Kolhapur Ganesh Festival - Celebrations

         This is the normal thing that every celebration involves some economic aspect also but Kolhapur Ganesh Festival is unique in the sense that this sets the trend for market boost for the forthcoming festive season. Kolhapur is very close to Kokan area, where Ganesh festival is main season of shopping unlike the country main shopping season in Kokan is not around the Deepavali but during the Ganesh festival. This shopping attitude of native of Kokan has shifted to some extant to adjoining Kolhapur also.

         During the Ganesh festival Kolhapur market of flowers, coconut and sweet shown considering enormous growth, Gujari [Silver ornament shops] area shops are also looked much more crowded these days. Though this year price hikes are making the shopping a bit difficult to meet with, flowers which are normally sold at rate of Rs. 100 per kg are available at more than Rs. 200 per kg. High rates of Silver idols of Ganraya are also forcing people to opt for the Steel idol of Lord Ganesh.

         Regular daily consumption of coconut in the city is something between 20,000 and 30,000 but during Ganesh Festival this consumption goes up to 1,50,000 just because every devotee wish to offer “Shree fal” [coconut] to “Shree” [Lord Ganesha] and coconuts are also used for preparing Prasad, to be distributed among.

         Another favorite offering to Ganraya is the in the form of sweets especially in the form of “Modak” and “Ladu”. This year Kolhapur sweet shops are offering “Modaks” with various flavors such as mango, Kesar, Kaju, Malai etc. “Ladu” are also made from basen, rava, and bundi though there is price hike of about 20% to 30% in compare to last year but still sales graphs are showing a significant growth, as many community mandals have already ordered sweets for all eleven days of festival, which will be distributed among the devotees as Prasad. This might be due to fact that in the Maharashtra elections are round the corner. Lokmanya Tilak has used the Ganeshoutsav for creating social awareness and desire for freedom and modern politicians are utilizing Kolhapur Ganesh Festival as the preparatory occasion for the forthcoming elections.

         Lord Ganesh is also known for being the God of wealth and with his arrival Kolhapur market is setting up for the annual festive boost in the days to come.