వినాయక చవితి

मम उपात्त समस्त दुरितक्षय द्वारा श्री महागणपति प्रीत्यर्थं भाद्रपद शुद्ध चतुर्थ्यां वरसिद्धि विनायक व्रतं करिष्ये

Mama upatta samasta duritakshaya dvara Sri Mahaganapati prityartham Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturthyam Varasiddhi Vinayaka Vratam karishye

"For destruction of sins and pleasure of Sri Mahaganapati, on this Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturthi I undertake the Varasiddhi Vinayaka Vratam."

1. 1. Face east or north-east. Spread the red cloth on the chowki and set the idol on it, at your chest height when you are seated.
2. 2. Light the two ghee lamps — the right one first, then the left — and the agarbathi. They stay lit until the aarti.
3. 3. Sit on a mat rather than the bare floor, with the water cup and spoon on your right and the nirmalya plate in front.
4. 4. Sip water three times for achamanam, saying Om Keshavaya Svaha, Om Narayanaya Svaha, Om Madhavaya Svaha, and wipe your hand.
5. 5. Take akshata, one flower and a little water in the right palm, cover it with the left, and say the sankalpam mantra above — with your own name, gotra and the place you are sitting in.
6. 6. Pour that water out into the plate. The vow is binding from that moment until the aarti is over.

ॐ आं ह्रीं क्रों यं रं लं वं शं षं सं हों प्राणा इह प्राणाः · जीव इह स्थितः · सर्वेन्द्रियाणि वाङ्मनस्त्वक् चक्षुःश्रोत्रजिह्वाघ्राणा इहागत्य सुखं चिरं तिष्ठन्तु स्वाहा

Om Am Hrim Krom Yam Ram Lam Vam Sham Sham Sam Hom pranah iha pranah · jiva iha sthitah · sarvendriyani vangmanas tvak chakshuh shrotra jihva ghrana ihagatya sukham chiram tishthantu svaha

"May the life-airs be here, may life reside here. May all sense-organs — speech, mind, skin, eyes, ears, tongue, nose — come and remain here in comfort for long." Touch idol with right hand + mantra.

1. 1. Take a durva blade and a few grains of akshata in your right hand.
2. 2. Touch the idol at the heart, then at the head, while the mantra above is said.
3. 3. Sprinkle the akshata over the idol.
4. 4. From here the idol is treated as a guest in the house: it is not moved, not turned away from, and not left in a dark room until visarjana.

शुक्लाम्बरधरं विष्णुं शशिवर्णं चतुर्भुजम् · प्रसन्नवदनं ध्यायेत् सर्वविघ्नोपशान्तये

Shuklambaradharam Vishnum Shashivarnam Chaturbhujam · Prasannavadanam dhyayet sarvavighnopashantaye

"White-clothed, all-pervading, moon-hued, four-armed, pleasant-faced Ganesha — meditated for the peaceful removal of all obstacles."

1. 1. Sit still with your eyes closed for a few breaths and hold the form in mind while the dhyana verse is said.
2. 2. Make the avahana mudra — both palms joined, both thumbs folded inwards — and invite Ganesha into the idol.
3. 3. Take five flowers in anjali, both palms cupped together, and set them down in front of the idol as the seat.

ॐ गं गणपतये नमः (सार्धं शोडशोपचारं)

Om Gam Ganapataye Namah (with each of 16 upacharas)

The 16 traditional offerings. Chant bija mantra "Om Gam Ganapataye Namah" with each. Red hibiscus preferred.

1. 1. Keep three things in reach before you begin: the water cup, the nirmalya plate, and the tray of items in offering order.
2. 2. Offer each upachara with the right hand, saying Om Gam Ganapataye Namah, then the name of that offering ending in samarpayami.
3. 3. Pour every water offering over the idol or into the plate beside it, never onto cloth or paper.
4. 4. Work straight down the table below. Nothing is skipped for being unavailable — offer a few akshata in its place and say the name.

