Sindhudurg family's 320-year-old Ganeshotsav sees idol change form thrice in 21 days

Ganeshotsav is once again being celebrated with great enthusiasm in the Konkan region this year. Konkan has an old tradition of celebrating the festival in its own distinctive way, and a special example of this tradition can be seen at the home of the Khavale family in Sindhudurg district. The family has preserved its Ganeshotsav tradition, unchanged, for as long as 320 years. Here, the festival does not last a day and a half or ten days but a full 21 days, and during these 21 days the idol's form is changed three times. Another distinctive feature of the celebration is that a pind daan is performed on the day of immersion.

An old story is associated with the Khavale family's Ganeshotsav. In the year 1701, a sardar from the family did not have a son and was troubled by this. As he worried about having no heir to carry on the family line, Ganpati from the Narayan temple appeared to him in a dream and instructed him to install an idol of his own. Accordingly, the idol of "Khavale Ganpati" was made and formally installed. This idol stands about five and three-quarter feet tall, and one and a half tonnes of clay are used to make it. Its special feature is that it is made entirely by members of the Khavale family themselves, without calling in anyone from outside; no idol-maker from outside the family is ever needed.

On the day of Ganesh Chaturthi, the idol is first painted with white lime, with only the eyes coloured in. Over the following 21 days, the idol is worked on with different colours. It is worshipped in three different forms, decorated in stages with red colour, a silver angarkha, a pitambar, a golden crown, a five-hooded serpent, a paper fan and a shela draped over its hands. Throughout this period, painting work on the idol continues without a break and its form keeps changing, and this is what sets the festival apart. Giving a single idol three different forms at different stages is something not seen in any other Ganeshotsav in Konkan.

On the last day of the festival, that is the day of immersion, a special pind daan ritual is performed before Ganpati. This ritual is dedicated to the ancestors of the Khavale family. The practice of performing a pind daan on the day of Ganpati immersion is rarely seen elsewhere in Konkan. On the night before the immersion, a lali, or jagar, is celebrated.

The Khavale family's 320-year-old tradition has also been recorded in the Limca Book of Records. As a result, this Ganpati is regarded not merely as belonging to the Khavale family but as an important religious and cultural heritage of Konkan and Maharashtra. A tradition preserved by one family for so many years continues to be carried forward with the same devotion today.