Vināyaka Nimarjanam is the farewell that closes the Gaṇeśa festival begun on Vināyaka Chavithi. The idol that was welcomed with sthāpana and worshipped for ten days is given a last pūjā and carried to water, where the clay returns to the element it came from. In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana the day is one of the great public festivals of the year, with processions of drums and chanting that carry idols to rivers, tanks and the sea through the night. How the day is fixed: The day is Bhādrapada Śukla Caturdaśī at local sunrise, ten days after Vināyaka Chavithi. Keep in mind: Many households immerse their own idol earlier, on the second, third, fifth, seventh or ninth day, according to family custom. The Caturdaśī is the fixed day for ten-day installations and public processions. This year: The 2027 date shown here is worked out from sunrise at the place you chose, so in another city the same day can fall a day earlier or later. Farewell pūjā: Before the idol leaves, the family or mandal offers a final pūjā with modaka naivedya and ārati, and asks Gaṇeśa to return next year. Procession and immersion: In the evening the idols go in procession with drums and chanting to a river, tank or the sea. In Hyderabad the idols, from Khairatabad's giant Gaṇeśa to the smallest street pandal, converge on Hussain Sagar, and in Vijayawada they go to the Krishna. Clay idols at home: More and more families now choose clay idols and immerse them in a bucket at home, then pour the dissolved clay into a plant pot. Worth remembering: The same tithi is Ananta Caturdaśī, when many families keep the Ananta Padmanābha vrata and tie the fourteen-knotted ananta sūtra. That is a separate observance for Viṣṇu and is not part of the immersion. Before immersion, families often recite the Gaṇeśa Aṣṭottara, the Saṅkaṭanāśana Gaṇeśa Stotra or, where it is known, the Gaṇapati Atharvaśīrṣa. How long Gaṇeśa stays and how he leaves differ from house to house and town to town. Some families keep him for a day and a half, others for the full ten days, some immerse him in a well or bucket at home, and others join the great street processions. Whatever the practice, the surest guide is what the elders of one's own house have followed.
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