ॐ विनायकाय नमः · ॐ विघ्नराजाय नमः · ॐ गौरीपुत्राय नमः · ॐ गणेश्वराय नमः · ॐ स्कन्दाग्रजाय नमः · ॐ अव्ययाय नमः · ॐ पूताय नमः · ॐ दक्षाध्यक्षाय नमः ... (108 total)

Om Vinayakaya Namah · Om Vighnarajaya Namah · Om Gauriputraya Namah · Om Ganeshvaraya Namah · Om Skandagrajaya Namah · Om Avyayaya Namah · Om Putaya Namah · Om Dakshadhyakshaya Namah... (108 total)

The 108 names. Each is a facet: Vinayaka (Leader-without-superior), Vighnaraja (King of obstacles), Son-of-Gauri, Lord-of-ganas, elder-of-Skanda, undying, pure, president-of-ritual-perfection, etc.

1. 1. Keep a plate of akshata mixed with a little kumkum, and a pile of red petals, in front of you.
2. 2. Say each name and, on the word namah, drop a pinch of akshata or one petal onto the idol.
3. 3. If you do not have all 108 printed, Om Gam Ganapataye Namah repeated 108 times on a mala is the accepted substitute.
4. 4. Do not count out loud. Let the mala, or the shrinking pile of akshata, do the counting.

सुमुखाय नमः माचीपत्रं समर्पयामि · गणाधिपाय नमः बृहतीपत्रं समर्पयामि · उमापुत्राय नमः बिल्वपत्रं समर्पयामि · गजाननाय नमः दूर्वापत्रं समर्पयामि ...

Sumukhaya Namah Machi-patram samarpayami · Ganadhipaya Namah Brihati-patram samarpayami · Umaputraya Namah Bilva-patram samarpayami · Gajananaya Namah Durva-patram samarpayami... (21 total)

Offer each of 21 sacred leaves with a corresponding name of Ganesha. This is UNIQUE to Vinayaka Chavithi (not done in daily Ganesh puja). If some leaves unavailable, tulsi + durva substitute the missing ones.

1. 1. Wash the leaves and lay them out in offering order on a plate before you begin. Hunting for a leaf mid-mantra breaks the sequence.
2. 2. Take one leaf at a time in the right hand, say the name with patram samarpayami, and lay it on the idol — head and shoulders first, working downwards.
3. 3. Durva goes on last and stays there: twenty-one blades, in clusters of three or five leaflets, undivided.
4. 4. The leaves remain on the idol until visarjana. They are not cleared away with the rest of the nirmalya at the end of the puja.

ॐ मोदकप्रियाय नमः · श्री महागणपतये २१ मोदकं / उंड्रल्लु समर्पयामि

Om Modakapriyaya Namah · Sri Mahaganapataye 21 modakam / undrallu samarpayami

"Salutations to the modaka-loving one. I offer 21 undrallu (kudumulu — steamed rice-flour dumplings with jaggery-coconut filling) to Sri Mahaganapati." Traditional Telugu Vinayaka Chavithi naivedya.

1. 1. Steam the undrallu in the morning, before the puja, so the offering goes to the idol warm.
2. 2. Count twenty-one into the offering plate. The rest of the batch stays outside the puja room until the naivedya is done.
3. 3. Place the plate in front of the idol, sprinkle water around it in a circle, and offer it with the mantra above.
4. 4. Leave the plate untouched through the aarti. It becomes prasadam only after the aarti and the kshama prarthana.

How to make undrallu (kudumulu) — the savoury and the sweet

Both versions are offered on Chavithi and households do not agree on which is the correct one. Published recipes also disagree on how much water a cup of rice rava takes, so the ranges below are real ranges, not vagueness — start at the tighter end and add a splash if the rava is still hard.

