Ganesh Chaturthi is a festival that pays homage to Lord Ganesh, the remover of obstacles, and celebrates the day of his birth. Many recognize that Lord Ganesh brings order into this universe and worship him before embarking on a new endeavour, intellectual journey, or business enterprise. Therefore, it is common to see images or statues of him in these places.
One of Hinduism’s most revered personalities, Ganesha is widely recognised for having the head of an elephant and is the son of Shiva (the God of Transformation) and his wife Parvati.
Every year, his birth is celebrated with a 10-day festival, during which four main rituals, namely Prana Pratishta, Shodashopachara, Uttarpuja and Ganpati Visarjan are performed.
Festivities begin as Ganesha deities, generally made of clay and decorated with flowers and lights, are set up in private homes and/or temporary public stages called pandals. Priests then conduct Prana Pratishta, a ceremony in which mantras are recited, invoking Ganesha’s presence into the clay deity, after which he is offered formal prayers in a 16-step worship called Shodashopachara.
During each day of the celebration, prasad, or food blessed by the deity, is distributed throughout the community. Followers also meditate 
on the many aspects of his form, which symbolize deeper spiritual truths, while many choose to observe fasts.
On the last day of the festival, Uttarpuja is performed, a ritual bidding Ganesha farewell. After, he is carried in a public procession with kirtan (devotional music) to a nearby body of water in which he is immersed. This custom is Ganpati Visarjan, and it symbolizes his return to Mount Kailash, a peak in the Himalayas where Shiva and Parvati are said to reside.
Though no one really knows exactly how far back in history Ganesha Chaturthi has been observed, some historians believe the festival became a major public event in the 1600s when the Indian king, Shivaji Bhosale I, first sponsored the celebration.
The festival is said to have been revitalized later in the 19th century as a symbol of India’s independence movement, by freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak. In 1892, the cities of Pune and Mumbai became packed with devotees, despite the fact that such large gatherings were not allowed by the British. The 10-day festival was celebrated with patriotic gusto fueled by a united deep devotion and love for Ganesha. To this 
day, Hindu festivals continue to be celebrated with similar pomp and fervour, signifying the everlasting power such devotion can generate.
There were dozens of celebrations of Ganesha Chaturthi around Australia organised by the Hindu communities. HCA Adelaide chapter organised small celebrations at Adelaide Zoo where the Ganesha statue has been installed. People of the Hindu Community have shown amazing creativity in Ganesha decorations as Ganesha celebrations have been a showcase of creative decoration for a long time.
Once there lived a demon king by the name of GAJASURA, who had the form of an elephant(GAJA). He performed great penance(tapasya) for Bhagwan Shiva and asked him “Hey Deva, I would ask you to stay in my stomach” as a boon. Bhagwan Shiva who was very pleased with the demon king’s penance gave the boon he asked and stayed in the stomach of the Gajasura.
In the meantime, Parvati Devi, wife of Bhagwan Shiva, who was waiting for him got worried, as her husband was not to be seen for many days. She then called upon her brother Sri Maha Vishnu. Maha Vishnu promised Parvathi Devi that he would get back her husband.
Shri Maha Vishnu along with other deities like Indra, Brahma etc. hatched a plan and went to Gajasura’s kingdom by changing themselves into GANGIREDDU( this is a part of Andhra tradition wherein bulls are decorated, and trained to make movements according to the music) and gods were disguised as humans playing musical instruments players.
Gajasura heard about the popular bull and the music played by the gods and summoned them to his court. Gajasura was impressed with their show and told them to ask for anything they wanted and he would for sure give them. Then Maha Vishnu said that the Gangieddu was none other than Nandi and wanted Bhagwan Shiva back.
Gajasura understood that this was his end and he had no other way out but to stand on his word. He once again prayed to Bhagwan Shiva and asked him to come out of his stomach. He also asked that his head be prayed in all the lokas since his death was imminent and that Shiva should wear his skin as clothes. Bhagwan Shiva who was very impressed with his penance and devotion agreed to everything Gajasura asked. Then Nandi pierced the stomach of Gajasura to get Bhagwan Shiva out of the Gajasura’s stomach
Birth of Ganesha:
Parvati Devi was joyous when she knew that her husband was coming back. She performs abhyanga snana ( this is a form of bath taken by applying oil to the whole body massage until the whole oil gets into the body and then applying sunnipindi(body scrub made of course Urad dal powder and turmeric) to the body and the powder peels of taking all the dust. Then she made a boy with the fallen flour and gave life to it. Parvati Devi asks the boy to be her guard at the front door while she takes a bath and tells him not to let anyone enter the house.
