Ganapathi Bappa Morya!

I spent an evening at the 64th Bengaluru Ganesh Utsava in Basavanagudi, from the drums at 5pm and the aarti to Sivasri Tejasvi Surya's bhajans, where the entire crowd sang along with her.

Yesterday I went to the Bengaluru Ganesh Utsava at the APS College Grounds in Basavanagudi, on the evening Sivasri Tejasvi Surya was performing, and I took my camera along.

The Utsava is organised by Sri Vidyaranya Yuvaka Sangha, a not-for-profit whose seed money was the Rs. 300 it made from staging a play. The first one was held on 2 September 1962, near the Mallikarjuna temple lane on DVG Road, and this year is its 64th edition (14 to 26 September). Every evening has the pooja, a drums performance at 5pm, a dance performance at 6pm and the main performance of the evening after that.

Table of contents

5pm: the drums
5:40pm: aarti and mantra pushpam
6pm: Ganesha’s stories in dance
7pm: Sivasri Tejasvi Surya

5pm: the drums

I got there at around 5pm, where a full drums ensemble was playing lots of beats. The entire ground was filled with these players (women in sarees and men in kurtas, on big steel drums played with sticks), with the audience sitting on the floor around them. It was extremely energetic - it felt surreal to even be present.

I’m not sure what these Ganesh beats are called, and the Utsava’s own schedule just calls it the drums performance, by Beat Gurus (a percussion group from Bengaluru). Beat Gurus trains a big group of people for weeks before the Utsava, many of whom have never played a drum before, and the ensemble plays every evening from 5pm until the aarti.

Women in sarees playing big steel drums with sticks, one of them smiling, with men in kurtas behind them and the audience sitting on the floor — Beat Gurus' drummersFUJIFILM X-T5 · XF50-140mm F2.8 R LM OIS WR · f/2.8 · 1/60 s · ISO 800

A drummer in a saree laughing mid-beat, the drummers on either side of her blurred by their movement, and the audience sitting behind them — Mid-beat, with the crowd behindFUJIFILM X-T5 · XF50-140mm F2.8 R LM OIS WR · f/5.6 · 1/15 s · ISO 800

5:40pm: aarti and mantra pushpam

At 5:40pm the beats completed and the aarti was performed for Ganapathi, followed by the mantra pushpam. It’s a Vedic hymn from the Taittiriya Aranyaka of the Yajur Veda, chanted at the end of a pooja while flowers are offered. The audience were captivated by the sight in front of them, sitting cross-legged on the floor, some with their hands folded and some holding up their phones to record it.

A woman in a saree holding up an aarti lamp to the Ganapathi idol, which sits under a silver arch hung with garlands — Aarti for GanapathiFUJIFILM X-T5 · XF50-140mm F2.8 R LM OIS WR · f/2.8 · 1/500 s · ISO 3200

The audience sitting cross-legged on the floor, some with their hands folded and one man holding up his phone to record — The audience at the evening poojaFUJIFILM X-T5 · XF16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR II · f/2.8 · 1/60 s · ISO 1600

6pm: Ganesha’s stories in dance

At 6pm we had classical dance performances elaborating on the life of Ganesha and his various stories, by Aayana Dance Company (founded in 2009 by Krishna Manognya Baleraju).

A dancer seen from behind with both arms raised and her hands in a mudra, flowers in her hair — Hands in a mudraFUJIFILM X-T5 · XF50-140mm F2.8 R LM OIS WR · f/2.8 · 1/250 s · ISO 1600

A group of dancers in costume reaching out towards one dancer in the middle, who has her eyes closed — The troupe around one dancerFUJIFILM X-T5 · XF50-140mm F2.8 R LM OIS WR · f/2.8 · 1/250 s · ISO 1600

A male dancer lit against a dark stage, both hands raised and the skirt of his costume flared out — In the spotlightFUJIFILM X-T5 · XF50-140mm F2.8 R LM OIS WR · f/2.8 · 1/250 s · ISO 1600

The same dancer leaning into a turn among the other dancers, with an arm blurred across the foreground — Mid-turn, among the troupeFUJIFILM X-T5 · XF50-140mm F2.8 R LM OIS WR · f/2.8 · 1/250 s · ISO 1600

7pm: Sivasri Tejasvi Surya

At 7pm we had the main performance of the evening, “Dhara”, by Sivasri Tejasvi Surya (Sivasri Skandaprasad before her marriage), which the Utsava billed as a divine musical experience from 7 to 10pm. She is a Carnatic vocalist and Bharatanatyam dancer from Chennai, trained in Carnatic music under A.S. Murali. She also has a degree in bioengineering from SASTRA University and a master’s in Bharatanatyam from the University of Madras.

In January 2024, just before the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Prime Minister Modi shared her Kannada rendition of “Poojisalende” and praised it. In March 2025 she married Tejasvi Surya, the MP for Bangalore South.

Sivasri Tejasvi Surya in a saree with her palms joined in a namaste, smiling and looking to one side — Sivasri Tejasvi Surya greeting the crowdFUJIFILM X-T5 · XF50-140mm F2.8 R LM OIS WR · f/2.8 · 1/250 s · ISO 1600

Before she started her performance, while the instrumentalists were tuning their instruments, the lights dimmed, and the audience member sitting beside me casually mentioned, “Why are we keeping Lakshmi in the dark?”

She sang many bhajans and namavalis (chants made up of the names of a god), where the entire crowd joined in and sang along with her.

Sivasri Tejasvi Surya seated at the microphone, holding a pair of wooden clappers up in the air — Wooden clappers, held up highFUJIFILM X-T5 · XF50-140mm F2.8 R LM OIS WR · f/2.8 · 1/500 s · ISO 400

A mridangam player in glasses, smiling as he plays — On the mridangamFUJIFILM X-T5 · XF50-140mm F2.8 R LM OIS WR · f/2.8 · 1/500 s · ISO 1600

A drummer with curly hair behind a drum kit and cymbals, with a rope-tuned drum beside him — Drum kit and cymbalsFUJIFILM X-T5 · XF50-140mm F2.8 R LM OIS WR · f/2.8 · 1/500 s · ISO 1600

I left for home at around 8pm to prepare for the next day. This sense of belonging and community, where people come together, is what festivals are all about in India.

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