Ananta Chaturdashi is also marked as the last day of the ten-day-long Ganesh Chaturthi festival and is also called Ganesh Chaudas, when devotees bid adieu to the deity Ganesha by immersing (visarjana) his idols in water.
Legend
A legend behind the Ananta Chaturdashi is found in the Mahabharata. It recounts the story of a woman named Sushila, who encountered a group of women worshipping Ananta near a riverbank. They explained that the performance of this vrata (pious observance) would earn great merit for the performer and offer them safety. The form of Ananta was made out of darbha (sacred grass) and placed in a basket, whereby it was offered worship with scented flowers, oil lamp, incense sticks, and food they had prepared. Sushila joined the women in undertaking the ritual, whereupon a 14 knotted-sacramental thread was tied to her wrist. She then returned to join her husband, a sage called Kaundinya.
The couple reached a town called Amaravati, whose residents welcomed them for their piety and offered them a spacious house. Kaundinya began to prosper and became very rich. One day, Kaundinya noticed the thread on Sushila’s wrist. When he heard from her that the reason behind his wealth was her observance of the vrata, he was displeased and maintained that their wealth was not because of Ananta, but because of his own efforts. Saying hence, Kaundinya took the thread from Sushila’s hand and threw it into the fire, despite her pleas.
Following this, misfortune fell upon them: they were reduced to extreme poverty, their neighbours turned away from them, and their house caught fire. The repentant Kaundinya understood that it was punishment for having dishonoured Ananta. He roamed from place to place, asking a number of creatures and lakes if they could tell him where he could find the deity, coming across a number of unusual sights. Finally, Ananta assumed the guise of an old Brahmin man and appeared before him, following which Kaundinya pleaded for forgiveness. After explaining the significance of the unusual sights Kaundinya had observed during his wanderings, Ananta forgave Kaundinya. He asked him to observe the Ananta Chaturdashi vow for fourteen years, promising him prosperity and an eternal abode in the stars after his demise. Thus, Kaundinya and Sushila observed the vow and led a happy life thereafter.