Ganesha's following grows and grows

Thailand's cultural relationship with India goes back centuries, of course. It gave us Buddhism in the third century BC and the Siamese were swift to adopt it as the state religion, leading to the population being nearly 95 per cent Buddhist. And yet there are statues and shrines to Hindu deities all over the country and more are erected every year.
One of the deities most commonly worshiped is Ganesha, who Thais call Phra Phikanet, a symbol of success and accomplishment as well as the arts and wisdom. One of the most famous Ganesha shrines is in Bangkok’s Ratchaprasong shopping district, at Central World in front of the Isetan store.
Thailand – home to 150,000 ethnic Indians –witnesses each year of the growing popularity of the Ganesha Festival. It concludes here, as in India, with statues of the god being carried in procession to the river for immersion.
The chants of “Ganpati bappa moriya” (“Ganesha, come again next year”) resound as loudly there as they do in India.
The clay statues’ immersion in the river shows the ephemeral nature of life – that nothing in this mortal world lasts forever. This is popularly known as the Ganesh Visarjan ceremony.
“It is indeed a lively celebration, with a mix of Thais and Indians,” says Professor Dr Sophana Srichampa, who chairs the Centre for Bharat Studies at Mahidol University. “In fact there were more Thai participants this year than Thai-Indians or Indians.”
Sophana this year attended the festival at Utthayan Ganesh Temple in Nakhon Nayok for the first time. “I was impressed not only with the presence of the Indian ambassador but also some Chinese businesspeople. There were Thai performances by school students and Dr Anjana Jha from the India Culture Centre performed a beautiful dance, the Bharat Natyam.
“Heavy rain blessed us during the ritual,” she added.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad Association of Thailand hosts the annual event. “We started in 2007 and used to import the Ganesh idols from Bharat,” says its president, Susheel Kumar Saraff.
“In 2010 we decided to bring in artists a month in advance from Bharat with the material to make big, eco-friendly statues, four to seven feet in height.”
The festival was held at Utthayan Ganesh Temple from September 1 to 8 2013 and at the Shiva Temple in Ram-Indra district from September 9 to 15.
Hindu Dharm Sabha and members of the association performed the visarjan ceremony on September 15 on the Chao Phraya River.

See how it happened

You can view photos and videos of the festival on the VHP Thailand Facebook page.
To find out more, email [email protected].