The 10-day grand festival of 'Ganesh Chaturthi', dedicated to the elephant-headed Lord Ganesh, concluded on Friday night, with ardent Hindu devotees giving a grand farewell to Him with pomp and gaiety.
Loud chants of Sanskrit hymns and verses in praise of Lord Ganesh filled the air, as tens of thousands of devotees stepped out of their homes to join the procession of Lord Ganesh. They could be seen dancing to the reverberating beats of dhol-tasha (Indian instruments).
The Lord Ganesh idols that were installed in temples, homes and public pandals (makeshift temples) on August 31st were being carried to the nearby waters from morning onward in different parts of the country.
The devotees bid farewell to the God on this day, with the belief that the God, worshipped for providing prosperity and warding off all hurdles in life, will return to their homes to bless them next year.
The videos and pictures of the Ganesh Visarjan (Immersion) ceremony have been making the rounds on the internet since the morning, showing devotees singing and dancing fervently.
The biggest celebration of the Ganesh festival is invariably witnessed in Maharashtra state, where highly decked-up life-size idols showing the God in different moods or postures are displayed.