Ganesh Chaturthi: Story, Puja Vidhi and Visarjan Guide

Chaturthi is the fourth day of the moon’s bright half, and on the bright Chaturthi of the month of Bhadrapada families bring Lord Ganesh home as a guest. Ganesh Chaturthi honours him as the remover of obstacles and the giver of wisdom, the one called on before anything new is begun, and the day is kept as his birth.

The shape of the festival is easy to hold in your head. A murti (a consecrated image) is installed and invited to live in it, then worshipped with flowers, durva grass and an offering of modak and fruit, and finally taken to water for visarjan after one and a half days, five days or the full ten.

Dates and timings are for New Delhi, checked against a published panchang. Cities differ, so see the Tirth Spiritual Calendar for your location.

Why the Chaturthi has to be running at noon

The festival follows the tithi, the lunar day, and not the date on a wall calendar. So the day moves each year. Tirth’s panchang places Ganesh Chaturthi on the day when Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturthi prevails at madhyahna, the middle part of the day.

Madhyahna is the preferred time for the puja too.

Whose birthday, and which Purana

Ganesh is the son of Shiva and Parvati, shown with an elephant’s head.

The birthday is told differently too. According to the Ganesha Purana and the Skanda Purana he was born on Shukla Chaturthi in Bhadrapada, the day of this festival. The Shiva Dharma places his birth on Krishna Chaturthi in Magha, which North India keeps as Sakat Chauth. Most people keep Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturthi as his birth anniversary.

How to keep Ganesh at home, from sthapana to the last aarti

If this is your first year bringing Ganesh home, the usual vidhi gives the order to follow. The steps below keep to its core.

1. Bring the murti home and give it a clean place in your home mandir.
2. Do the sthapana (installation) and pranapratishtha (the prayers that invite Ganesh to live in the murti) on Chaturthi itself, in the puja time shown in the date card.
3. Offer the first puja. Place durva grass, flowers and fruits before him and set modak in front as naivedya, the food offered to the deity.
4. Wave the lamp before him in aarti.
5. On the last day, make the final offerings and take him for visarjan, the immersion in water.

For the words, keep the Jai Ganesh Deva aarti lyrics open on a phone beside the lamp, and read up on the Ganesh aarti and a few short Ganesh mantras before the day.

If nobody at home can do the puja this year, or you would like a priest to do it on your family’s behalf, you can book a Ganesh Chaturthi puja in Prayagraj on Tirth.

What goes on the plate for Ganesh

Samagri	Used for
Murti of Ganesh	Sthapana and puja
Durva grass	Offered in the puja
Flowers	Offered in the puja
Fruits	Offering
Modak	Naivedya
Lamp	Aarti

That vidhi is the full sixteen-step shodashopachara puja (sixteen offerings).

Why the moon is not looked at on Ganesh Chaturthi night

People believe that seeing the moon on Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturthi brings a false accusation on the one who saw it. In one popular account, which ties the belief to Krishna and the Syamantaka jewel, Krishna is accused over the jewel and the sage Narada tells him the cause lies in a punishment Ganesh laid on the moon. That account adds that anyone who has seen the moon by mistake should chant a short Sanskrit mantra to be free of the curse.

One and a half days or ten: how long the murti stays

There is no single length. Families keep Ganesh for one and a half days, or three, five or seven, and the Ganeshotsav as a whole runs ten days and ends on Anant Chaturdashi.

The festival goes by other names as well. It is also called Vinayaka Chavithi and Vinayagar Chaturthi, and the festivity that ends on Anant Chaturdashi is the Ganeshotsav.

For the aarti addressed to him as Siddhivinayak, the Siddhivinayak aarti has the full text.

Tilak and the public festival

Maharashtra Tourism records that in 1893 Lokmanya Tilak turned Ganesh Chaturthi into a grand public celebration, to unite people during the independence movement.

Clay or plaster of Paris, and taking Ganesh to the water

Visarjan is the immersion of the murti in a river, lake, sea or tank at the end of the festival. Final offerings come first. On Anant Chaturdashi a street procession often leads to the water.

The Central Pollution Control Board issued revised immersion guidelines on 12 May 2020, which ban murtis of plaster of Paris along with single-use plastic, thermocol and toxic paints, and ask for artificial tanks for immersion. In 2025 the CPCB told the Bombay High Court that its guidelines are advisory.

So the rules differ by city. Check what your city corporation allows before you buy the murti, and again before the day of visarjan comes round. We would skip plaster of Paris. And we would take Ganesh to an artificial tank over a lake or river every time, because that is what the guidelines ask for, advisory or not.

Hartalika Teej, Rishi Panchami and the monthly Chaturthis

Ganesh Chaturthi sits between two other days of Bhadrapada’s bright half. Hartalika Teej is kept the day before, and the Hartalika Teej katha has its own page. Rishi Panchami is kept on the Panchami tithi that follows Chaturthi, and the Rishi Panchami vrat katha has its own page.

Ganesh is also worshipped on two monthly Chaturthis that people often confuse with this one, the Vinayaka Chaturthi of the bright half and the Sankashti Chaturthi of the dark half.

Frequently asked questions

What does Ganesh Chaturthi mean?

It is the Chaturthi, the fourth lunar day, of the bright half of Bhadrapada, kept for Ganesh. Families install his murti, worship him as the remover of obstacles and the giver of wisdom, and keep the day as his birth.

Why is the moon not seen on Ganesh Chaturthi?

People believe that seeing the moon on this night brings a false accusation. The belief is linked to Krishna and the Syamantaka jewel, and the advice is to chant a short mantra if the moon is seen by mistake.

How many days is Ganesh Chaturthi kept?

Anything from one and a half days to ten. Families keep Ganesh for one and a half, three, five or seven days, and the Ganeshotsav ends on Anant Chaturdashi, ten days after Chaturthi.

What is offered to Ganesh on Ganesh Chaturthi?

Modak as naivedya, with fruits, flowers and durva grass, and a lamp for the aarti.

Should the murti be clay or plaster of Paris?

The Central Pollution Control Board’s 2020 immersion guidelines ban plaster of Paris murtis and toxic paints and ask for artificial immersion tanks. The CPCB has since said the guidelines are advisory, so check your city’s own rules too.

Continue on Tirth

• Ganesh Chaturthi, Tirth Spiritual Calendar, with the day, tithi and midday window for your city.