It is Mumbai's favourite festival and is celebrated each year with fervour and frenzy. But when the city welcomes "Ganpati Bappa" this Friday, the celebrations will be low key. With a cap on the size of idols, ban on processions and restrictions on devotees visiting pandals, celebrations are toned down for the second year in a row. Festival budgets have shrunk and as a result, corporate sponsorships have dried out.
The mood was full of gaiety and devotion, with chants of 'Ganpati Bappa Morya' reverberating across Maharashtra.
Amid tight security, the century's first Nabakalebar Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath was held in Puri on Saturday with fanfare, religious fervour, enthusiasm and a spirit of camaraderie.
An important focus of the dry run will be on management of any possible adverse events following immunisation.
In their comments, the Indian-American stand-up comedians said the arrest of Faruqui was incredibly unjust and against the freedom of expression.
The senior advocate had represented the Muslim parties, including the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board, in the case in trial court, Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court.
The Sri Dharma Munisverar temple was reported to have been damaged in Friday's incident though the extent of the damage was yet to be ascertained, Deputy Chief Minister Dr P Ramasamy said.
The verdict by a special court in the Babri Masjid demolition case comes 28 years after kar sevaks razed the 16th century mosque and almost a year after the Supreme Court settled the land case in favour of a Ram temple at the disputed Ayodhya site.
The RSS leader said he had not violated any customs and claimed that he ascended the 18 steps carrying the sacred offerings.
As the country prepares to celebrate Durga Puja from Monday, here are some colourful avatars of the deity.
Sena minister Ramdas Kadam claimed that the CM has agreed to cancel the directive.
Six women were prevented from entering the Sabarimala temple Sunday by a large number of devotees.
Devotees bid a grand farewell to their beloved Lord Ganesh as the immersion of idols began across Maharashtra on Thursday, marking the end of the 10-day-long mega festival.
There were no reports of loss of life due to the cyclone which uprooted trees. Incidents of wall collapse were reported from some parts of Tamil Nadu, state Revenue Minister R B Udhayakumar said.
Anil Sharma had already 'offered' a finger twice to a local deity to 'express happiness' at Nitish's swearing in.
In a princely offering, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday donated gold ornaments worth around Rs 5 crore to the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara in Tirumala for fulfilling the vows he had made for realisation of separate Telangana.
Chief Minister Stalin seems to have drawn a line between his personal beliefs and those of others in the family, beginning with wife Durga Stalin, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, representing the Muslim parties in the case, tore up a pictorial map.
Kejriwal alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party has been mocking him ever since he recited the 'Hanuman Chalisa' on a TV channel.
Shilpa Shetty's dancing goodbye to Lord Ganesha!
The government has notified mandatory standards for 15 electronic products, including mobile phones, power banks, LED lamps, to curb flow of low quality items in the country.
We've already presented some of the stunning early entries to the 2018 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest in the Nature category and now, here are incredible portraits and action shots of people from around the world that have been submitted in the People category. As mentioned earlier, the grand-prize winner will be awarded $10,000 (Rs 6.67 lakh), will have their photo posted on the @NatGeoTravel Instagram account, as well as the bragging rights. Take a look and be amazed!
On the occasion of Maha Shivratri, a giant Trimurti made of margarine (butter), has been built at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai.
Tandav, a nine-episode political thriller starring Bollywood A-listers Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia and Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub, started streaming last week but the show landed in a huge controversy over its depiction of Hindu deities.
He had changed the spelling of his name from Yediyurappa to Yeddyurappa after he had to resign as chief minister in 2007.
Unidentified miscreants damaged the statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Dying Ering, architect of modern Arunachal and of some local deities at the gate of a school at Pasighat, district headquarters town of East Siang district, official sources said on Monday.
Puri Shankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati, along with his disciples, paid obeisance to the idols on their respective chariots.
We celebrate January 26 as Republic Day because that's the day on which we adopted the Constitution in 1950. Yet, in the days preceding and following Republic Day 2021, three different courts violated the Constitutional rights of citizens, observes Jyoti Punwani.
The Directorate of Enforcement is investigating Ringing Bells, the company which has launched smartphone for Rs 251, for alleged contravention of FEMA.
Curfew was relaxed for six hours in Odisha's Bhadrak on Monday even as social media platforms remained blocked in the area and probe stepped up against rumormongers and into alleged abusive remarks on Hindu deities that triggered violence in the town.
Thanks to the ongoing festivities, Bollywood stars turned revelers over the weekend.
MAG was constituted by Department of Electronics and IT in February 2014.
The Ayodhya district administration has told news channels that litigants in the Ayodhya land dispute case should not be part of any discussions that they broadcast from the temple town during the 'Bhumi Pujan' for the Ram temple on August 5. In an advisory, it also said that if channels are broadcasting a debate or programme from Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh during the ground-breaking ceremony, there should be no comments against any person or religion.
Our favourite deity is back. It's going to be 10 fun-filled days of puja, prayers, prasad and more.
Sonal lived the feminist slogan: The personal is political, in a way few feminists have been able to. She will be remembered and missed for doing this not with a dour self-righteousness, but with humour and a rare joie de vivre, remembers Jyoti Punwani.
The litigant, in review plea filed through lawyer Ejaz Maqbool, has also sought an interim stay on operation of the verdict in which it had directed the Centre that a trust be formed within three months for construction of the temple at the site.
'What a saint he was. What a godly person he was.'
Rediff .com brings you the five most visited Ganesh mandals in Pune.
'We will talk to Muslim, Christian organisations and form a broad alliance so that every temple, church and mosque will have freedom to manage their affairs and not to be intervened upon.'
A smooth access to the hitherto prohibited area of the temple brought cheer to women devotees as they poured oil on the ancient black stone idol and offered flowers to the deity on Saturday.
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