Summary:
Vadodara: That freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak pioneered the public Ganesh festival in India is known across the country. But 15 years before the movement, the Sarvajanik Ganesh festival had already begun in Patan that was a part of the erstwhile state of Baroda. Our Gujarati community brothers too have always taken part in this festival,” Pagedar told TOI.The public Ganesh festival was started in Mahadeo Govind Joshi who was an administrator in the Gaekwadi state. He, in fact, believes that Tilak may have got inspiration to organize public Ganesh festivals from Patan.Another historian, Dr Damodar Nene too claimed that Tilak got inspiration and idea to organize public Ganesha from Patan’s Sarvajanik Ganesh Utsav that drew huge crowd. Ours is the oldest public Ganesha started even before Tilak’s movement and it is popular not just in Patan but many parts of the country..