While the child stays guard at the door Bhagwan Shiva comes back and tries to get inside, but the child stops him. Shiva gets angry and the child fights with Shiva but in a fit of rage, Shiva kills the boy by cutting his head.
Parvati receives lord Shiva with affection then In the course of talking they discuss the child. Shiva tells Parvati that he had killed him and Parvathi gets very sad and narrates the whole story of his birth. Parvathi Devi is very sad and angry by looking at the child with an elephant head and threatens to take away all the wind in the universe so that everyone in the universe would die without oxygen like her child. Shiva repents for what he had done and the only way that he can bring the boy to life is by attaching a new head. Then he remembers the boon he gave Gajasura and brings the boy to life by attaching the head of Gajasura and naming him Gajanana (elephant-headed). Parvathi felt very sad when she looked at her child with an elephant head. Then Shri Maha Vishnu pacified Parvathi Devi and told her that Gajanana would be prayed upon at the beginning of every ritual, event or
new project and without that, any ritual wouldn’t be fruitful so Gajanana became Vighna (obstacles) nayaka (leader), in short Vinayaka means remover of obstacles. Then all other gods gave him a part of their powers and weapons to make him the most powerful god who can fight with anyone or give any boon to his devotees.
new project and without that, any ritual wouldn’t be fruitful so Gajanana became Vighna (obstacles) nayaka (leader), in short Vinayaka means remover of obstacles. Then all other gods gave him a part of their powers and weapons to make him the most powerful god who can fight with anyone or give any boon to his devotees.Commander of Ganas (Shiva’s army).
Once there was a need to raise Ganas (army) to fight with the Rakshasas but Shiva and the other gods could not find a suitable Gana (army) nayak(leader) to lead that army. Then Kumaraswamy, the second son of Shiva comes forward to be the gana nayaka but Gajanana also wants the post. So Shiva asks them to take a test and the winner would be the gana nayak. Shiva asks them to go around the universe and bathe in all the holy rivers in all worlds and return home and whoever returns first will be appointed as the head of the ganas. Kumaraswamy suddenly gets confident that he will win as he has the flying peacock as his vehicle and makes fun of fat and stout Gajanana and his tiny little rat.Kumaraswamy flies off on his Peacock to complete the test and Gajanana on his Rat. But every time Gajanan goes to a river, he sees Kumaraswamy coming out of the river. Then Gajanan felt sad as he was not fast enough. Then Narada Maharshi suggests to Gajanana that there are all seven worlds at the feet of parents. Gajanana then understands what he meant and does pradakshinas (Circling around) to the parents and prays to their feet by chanting the Narayana Mantra. Now Kumaraswamy sees his brother coming out of every river that he goes and gets surprised. When Kumaraswamy finishes the test and comes back, he finds Gajanana is already home. When he finds out how he was there before him even though he was the fastest, his pride crashes. Kumaraswamy realises his ignorance and understands the capability and wiseness of his brother and requests him to place Ganesha as the Head of Ganas. So the Gajanana becomes the Ganesha (leader of armies)
This ceremony of placing Gajanana as the head of the ganas was done on Bhadrapadha Shudha Chaviti and from that day on it is celebrated as Vinayaka Chavithi or Ganesh Chaturthi. All the gods and sages etc. of all worlds presented Ganesha with a lot of different food items like Bananas, Coconuts, sweets like Laddu, kudumulu (modak) etc. Ganesha ate most of them as he loved food. Then after eating all the food he goes to take blessings of his parents and tries to bend down to touch their feet. But he struggled because his stomach was so full of all the food he ate and he was already fat and stout. The Moon who recides on the head of the Shiva laughs at the struggles of Ganesha and Ganesha is subjected to DISHITI (also known as NAZAR in Hindi, the legend says one’s negative stare can harm even a black stone) and causes the stomach of Ganesh to break open and Ganesha dies.
Parvati gets very angry and then curses Moon “As my son died because of your negative stare and laugh, from now on whoever sees you (Moon) will be falsely blamed for the things they did not do and cause pain to them”.
