<P> Although it is unknown when ( or how ) Ganesha Chaturthi was first observed , the festival has been publicly celebrated in Pune since the era of Shivaji ( 1630 -- 1680 , founder of the Maratha Empire ) . After the start of the British Raj , the Ganesha festival lost state patronage and became a private family celebration in Maharashtra until its revival by Indian freedom fighter and social reformer Lokmanya Tilak . The festival , along with processions , was already in vogue as a public and a private celebration in Mumbai ( then called Bombay ) in 1885 , according to the eyewitness account by a visiting Italian Sanskrit professor Angelo de Gubernatis : </P>
<P> Although it is unknown when ( or how ) Ganesha Chaturthi was first observed , the festival has been publicly celebrated in Pune since the era of Shivaji ( 1630 -- 1680 , founder of the Maratha Empire ) . After the start of the British Raj , the Ganesha festival lost state patronage and became a private family celebration in Maharashtra until its revival by Indian freedom fighter and social reformer Lokmanya Tilak . The festival , along with processions , was already in vogue as a public and a private celebration in Mumbai ( then called Bombay ) in 1885 , according to the eyewitness account by a visiting Italian Sanskrit professor Angelo de Gubernatis : </P>
who revived the ganesh chaturthi festival in maharashtra
who revived the ganesh chaturthi festival in maharashtra
Lokmanya Tilak
Lokmanya Tilak