Offerings made by devotees to Lord Ganesha during recently concluded Ganesha Chaturthi festival are being auctioned in Mumbai.
By Sushil Pareek
Mumbai, Oct. 4 : Offerings made by devotees to Lord Ganesha during recently concluded Ganesha Chaturthi festival are being auctioned in Mumbai.
The auction of offerings, including expensive gold and silver jewellery, has started on Tuesday.
This year, there were 15 donation boxes for money, three for silver and one for gold articles.
"We have received around 16 kilograms of gold out of which around five kilograms were directly offered to the idols of the deity and the remaining 11 kilograms are from the various donation boxes," said Sunil Joshi, President, Lalbaug Raja Sarvajanik Mandal.
The money collected through auctioneering will be used for a number of social welfare projects, he added.
The Mandal proposes to use the funds towards providing free medical assistance to the under-privileged in government and municipal hospitals in Mumbai.
Hordes of devotees from Maharashtra were seen making a beeline in abounding reverence to bid for the offerings.
The auction usually begins two days after the immersion and lasts for over four days.
"This is the first time, I have come here to this auction. I really wanted to buy something, so I am here," said Teena Sanghvi, a devotee.
The auctioneering will conclude on Friday evening.
Devotees offer coconuts, necklaces, anklets, rings and other jewels of gold and silver when their wishes are fulfilled.
Ganesha's birthday marks the beginning of ten-days of festivities and devotion for the annual "Ganesh Chaturthi" festival.
The festival came to an end with the immersion of his idols in sea and rivers in different parts of the country. (ANI
ANI