Saraswathy Badri’s house in Gomathipuram is a place where every corner is occupied by an idol of Lord Ganesha. From the table top, the wall hanging and the kitchen counter to the fridge magnet, the curtain rod and the flower vase, small and big idols of the elephant God are found all over. Saraswathy who is a soft skills trainer boasts of a collection of over 250 Ganesha idols and has lost track of how the idols happened to accumulate. What started off as a hobby of collecting images of Lord Ganesha from wedding cards and newspapers turned into a prideful possession over the years.
Showing an old album of yellowing pages, Saraswathy explains her fascination for Ganesha images, “I used to find the shapes interesting and whenever I saw a Ganesha motif which was common on wedding invitations, I would cut it out neatly and place it in the album. Once, I read an intriguing news article on a Ganesha Idol in Chennai that drank milk. The article had explained the physics of surface tension behind the miracle. I wanted to try it at home and bought an idol. To my surprise, I found it working and understood the physics concept. That’s how slowly I became interested in the various shapes and styles of Ganesha idols.” Though Saraswathy bought a couple of terracotta and clay idols, much of her collection is contributed by friends and family.
“People started gifting me idols and it was invariably a Ganesha all the time. For our house warming, I had so many Ganesha idols, paintings, wall hangings and pictures as gifts,” she says. Relatives and friends at times, even custom make a Ganesha for Saraswathy. For instance, her brother-in-law carved out the elephant God out of a soap bar and her sister made a Tanjore mural of Ganesha as gifts. Saraswathy has carefully placed the idols ranging from miniatures to big size ones, inside a glass rack specially made to house the collection. “Some of the big idols are displayed all over the house. But since the small ones may easily get lost or damaged, I have taken good care of them,” she says. “Ganesha is a fascinating figure with his round belly, flappy ears and elephant face. I find the small portable and portly idols extremely cute and adorable.”
The wide variety includes traditional idols made of stone, clay and terracotta to quirky and avant garde avatars or poses of Ganesha such as reading a book, playing the trumpet like Bagpiper with a slew of rats following, squinting through a pair of binoculars and doing gymnastics. “My daughter loves the gym Ganesha and my favourite is the Bagpiper one. My husband Dr. Badri Narayanan, who is also a birder finds the Ganesha with binoculars interesting,” says Saraswathy. The crawling Ganesha, the anatha sayanam pose, and the one on ala ilai (banyan leaf) are some of the rare pieces in the collection. “Usually Lord Krishna is found in all of these three designs/poses and it’s rare to see Ganesha like that.”
The smallest idol of all is the minuscule Ganesha made of a single betel nut. There are also quiet a few pieces made out of natural materials, such as the idol from Srilanka made of coconut shells, vellerukku ver pillayar (made out of the root of Vellerukku plant) and another embossed on a bamboo shoot. Adding colour to the collection is the new age interpretations and depictions of the elephant God like the Pen stand and flower vase designed to resemble just the trunk face and fur doll Ganesha. Pillayar idols made of crystal and gold-plated one are some of the exotic varieties, while the oldest piece in Saraswathy’s collection is an ivory idol. “I have a Ganesha image weaved in silk from Kanchipuram, my native place, which I hold close to my heart. I believe the collection is a legacy that I will pass on to the next generation.”
