Location	Mandu, Indore, Ujjain
Time of Celebration	September/ october
Highlights	Religious & cultural celebration that blends tribal & Hindu culture

Madhya Pradesh, known for its overpowering gaiety and pomp during festive celebrations, exhibits the Mandu festival every year with the same exulting fever. This festival falls in September/October and coincides with the celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi in other places.

Infact, Mandu festival also commemorates the elephant-headed God Ganesha. However, what marks its individuality is the confluence of Hindu and tribal culture that characterizes the various religious observances during this festival. Thus, Madhya Pradesh adds a new character to the worshipping of Ganesha through the Mandu festival.

The celebration receives a lot of fan-fare, with people paying their obeisance with feverish zest. The Mandu festival is celebrated in Mandu, Ujjain and Indore and is noticeably different from Ganesh Chaturthi. What brings about the differences in their celebration of the two festivals is the amalgamation of tribal elements in Mandu festival.

The tribal people worship a stone statue of Ganesha, incorporating their own rituals and patterns of adulation. Thus, Hindu mythology and traditions of local culture blend to give a distinctive shape to this festival. Tribal art and crafts displayed in the fairs, that accompany the festivities form another major draw of the Mandu Festival. A cultural program organized by the tourism department in Mandu during this period also acts as a window to cultural heritage and tradition of the state.