri Nyalapelli, Asstt. Director (PSR) Maharashtra Circle and Philatelist Ashwini Manjure were among those present on the occasion.

Amitabh Singh conveyed his greetings to all the devotees of Lord Ganesh and the philatelists across Maharashtra and Goa.

Ganapati Bappa Morya!

Courtesy: ADPSR, Maharashtra Postal Circle, Mumbai.

Why Navaratri and Durga Puja Delayed in 2020!

The 11-day Ganesh Festival, celebrated all over Maharashtra and other parts of the country, ushers in the festive season in India, it normally falls during August-September every year as per the calculations of the lunisolar Hindu Calendar. After the immersion on the 14^th day of the bright phase or the waxing moon phase or Shukla Paksha of the lunar month, full moon or Purnima occurs the next day, and the following fortnight of the darkening phase or the waning phase or Krishna Paksha is observed as Pitru Paksha when people pay homage to their ancestors and perform the main shradh or funeral rituals on the culminating day of the new moon or Amavasya, that is Mahalaya. Next day, the brightening phase of the moon starts again which is called Devi Paksha and during this divine fortnight of the Goddess awakening, Navaratri and Durga Puja are celebrated. Hymns of Goddess Durga resonate the air on the auspicious day of Mahalaya, and people of India, energized by the sweet tinge of the Autumn season, immerse themselves in worshiping their favorite Goddesses along with the festivities that effectively break all religious and other barriers. However, this year 2020, after Mahalaya on the 17^th of September, Navaratri is not going to start from the next day and Durga Puja not going to start six days later. You’ll have to wait exactly a month for Navaratri and 35 days for Durga Puja. Most of us already know this when both almanacs of the Hindu calendar agreed on this and announced the delay during Durga Puja celebrations last year, that is 2019.

The basic reason for this delay is the fact that the month of Ashwin that starts on September 17 happens to be mala maas or unholy month as two new moons (Amavasya) occur during the 30 days, the first Amavasya is the Mahalaya day on 17 September and the second one on 16^th October. As per the holy scriptures, a month is considered unholy if two new moons occur and all auspicious rituals except for funeral rites are avoided. This phenomenon repeats itself approximately every 32.5 months as a result of the intricate additions/omissions process of leap days and leap months in the Hindu calendar, and a mala maas can be applicable to any of the 12 months. On earlier occasions, Ashwin had been the unholy month in 1982 and in 2001. Therefore in 2020, the nine-day Navaratri festivities are going to start from October 17 and the Mahashasthi, the start of the five-day Durga Puja, would  be on the 22^nd October; both festivals falling in the month of Kartik. Vijay Dashami or Dussehrais to be observed on October 26. The rest of the Indian festival calendar will not be affected.

The Indian festive season began this year on a subdued and sober note due to the raging COVID-19 pandemic. The government of Maharashtra had appealed to all the devotees to avoid the usual festivities and the idols were set to not exceed four feet in height. The most visited and the famous Lalbaughchya Raja celebrations in Mumbai were cancelled well in advance with the organizers announcing medical camps instead during the days. Excellent arrangements were made on the immersion day with the state government providing artificial ponds and water tankers at every nook and corner of Mumbai and the state, most of the idols being eco-friendly. Indeed, idol makers bore the brunt of the scaled-down festivities.

The scale of festivities during the upcoming Navaratri and Durga Puja festivals is also caught in the agony of uncertainty with the pandemic surge refusing to cooperate. This is also yet to be seen if the mala maas delay would eventually help the organizers and the public participate in the festivities more freely and wholeheartedly. The idol makers continue to suffer though, with the usual flurry of activities and orders totally missing so far.

Goddess Durga is believed to be a demon-killer and a destroyer of all evil forces on earth. The mother-shakti forms of the Goddess descend on earth every year with this very objective and the mortals on earth intone and evoke the Devi’s wrath on the wrong-doers. People of India in 2020, caught up in the throes of one of the worst years in history, would hope fervently that the Goddess shower mercy on them and deliver them of the misery, sufferings and deaths. However, the people must also observe the sacred duties on their part as the challenging times demand. The wait goes on…

Maharashtra: Ashtavinayak Yatra Or Pilgrimage: Day 3

We got a little late because we had to check out of our hotel this third day being our last of the tour. Our bus was underway around 7am. This morning we were served breakfast at the hotel.

Vighneshwar Temple: Our seventh temple of the Ashtavinayaka tour was the Vighneshwar Temple at Ozhar. It is situated on the banks of Kukadi River, 95 km away from Pune city, just off the Pune-Nashik Highway, in the Junnar taluka of Pune district. The temple is enclosed on all sides by high stone walls, and its pinnacle is made of gold. The Ganesha form worshipped here is called Vighneshwar, ‘Lord of obstacles") or Vighnahar (spelt also as Vignahara, "Remover of obstacles") and is associated with the legend of Ganesha defeating Vignasura, the demon of obstacles.

