Ganeshotsav 2024: Tracing the route of Mumbai's first community visarjan procession

A file pic of the pandal at Keshavji Naik Chawl, where the same traditions are still followed

Over 130 years ago, 1893 marked the first time Ganpati Bappa was passed over a sea of shoulders of devotees in the first community visarjan procession. The clay idol was just two feet tall - a far cry from the gargantuan ones we see today - and yet, this was the one that started it all. Until this point, Ganeshotsav was a private festival, with celebrations contained within each household.

Route taken by Bal Gangadhar Tilak in 1893. Illustration/Uday Mohite

On that first visarjan procession, Bappa made his journey from Keshavji Naik Chawl at Charni Road to Girgaon Chowpatty, carried on the shoulders of a few hundreds who began the tradition with social reformer and freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Tilak is said to have chosen the chawl as the starting point as it was one of the key places where Marathi culture, language and community thrived as a whole. The freedom fighter felt that the Maharashtrian community needed a unifying occasion to bolster a sense of community amid the growing influence of the British Empire on Indian society.

Tilak is said to have commissioned posters in the area to ensure that not only locals but anyone who wanted to be part of the cultural undertaking could participate. This was a time without traffic jams or need for route diversions. There are accounts describing how the entire procession was visible from the chawl, and the march to the Chowpatty with the non-POP Bappa took just 10 minutes. Bappa was carried via the narrow Khadilkar Road on a palanquin, without loud music, a tradition the chawl residents continue to follow.

To retrace this historical route, one can visit the pandal at the chawl which still follows the traditions of yore - including decorations crafted by chawl residents - and still follows the same visarjan route.