Around the same time, the famous seven sages (Saptarshis) were doing pradakshina to the homam (fire ritual) along with their wives. The fire god(Agnideva) gets attracted to the wives of sages but he cannot as they are the wives of the great sages. When Agni Deva’s wife knows this the wife of lord Agni, tries to bring happiness to her husband, transforms herself to look like the wife of the sages and spends time with her husband. Swaha Devi transforms to look like the wife of six sages except for ARUNDHATI(the famous site). The seven sages by chance see this and think that it is their wives that are present with lord Agni and leave their wives. This was the result of the wives seeing the Moon after the curse of Parvati. 
The wives of the seven sages go to Brahma and pray to him for their innocence. Shiva who knows everything, calls for the seven sages and pacifies them by narrating the truth that it was in fact the wife of Agni who transformed herself to look like the wives of the sages. Then Brahma along with all the others goes to Kailash and gives life to the dead Ganesha and prays Parvati to withdraw her curse.
Parvati relieved of the pain, is happy to see her son and so she reduces the intensity of the curse by stating that “ the curse would prevail only on the day when Ganapati was dead because of Moon” i.e. on the 4th day of Bhadrapada Masam. (Bhadrapada Shudha chaviti). So people from that day onwards refrained from looking at the moon on the day of Vinayaka Chaviti.
In Dwapara yuga one-day sage Narada came to see Shri Krishna in the city of Dwaraka. He informed him of the curse of Parvati, narrated the whole story and advised him not to see the moon today as it was Vinayaka Chaviti. Shri Krishna made all the people of his kingdom aware of this and he also was careful not to look at the moon. But that night when he was milking the cow, he saw the reflection of the moon in the milk. He immediately remembers what Narada had said and prepares himself to face the false allegation he might be dragged into.After some time Yadava King SATRAJITT visits Shri Krishna and shows him a diamond by the name of Shamantaka Mani, which was given to Satrajit by the Lord Sun. The speciality of the diamond is, that it gives out eight kgs of gold every day. Then Krishna asks Satrajit to give to King Ugrasena for the best use for the welfare of all people. But Satrajit refuses and Krishna lets it go.
Once Prasena, the brother of Satrajit, goes hunting wearing the diamond. Looking at the diamond and presuming it to be meat Loin attacks and kills Prasena and takes the diamond. A bear has a look at the diamond with the Loin and fights with it and takes the diamond to his home which is a cave and ties it to the cradle in which his daughter is sleeping for her to play. The next day as Prasena doesn’t return, Satrajit blames Krishna for killing Prasena for the diamond. Krishna realises that this blame was due to looking at the reflection of the moon in milk on Vinaya Chaturthi.
In order to free himself of the blame, Krishna goes to the forest looking for Prasena and finds his body. He finds lion marks on Prasen’s body and follows the footsteps of Loin, after some time comes to a place where he sees that there has been a fight between a Lion and a Bear. He then follows the footsteps of the Bear and reaches the cave of the bear. Krishna enters the cave and sees the diamond tied to the cradle. He tries to take it and the girl starts crying hearing that the bear comes and attacks Krishna. Krishna fights back with the bear. The fight goes on for 28 days and the bear loses all its energy and realizes that Krishna is none other than RAMA. The bear is none other than JAMBAVANTHA the king of bears and aide of Rama in Tretayuga. He then remembers how after the war with Ravana, Rama grants a boon to Jambavanta, and Jambavanti foolishly asks for a duel with Rama. Rama grants and says that his boon will be fulfilled later and now Krishna has come to fulfil the boon as both Rama and Krishna are the avatars (forms) of Shri Maha Vishnu. He then prays to Krishna who relieves Jambavantha of all the pains. Jambavanta along with the diamond also gives him his daughter Jambavati and requests him to accept her as his wife. Krishna agrees and returns to Dwaraka along with the diamond and the girl.
Krishna then returns the diamond to Satrajit and narrates the whole story. Satrajit apologises and offers Krishna not only the diamond but also his daughter Satyabhama. Krishna rejects the diamond and accepts Satyabhama as his wife.
then all the people and sages ask Krishna that when it was so hard for Shri Krishna himself to prove innocence then what can common people do? Krishna then tells everyone that those who listen to the story of Ganesha’s birth and Syamntaka Mani after performing the Vinayaka Vratam and place the AKSHINTALU( rice which is prepared by mixing it with pasupu (turmeric) and are used to do pooja) on their heads would be freed from the curse if they accidentally see the Moon.