The temple is surrounded by a walled compound with a large gateway flanked by two large stone Dvarapala (gatekeepers) sculptures and a row of four musicians in bas relief on the lintel. One can view the Lenyadri shrine and Shivneri Fort standing on the wall. Two large stone Deepamalas (lamp towers) stand near the gateway in front of a fine corridor of seven cusped arches. There are owaris (small room for meditation) on both sides of the gateway. The courtyard is tiled. The central temple has three entrances with sculptured side posts and lintels; the east one being the central one. The central one has a lintel with a Ganesha in relief surrounded with monkeys and parrots on trees. The temple has two halls, with first one (20 feet high) having the entrances to the north and south too and has the image of Dhundiraj Ganesha. The next one (10 feet high) has a white marble mushika (the mouse, which is the vehicle of Ganesha) seating in attendance. The temple walls are filled with murals and colorful sculptures. The shikhara - over the sanctum - is covered with gold foil. It also has two wide stone Prakarams (outer path outside a Hindu sanctum). Ozhar is prescribed as the seventh temple to be visited in the Ashtavinayaka circuit, though pilgrims often visit Ozar fifth, as it is a more convenient route. However, we have visited this as our seventh destination only.

Riverside, Ozhar

Girijatmaj Temple: Our eight and last temple of the tour was the spectacular mountain cave temple, Girijatmaj, at Lenyadri ('Lena' in Marathi meaning "cave" and 'adri' in Sanskrit meaning "mountain" or "stone") very near to Ozhar. The temple is situated within a series of 30 rock-cut Buddhist caves on a mountain, which are also called Ganesha Caves—the seventh cave housing the Ganesha temple. The temple hall with the altar has around 18 rock-cut cells used as meditation rooms. Situated 97 km from Pune, you have to climb 307 steps to reach the temple.  The idol here is not a separate idol but has been carved on a stone wall of the cave, from which only one eye of the idol can be seen. The mountain temple campus are full of monkeys who mix well with the devotees and accept the food offered.

Would Look in Spring

‘Girijatmaj’ literally means Ganesha the son, atmajmeaning son and Girija another name of Goddess Parvati or Goddess Durga. Legends have it that desiring to have a son; Parvati underwent austerities meditating on Ganesha, for twelve years at Lenyadri. Pleased by her penance, Ganesha blessed her with the boon that he will be born as her son. Accordingly, on the fourth lunar day of the bright fortnight of the Hindu month Bhadrapada (Ganesh chaturthi day), Parvati worshipped a clay image of Ganesha, which came alive. Thus, Ganesha was born to Parvati at Lenyadri. Later, he was named Gunesha by Lord Shiva. Shiva gave him a boon that whosoever remembers him before starting a job, will successfully complete that task. For 15 years Gunesha grew up at Lenyadri. Sindhu, who knew that his death would be at the hands of Gunesha, sent demons like Krur, Balasur, Vyomasur, Kshemma, Kushal, and many more, to kill Gunesha, but all of them were instead killed by him. At the age of six, the architect-god Vishwakarma worshipped Gunesha and endowed him with the weapons of Pasha (noose), Parashu (axe), Ankusha(hook) and Padma (Lotus). Once, little Gunesha knocked an egg from a mango tree, from which emerged a peacock. Gunesha mounted the peacock and assumed the name Mayureshwara. Mayureshwara later killed Sindhu and his army-generals at Morgaon, the most important Ashtavinayaka temple.

Twenty-six of the caves are individually numbered. The caves face to the south and are numbered serially from east to west. Caves 6 and 14 are chaitya-grihas (chapels), while the rest are viharas (dwellings for monks). The latter are in the form of dwellings and cells. There are also several rock-cut water cisterns; two of them have inscriptions. The layout of the caves, in general, is similar in pattern and shape. They mostly have one or two sides with two long benches for occupants' use. The caves date from between the 1st and 3rd century AD; the Ganesha shrine situated in Cave 7 is dated to the 1st century AD, though the date of conversion to a Hindu shrine is unknown. All of the caves arise from Hinayana Buddhism. 

 

Our fellow passengers have shown a perfect sense of camaraderie and support in climbing nearly 350 stone steps to the temple

—inspired by the Republic Day being observed on 26^TH January, 2014 today. The young helped the older and waited for them to get their breath back now then on the way up. Ashtavinayaka tour has been quite hectic but very fulfilling for us. Taking three days off during a continuously busy schedule we planned our very first Ashtavinayaka trip and completed the full darshan thanks to the blessings of Lord Ganesha. Religious beliefs and sentiments would naturally vary from individual to individual, but you do not need to be bound by a particular religion to visit such wonderfully vibrant ancient sites. Like the way cosmopolitan Mumbai celebrates Ganesha Festival every year.

We were given lunch at a nearby hotel. For the first time during this hectic tour people were seen taking their time and relaxing a lot. The bus dropped us back in Mumbai around 8 pm.