Pune’s Ganesh festival preparations have entered their final stage, with the city’s five traditionally honoured Ganpati mandals scheduled to install their idols on Monday, 14 September. Processions for Kasba Ganpati, Tambdi Jogeshwari and Guruji Talim Ganpati will move through central Pune at set times, accompanied by dhol-tasha groups, bands and other traditional performances.
The installation schedule comes as organisers complete arrangements ranging from invitations to musical groups to the purchase of पूजा materials. This year’s festival will last 12 days because of an increase in the lunar date, according to the report. Alongside the five honoured Ganpati mandals, preparations have also been completed for the installations at Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati, Bhausaheb Rangari Ganpati and the Ganpati mandal at Akhil Mandai.
Kasba Ganpati, regarded as Pune’s presiding deity and the first among the city’s honoured Ganpatis, will begin its procession at 8.15 am from the festival pavilion. The idol, brought from sculptor Abhijit Dhondphale’s Kalani Ketan studio, will be placed in a silver palanquin before being taken to the pavilion. Prabhat Band, Sangharsh Dhol-Tasha Pathak, the Dnyanaprabodhini Youth Department and Shaurya Dhol-Tasha Pathak are scheduled to participate.
The installation of Kasba Ganpati will take place at 11.45 am. It will be performed by 19-year-old Vedamurti Devvrat Rekhe, who has completed the Dandakram recitation at the Sangved University in Varanasi, the report said.
The procession for Tambdi Jogeshwari, the second honoured Ganpati and a village deity, will leave at 10 am from Mandar Lodge on Kelkar Road in Narayan Peth. It will proceed through Kunte Chowk, Nagarkar Talim Chowk and Appa Balwant Chowk before reaching the festival pavilion. Aadhav Brothers’ nagara performance, New Gandharva Brass Band, Taal Dhol-Tasha Pathak and Vishnunad Shankh Pathak are expected to take part. The installation is scheduled for 12.15 pm and will be performed by Yogi Niranjannath Guru Shantinath, a trustee of the Sant Dnyaneshwar Maharaj Sansthan in Alandi.
Tambdi Jogeshwari mandal has created a replica of the Tulja Bhavani temple in Tuljapur, one of the three-and-a-half Shakti Peethas, for this year’s festival arrangements.
Guruji Talim Ganpati, the third honoured Ganpati, will begin its procession at 11 am from the Guruji Talim Ganpati temple. The idol will be carried on a floral chariot created by brothers Swapnil and Subhash Sarpale. Nagara performer Jayant Nagarkar, Ashwaraj Brass Band and the dhol-tasha groups Guruji Pratishthan, Shivtej, Shivrudra, Shiv Taal, Rudratej and Kalavant are scheduled to participate.
The procession will pass through Ganpati Chowk, Limbaraj Maharaj Chowk, Appa Balwant Chowk and Jogeshwari Chowk before reaching the festival pavilion. The installation is scheduled for 1.55 pm and will be performed by industrialist Punit Balan and Jhanvi Dharival-Balan. The published schedule does not include details of civic traffic diversions or public transport changes.
