Ganesha of your choice

Festival Season

G

anesha is here in all colours and shapes. Like Lord Venkateshwara of Tirumala, dancing like Nataraj, in the form of Sai Baba and the Hindu warrior - Shivaji, you name the form and the idol-makers will mould your Ganesha in that form.  

Now that the Ganesha festival is so near, the artists are working day and night to finish the idols which have been made to order in different shapes, sizes and colours. Though the BBMP officials have issued a notice to all the idol-makers not to use heavy metal and oil paints, most of them have overlooked that.

The idols are made of clay and Plaster of Paris (POP). The POP ones are made locally in Bangalore and Mysore. There are also those idols which are brought from Maharashtra and Kolkata.

The idols prepared in Maharashtra (mostly in Mumbai, Pune and Kolhapur) are heavily decorated and portray the historical happenings of the State. Whereas the Kolkata idols are grand and are designed in the Durga style. 

Each idol takes its own time to make. For Nagesh, a clay idol-maker at Hanumanth Nagar, the last 20-25 days have been hectic. He has made approximately 56 huge idols, which will be placed in public pandals. “It takes me two days to prepare one Ganesha of two feet.” He uses jadimanu (a special form of clay), which easily dissolves in the water.
“Water painting takes me another day. In three days time, I can deliver a Ganesha idol.” This time he has designed Kalinga Mardhana, Rishi Ganesha among others.

For the local POP idol-maker Amar, the work begins one month before the festival. “The moulding and painting works take a lot of time,” he says.

This time Amar, who has his showroom on R V Road, has prepared idols based on mythological themes. He shows his 16 feet Ganesha idol to all the customers with pride. To help him make the idols, he has brought labourers from Tamil Nadu and Mumbai.
Amar has stiff competition from Srinivas, who has his showroom just few yards away.  Srinivas has bought his idols from Mumbai and Kolkata.

These idols are not just huge but are heavily decorated with paints and pearls.

“We are running out of stock now itself. Fights have become common between customers wanting the same idols. As soon as the idols are unloaded, people are booking them,” says Srinivas. He brought two Ganesha idols, depicting Shivaji, of which one was sold for Rs 11,000 and another was auctioned for Rs 14,900 as two groups wanted the same piece. 

“Recession or not, Ganesha is having a rich time here.

People request us to bring different styles of Ganesha, no matter what the cost is. I have even received orders for next year now itself,” he adds.