Ganesh Chaturthi

Choose a Shubha muhurat if you can, especially on Chaturthi. Place a wooden plank or chowki, spread a red or yellow cloth, and keep the clay idol facing east or north. A small kalash with mango leaves and a coconut can sit to the deity’s right.

After Prana Pratishtha, treat the murti as a living guest: padya (water for the feet), arghya, achamana, snana or a simple wipe, vastra (dhoti and sela), yajnopavita, gandham, kumkum, and flowers. Offer 21 blades of durva (garika) and modak or undrallu as naivedyam — these are Ganesha’s dearest offerings.

Keep an akhanda deepam if the idol stays for more than a day. Morning and evening aarti with camphor, incense, and a bell mark the household rhythm. On the chosen day, circle the idol, thank Ganesha, and immerse the clay murti in a tank, river, or a vessel of water at home, then pour that water at the base of a plant.