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Tirtha

festivals

Ganesh Chaturthi Sthapana

श्री गणेश प्राणप्रतिष्ठाŚrī Gaṇeśa PrāṇapratiṣṭhāThe installation of Ganesha in the home for the days of the festival

On the Shukla Chaturthi of Bhadrapada, a murti is installed at home with pranapratishtha and kept as a guest for the days the family has vowed — a day and a half, three, five, seven or ten.

From
₹2,100
Duration
1 hr – 3 hr
Languages
en · hi · mr · gu · ta · kn · bn
Performed as
At Your Home · At a Temple in India · Guided by Video
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Why this ritual

What the rite is for

Ganesh Chaturthi is not a single puja but a stay. The murti is installed on the Shukla Chaturthi of Bhadrapada, usually in the madhyahna kaal — the middle stretch of the day, which the shastras give as the hour of Ganesha’s appearance — and from that moment the household treats him as a guest who is living in the house.

The rite that makes that possible is the pranapratishtha. Nyasa is performed on the murti, the pranapratishtha mantras are spoken, and the image is thereafter bathed, dressed, fed and put to rest each day. The daily routine is deliberately light: a morning archana with durva, a naivedya of modak, and the evening aarti the family sings together.

The stay ends with the uttarpuja, the formal leave-taking, and then the visarjan. The length is chosen at the sankalp and is kept: a household that vows deedh din does not extend to ten because the week turned out convenient. Families who cannot manage the full span should choose the shorter one at the outset rather than shortening it later.

Textual basis

Where it comes from

The Chaturthi vrat of Bhadrapada is recorded in the Puranic nibandha literature well before the modern festival, but the public form most people picture is younger. Household sthapana in Maharashtra is attested through the Peshwa period, and Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s reorganisation of the sarvajanik mandal in 1893 gave the festival its street presence. The home vidhi remains what it was. Maharashtrian families use shadu clay and a chowki dressed with a plantain-stem mandap; Gujarati and Karnataka households often keep the murti smaller and the span shorter; in Tamil Nadu the day is Vinayaka Chaturthi and the offering is kozhukattai rather than modak. Where the clay murti was once dissolved in a village tank, many families now keep the visarjan at home in a drum of water and return the clay to a garden. Our pandits treat that as a proper visarjan and read the mantras the same way.

Vidhi

The rite, step by step

Timings are approximate and vary with the pandit's paddhati.

Samagri

What the vidhi calls for

And why each item is used.

  • Shadu clay Ganesh murti

    1 piece

    Unfired river clay, painted with natural colour, so that it returns to water cleanly at the visarjan.

  • Wooden chowki with red cloth

    1 piece

  • Durva grass, tied in threes

    21 bundle

    The Ganapati texts single out durva among all offerings. Blades are picked in threes and not cut with metal.

  • Red hibiscus flowers

    21 piece

  • Modak

    21 piece

    Steamed rice-flour dumplings with coconut and jaggery, offered on the first day and again at the uttarpuja.

  • Shami leaves

    1 bundle

    Included in the kit

  • Sindoor

    50 g

  • Kalash with coconut and supari

    1 piece

  • Plantain stems and leaves for the mandap

    2 piece

  • Ghee and camphor

    250 g

  • Panchamrit for the abhishek

    500 ml

Packages

What differs between tiers

Stated plainly: the counts, the number of pandits, and the time it takes.

  • Sthapana Essential

    Pranapratishtha and the first day’s puja.

    ₹2,100

    Duration
    1 hr
    Pandits
    1 pandit

    Included

    • Sankalp naming your visarjan day
    • Murti sthapana and pranapratishtha
    • Shodashopchar puja and durva arpan
    • Aarti taught to the family
    • Written daily routine for the remaining days

    Not included

    • Atharvashirsha path and the visarjan-day sitting

    guided · in india

  • Sthapana Traditional

    Most chosen

    The full first-day vidhi with the Atharvashirsha.

    ₹5,100

    Duration
    2 hr
    Pandits
    1 pandit

    Included

    • Everything in Essential
    • Mandap of plantain stem and marigold
    • Atharvashirsha, twenty-one aavartan
    • Modak naivedya of twenty-one
    • Samagri brought and arranged
    • Photographs shared the same day

    at home · in india

  • Sthapana to Visarjan

    Both sittings — the installation and the leave-taking.

    ₹11,000

    Duration
    3 hr
    Pandits
    2 pandits

    Included

    • Everything in Traditional
    • Uttarpuja on your visarjan day
    • Visarjan accompanied by the pandit
    • Satyanarayan katha on the closing day
    • Second pandit for the recitation

    at home

Who performs it

Pandit requirement

One pandit able to perform pranapratishtha and recite the Ganapati Atharvashirsha from memory. The Sthapana to Visarjan package assigns the same pandit to both sittings wherever the calendar allows.

Questions

What families ask

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We will show you the auspicious windows for this rite, in your timezone and in India’s, and why each one was suggested.

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Traditional guidance, offered for reflection. Not medical, legal or financial advice.