• Savoury undrallu — soak 2 tablespoons of chana dal for 15 to 30 minutes and drain.
• Bring the water to a rolling boil with salt and a teaspoon of ghee. Reckon 2 to 2½ cups of water per cup of rice rava at the tighter end, up to 3 cups at the looser end.
• Temper cumin and the drained dal in ghee and tip that into the boiling water.
• Stream the rice rava in with one hand while stirring with the other so it does not lump. Cover and cook on low until the water is taken up, about five minutes, then switch off and rest it covered for 10 to 15 minutes.
• Grease your palms with ghee, or wet them, and roll while the dough is still warm — it cracks once it cools.
• Steam for 8 to 10 minutes on high. A small pan takes about six minutes, a full cooker plate about ten. They are done when the surface turns glossy and a finger no longer sticks.
• Sweet bellam undrallu — soak 2 tablespoons of moong dal for 10 to 15 minutes.
• Use 1 cup of rice rava to 3 cups of water. Boil the water with the dal, half a cup of grated jaggery, about 3 tablespoons of fresh grated coconut and half a teaspoon of cardamom until the jaggery dissolves.
• Add the rava in a stream, cover, and cook on low for 7 to 8 minutes. Rest, shape, and steam 8 to 10 minutes on medium-high.
• If you use rice flour instead of rice rava, drop the water to about 2¼ cups — flour takes up less than rava does.
• Dough too dry and the dumplings crack as you roll them; too wet and they flatten in the steamer. Fix a dry dough with a spoonful of hot water and a wet one with a spoonful of dry rava and two more minutes covered.

श्री विनायक व्रत कथा · श्री कृष्ण-चन्द्र-श्यमन्तक कथा

Sri Vinayaka Vrata Katha · Sri Krishna-Chandra-Syamantaka Katha

Recite the traditional katha: how Chandra laughed at Ganesha, was cursed, and how Krishna's Syamantaka gem trouble was resolved through this puja. The KATHA IS THE HEART of the vratam — never skip.

1. 1. Everyone in the house sits down for this. The katha is meant to be heard, not read privately.
2. 2. Hold akshata in your right hand throughout the reading.
3. 3. At the end, drop that akshata on your own head rather than on the idol — the fruit of the hearing is taken on yourself.
4. 4. If anybody did see the moon, the same katha read twenty-one times is the traditional remedy, and it is done the same night.

सुखकर्ता दुःखहर्ता वार्ता विघ्नाची · नुरवि पुरवि प्रेम कृपा जयाची · सर्वांगी सुन्दर उटी शेंदुराची · कण्ठी झळके माळ मुक्ताफळांची

Sukhakarta Dukhaharta varta vighnachi · Nurvi purvi prem krupa jayachi · Sarvangi sundara uti shendurachi · Kanthi zhalake mala muktaphalanchi

Classical Ganesh aarti (Sukhakarta Dukhaharta). "Doer of joy, remover of sorrow, one who dispels news of obstacles..."

1. 1. Light camphor on the aarti plate. Circle it three times before the face, once at the feet, and once around the whole form.
2. 2. Sing the aarti standing — plate in the right hand, bell in the left.
3. 3. Carry the flame around everyone present; each person takes the warmth to their eyes with both palms.
4. 4. Cup flowers in both palms for mantra pushpam and place them at the feet.
5. 5. Say the kshama prarthana for whatever was done wrongly or left out, and only then distribute prasadam.

Sukhakarta Dukhaharta — the complete aarti

Sukhakarta Dukhaharta is a Marathi abhanga composed by Sant Ramdas (1608–1682) and sung in raga Jogiya. The four lines in the box above are its opening stanza. The whole aarti is below, and the dhrupad is sung again after each stanza.

यान्तु देवगणाः सर्वे पूजामादाय पार्थिवीम् · इष्टकाम्यार्थसिद्ध्यर्थं पुनरागमनाय च

Yantu devaganah sarve pujamadaya parthivim · Ishtakamyartha siddhyartham punaragamanaya cha

"May all divine hosts, having received earthly worship, depart — and return for the fulfillment of desires." Visarjana in flowing water (river/pond) or a house kalasha (eco-friendly option).

1. 1. Do a short final puja on the day of the immersion: lamp, akshata, a flower, the aarti, and the mantra above.
2. 2. Take the leaves, flowers and the raksha sutra off the idol. They go into the water with it.
3. 3. Carry the idol yourself, on a plate or in both palms — never lifted by the trunk or the head.
4. 4. Immerse it in flowing water, or in a bucket or drum of water at home, where plain clay dissolves within a few hours.
5. 5. Pour that water into a plant or a garden bed the following day. It is not emptied into a drain.