Bhajans for Ganesh Chaturthi
Aartis and Devotional Songs for Ganapati
The Ganesh Chaturthi festival lasts for ten days till Anant Chaturdashi. Huge Ganapati idols are erected in public places and worship and celebration go hand in hand throughout the day. There are different types of devotional songs that are sung by the devotees.
Ganapati Aartis
An aarti is a special type of devotional song. It is sung at specified times when the congregation stands up to worship the deity. The aarti refers to a small flame that is used in this process to propitiate the deity. In Hinduism, each deity has his or her own special aarti and many have more than one.
The most popular Ganapati aarti is Ganapati Ki Seva Mangala Meva. The aarti refers to the many symbols associated with the worship of Ganesh. One is the ‘gur ke modak’ or the special sweet that Ganesh is fond of and that is distributed as prasad after the aarti is over. The other reference is to his ‘mushak vahana’ or mouse vehicle that he always rides on.
The aarti also indicates the date and time of his birth as the month of Bhadra, the fourth day of the Shukla Paksha (fortnight of the waxing moon) at noon. It is at this date and time that the idol of the deity is formally installed.
Bhajans for Ganesh Chaturthi
Once the aarti is over, the regular devotional songs take over. At one time these were always performed live by musicians and singers. Today, recorded bhajans are oftenplayed. These bhajans describe the characteristic features of Ganapati, his being the son of Shiva and Parvati and his many exploits that are embedded in the Puranas and in folklore.
One of the popular bhajans is Jaya Ganesh Deva, which translates as Salutations to Lord Ganesh. The first verse of the bhajan is as follows: "Ek dant dayavant, Char bhuja dhari / Mathe per sindur sohe, Muse ki sawari."
It translates as: “One tusked, benevolent God with four arms / On his forehead is the saffron paste and he rides a mouse.” While Ganesh was writing the Mahabharata, which Veda Vyasa was dictating to him, his quill broke. Ganesh immediately broke off one of his tusks and continued writing so that the sage’s flow of thought would not be disrupted.
Ganesh Chaturthi in Hindi Films
Hindi film songs have become an integral part of all religious festivals in India. Popular Hindi film songs are sung along with bhajans. In fact religious songs play a strategic marketing role for Hindi movies. If a movie is scheduled to be released around Ganesh Chaturthi, it will feature a major sequence of Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations including a song. This gives an impetus to the box office revenues.
One movie featuring a Ganapati film song was Agnipath, released in 1990. The movie starred Amitabh Bachchan, at the peak of his career, singing the Ganapati song. This song is ever popular even today. Its first line is a refrain that can be heard on the last day of the Ganapati festival.
On the last day of the festival the idols are immersed in a body of water, the sea, river or lake, whichever is available. While taking the idols to the immersion points the devotees chant "pudchya varshi laukaraya,' which means “come soon next year” in Marathi. Marathi is the language spoken in Maharashtra, which is where the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations have the most fervor.
Sources
- Ganapati-ki-seva, Accessed at HindiDevotionalBlog.com
- Jaya Ganesh, Accessed at BhajansOnline.Blogspot.com
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