POST NEWS NETWORK
BHUBANESWAR/CUTTACK: The season of Ganesh Puja or Ganesh Chaturthi — also known as Vinayak Chaturthi — set in with the usual pomp and gaiety across the state and beyond Friday. Apart from several pandals that have come up in the city for celebrations, this is also time when every house of Ganesha devotees hold prayers to the Lord for health, wealth, removal of obstacles in life, and showering of other blessings. Educational institutions across the state saw students and teachers holding special pooja this day, marking the start of the religious festival. The festival will continue for 12 days in most parts of the state. An 18-ft Ganesh
idol with 21 heads and 42 hands in Bhubaneswar has been the talk of the town and is expected to draw a large number of visitors. Lord Ganesh, the most worshipped Hindu deity, has been welcomed with idols represent
ing different colours by devotees. As several devotees placed clay idols of the Lord at their homes for worship, many organizations and pooja clubs set up huge pandals for mass worship on this auspicious occasion.
IN CUTTACK
Seen taking the lead in Cuttack was the Binapani Club which claims to have come up with the biggest idol of the Lord in the state this time. The 35ft huge idol has attracted a large number of devotees at the pandal in Chauliagang on the first day of the festival. “We have been doing this for the last three years. It took around one month of hard work by artistes from West Bengal. It has cost us around Rs 4 to 5 lakh so far. Notably, this time, we
will dissolve the idol at the pandal itself, as part of our endeavour
