Religious fervour marks Ganesh Chaturthi in Kangra

Our Correspondent

Kangra, September 13

Religious processions were taken out from Ujjain to Donga Bazaar and Geeta Bhawan for the installation of Lord Ganesha’s idols to mark the beginning of Ganesh Chaturthi here on Thursday.

The idols, which took 15 days to complete, have been made by artistes from outside the state. The processions began from Ujjain and passed through the New General Bus Stand, Dharamsala road and old bus stand, before one idol was installed at Donga Bazaar in the vicinity of the Bajreshwari Devi Temple and another at Geeta Bhawan near the temple.

According to the Hindu mythology, the temple is one of the 52 ‘Shakti peeths’, where the left breast of Goddess Sati had fallen when Lord Shiva took her consigned body to the Himalayas. The Goddess is Lord Ganesha’s mother so a pandal was set up near the temple.

One procession was organised by the Gold Smith Association and another by the Sidhpeeth Boma Neekaitan Haridwar.

The devotees raised a slogan — ‘Ganpati Bapa Morya’— and carried the idols. Prasad was distributed among the devotees en-route to the pandal.

Tilak Soni, one of the organisers, said on September 19, a ‘bhandara’ would be organised in Donga Bazaar. On the culmination of the festival, the idol would be immersed in Banner Khad on September 21, he added.