While the rest of the city's Ganesh idols were immersed on Anant Chaturdashi last week, Andhericha Raja, as per tradition, was immersed on Tuesday
Crowds accompanied Andhericha Raja at Andheri last night. Pic/Atul Kamble
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While the rest of the city's Ganesh idols were immersed on Anant Chaturdashi last week, Andhericha Raja, as per tradition, was immersed on Tuesday. The three-and-a-half kilometre stretch took 21 hours to reach Versova Gaon, where the visarjan takes place after a traditional aarti by fishermen.
Thousands of devotees lined the streets in and around Andheri on Sankashthi Chaturthi to bid farewell to their favourite god. “This year, the visarjan saw lakhs of devotees compared to last year. The visarjan yatra began after a pooja at 5.45pm on Monday evening at the mandal at Veera Desai Road in Andheri (West). We started off the visarjan yatra around 6.30pm and reached Versova Gaon by 1pm where Koli community performed a pooja. The Visarjan follows after that. The whole procession takes anywhere between 19 to 21 hours,” said Uday Salian, spokesperson for the Andhericha Raja Mandal.
The Andhericha Raja procession started from Azad Nagar and went through Azad Nagar, Veera Desai Road, Amboli and J P Road, S V Road, Andheri Market, Apna Bazar, Indian Oil Nagar Junction, Four Bungalows, Seven Bungalows before reaching Versova Gaon.
A devotee present at the visarjan yatra said, “I have been at the visarjan yatra since 6pm and we walked the whole night. We do this every year.”
Andheri was partial closed and traffic was diverted along the route. A Mumbai police official at the bandobast said, “Diversions are made to keep the procession smooth. Also, motorists can avoid traffic on the main roads this way. The local police and traffic police officers were stationed along the visarjan route.”
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