who revived the ganesh chaturthi festival in maharashtra
Ganesh Chaturthi Although it is unknown when (or how) Ganesha Chaturthi was first observed,[23] the festival has been publicly celebrated in Pune since the era of Shivaji (1630â€“1680, founder of the Maratha Empire).[23] 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.[23] 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: