On 9/20/07, shiv sastry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Apparently the worship of Ganesha may well have been only a symbolic Vedic > ritual in ancient days with no idol.
I remember being told that the festival was a recent (late 1800's - early 1900's) entrant and that it originated in a curious mix of the Indian independence struggle, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the Marathi identity and the rise of a Hindu-right identity. I could be wrong, however.
