Hundreds of Hindu faithful from Windsor and further afield gathered on the shore of the Detroit River Wednesday evening to celebrate the birth of the god Ganesh.
The Ganesh Viserjan, as it is known, marks the end of the 10-day festival which celebrates the pink, elephant-headed deity, one of the most widely revered in the Hindu pantheon.
“The aim behind it is to make the community unite,” said Paresh Pandya, the pundit of Windsor’s Hindu temple. Beyond praying to Ganesh, the members of the community pay respect to each other as well, Pandya said.
After singing prayers, accompanied by drumming and bells, volunteers lowered a clay idol of Ganesh into the river at McKee Park in the city’s west end. The idol is then left to disintegrate, symbolizing Ganesh’s reunification with the universe.
“The immersion is not the symbol of death,” said Siyaram Pandey, the president of the congregation and a University of Windsor researcher. “We’re inviting him to come back next year.”
Windsor s Hindu community celebrates the Ganesh Festival on the riverfront at McKee Park in Windsor on Wednesday, September 18, 2013. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE/The Windsor Star)
Pandey said the festival in Windsor has grown steadily over the past five years, with families coming from Michigan and also other parts of Ontario to celebrate. And it’s not just Hindus from India who take part in the festival, Pandey said. Among the crowd were faithful from Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Kenya, for example.
“This is open to everybody,” he said, including non-Hindus. Naturally, Pandey added, there is also a lot of food involved. “Indians are crazy about sweets,” he said. “So are our gods.”
The festival also helped the city’s Hindu community raise $20,000 to put toward construction of a new temple.
With more than 400 families in the Hindu community, Pandey said, the current temple — a former church on Cabana Road — isn’t big enough to accommodate everyone. Pandey said the community hopes to start building the new temple in 2014.
When the shovels hit the ground, you can bet Ganesh will be invoked. The deity is known as the remover of obstacles, the god of beginnings or “the first god,” as Pandya put it. Before embarking on a major task or project, Hindus start by praying to Ganesh, he said.
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Windsor s Hindu community celebrates the Ganesh Festival on the riverfront at McKee Park in Windsor on Wednesday, September 18, 2013. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE/The Windsor Star)
Windsor s Hindu community celebrates the Ganesh Festival on the riverfront at McKee Park in Windsor on Wednesday, September 18, 2013. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE/The Windsor Star)
Windsor s Hindu community celebrates the Ganesh Festival on the riverfront at McKee Park in Windsor on Wednesday, September 18, 2013. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE/The Windsor Star)
Windsor s Hindu community celebrates the Ganesh Festival on the riverfront at McKee Park in Windsor on Wednesday, September 18, 2013. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE/The Windsor Star)
Windsor s Hindu community celebrates the Ganesh Festival on the riverfront at McKee Park in Windsor on Wednesday, September 18, 2013. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE/The Windsor Star)
Windsor s Hindu community celebrates the Ganesh Festival on the riverfront at McKee Park in Windsor on Wednesday, September 18, 2013. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE/The Windsor Star)
Windsor s Hindu community celebrates the Ganesh Festival on the riverfront at McKee Park in Windsor on Wednesday, September 18, 2013. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE/The Windsor Star)
Windsor s Hindu community celebrates the Ganesh Festival on the riverfront at McKee Park in Windsor on Wednesday, September 18, 2013. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE/The Windsor Star)
Windsor s Hindu community celebrates the Ganesh Festival on the riverfront at McKee Park in Windsor on Wednesday, September 18, 2013. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE/The Windsor Star)
