Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations: Devotees across country welcome Lord Ganesha as 10-day long festival begins

Devotees offer Heena Mehandi at Mooti Doongari temple during the Sinjara on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi celebration in Jaipur on Sunday. 

Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik creates a sand sculpture of Lord Ganesha with a message 'Say No to Single-Use Plastic' and 'Save our Environment', ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi festival, at Puri beach of Odisha. (Photo: PTI) 

Artisans carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to load it onto a truck to be transported to a place of worship ahead of the ten-day-long Ganesh Chaturthi festival, in Ahmedabad. (Photo: Reuters)

A priest offers prayers at the foot of an 18 metre-tall idol of the deity Ganesh, adorned with 12 heads and 24 hands named "Dwadashaditya" and popularly known as "Khairatabad Ganesh", during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Hyderabad.

The Ganesh Chaturthi festival, a popular 11-day religious festival which is annually celebrated across India, runs from September 2 to 12 this year.

During the festival devotees will offer prayers dedicated to Lord Ganesha at their homes and temporary makeshift temples, culminating with the immersion of the idols into water bodies. (Photo: AFP)

Devotees offer prayers at an 18 metre-tall idol of the deity Ganesh, adorned with 12 heads and 24 hands named "Dwadashaditya" and popularly known as "Khairatabad Ganesh", during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Hyderabad. (Photo: AFP)