The Telangana Association of New Zealand hosted Vinayaka Chaturthi, also called Ganesh Chaturthi on Friday, August 25 at the Mt Roskill War Memorial Hall Auckland’s May Road.
The annual celebration of Lord Ganesha is widely celebrated by the Hindu community across the world. The ten-day festival commences with the puja and prayers and ends with the immersion of the idol.
Families welcome Lord Ganesha to their homes and chant hymns, perform aarti and puja to celebrate the auspicious day. Since the Telangana community is sizable in Auckland, the celebration was hosted for the public at the War Memorial Hall.
The celebration commenced with carrying the Ganesha idol to the venue and placing the idol on the stage for the prayers. A significant part of the celebration is placing sweets, in particular, ‘Laddu’ at the feet of Lord Ganesha during the prayers.
According to a tradition in Hyderabad, the laddu is then auctioned after the Puja gets over. This year the plate of laddu was bought by community member Lakshman Kalakuntla for $1351.
Nearly 300 members of the community came to witness the celebrations, Labour Party candidate for Maungakeikei Priyanca Radhakrishnan, National Party Candidate for Kelston Bala Beeram and New Zealand People Party’s leader Roshan Nauhria also attended.
Advisory members of the Telangana Association Srinivasa Vanuganti, Jagan Mohan Reddy, Raman Rao Rachakond and Narasimha Rao Tuppala arranged the big celebrations, and Prakash Biradar from the New Zealand Indian Central Association also visited the event.