Over the years Bengaluru has been opening up to the idea of celebrating Ganesha Chaturthi in an eco-friendly manner. This year’s effort seems several notches higher as seen in the recent Guinness record set by 2,138 Bangaloreans who gathered at the National College Grounds to simultaneously create ‘Green Ganesha idols.’
While the official adjudicator for record, Swapnil Dangarikar, stamped the new feat under the category of ‘most people sculpting with modelling clay’, for participants it was an opportunity to show their passion for the environment at the ‘Go-green Ganesha’ event.
“This season started off with a gift from the BBMP banning the use of Plaster of Paris (PoP) idols,” says Hari Menon, an engineer who participated in the event. “The organic Ganesha drive is another way for the festival to create a green footprint.
The making of clay and seed Ganesha in the run-up to the 57th edition of the Bengaluru Ganesha Utsava organised by Shri Vidyaranya Yuvaka Sangha, also conveyed a similar message.
“Immersing PoP idols with chemical-based paint in water bodies creates a bigger inorganic chain. Aquatic life too gets destroyed. A clay-seed idol not only reduces the use of other idols, but also encourages plants to grow in its place in a few weeks,” says Nandish SM, Managing Trustee, Bengaluru Ganesh Utsava.
However, painted idols still have a huge market. “People have to get eco-sensitive in their religious practices,” advises N Shashidhara, Treasurer, Crafts Council of Karnataka who conducts lead-awareness programmes and addresses craftsmen too.
BENGALURU - KARNATAKA - 25/08/2019 : 2138 participants Sculpting Clay Ganesha, creating a new Guinness World Records for the Most people sculpting with Model Clay , category, at the National College grounds, in Bengaluru on August 25, 2019, the previous record being 589 people. The event organised by Shree Vidyaranya Yuvaka Sangha was a precursor to the 57th edition of the Bengaluru Ganesha Utsav, giving a massive boost to an eco-friendly Ganesha Festival celebrations, and titled making of the Clay Seed Ganesha. Photo: K Murali Kumar / THE HINDU
“We have nearly 15,000 lead-educators in our mission where the toxic metal is being used and this includes painting idols which is toxic to man and nature,” says Shashidhara, also the Principal Advisor to National Referral Centre for Lead Projects in India, and Vice-President, Indian Society for Lead Awareness and Research.
“According to a Student Talent Exploration Project (STEP) undertaken by Maharani’s College last year, petrol, batteries, lipstick, turmeric and paint have a dangerously percentage of lead in them. Mumbai and Karnataka, which celebrate Ganesha festival on a large scale, have the largest market for these painted idols. A two-foot high Ganesha idol has six to seven percent lead in the paint and collectively this would mean tonnes of toxicity,” says Shashidhara.
Craftsmen in the idol-making industry use lead in paints for a glossy sheen. The lead helps the paint spread easily and dry faster. “The side effects of these chemicals are scary,” warns Shashidhara adding that people can get respiratory and skin disorders with lead exposure. “Micrograms of lead can affect children’s IQ. We have ordered our craftsmen working for the Crafts Council to make pure clay-Ganeshas without paint and in smaller sizes too,” says Shashidhara requesting people not to make it themselves, as “it would kill a potter’s profession and art.”
The clay for Bengaluru’s consumption comes from lake beds 40 to 50 kilometres away. These beds are gradually going dry, says environmentalist Vishal Kodial, founder of Know Your Indian Roots.
Vishal, who has conducted more than 500 workshops to make organic Ganesha idols and will be holding one at Ragi Kana on September 1, says “When you include the transportation and the harmful chemicals, we still are left with a dismal carbon print. It doesn’t make sense to have huge idols dressed in poisonous paints. My workshops go beyond learning to make the idols, it is to protect our roots,” says Kodial who fills the idols with tulsi, ragi, sunflower, methi and dhaniya seeds that sprout in 10 days when immersed in soil.
No dyes, no firing
No colour, no dyes, no firing, only natural clay and water...that is about how eco-friendly Sandhya Subbaramaiah’s Ganesha idols are. In fact she does not use moulds, she prefers shaping the idols with her hands.
“They are not assembly-made homogeneous pieces, so each has a signature identity,” says Sandhya who has been making organic Ganeshas to order for 20 years now.
Although Sandhya, grand-daughter of writer (late) AN Murthy Rao, basically deals with terracotta artefacts and jewellery at her residence in Dollars Colony in JP Nagar (ssclaytones@gmail.com), it was the stories she heard during her childhood about Ganesha that instilled a fascination for the elephant-headed God. “I found Ganesha more fascinating than teddy bears and dolls. I knew that my passion for clay had to be associated with Him, and that is how I came to create His idols for Ganesha Chathurti,” she says.
Sandhya picks up truckloads of river bank mud from Narayanapura in Yelahanka. “The cost of it with transportation and labour is about ₹10,000 per load. And after this starts the laborious process,” she says. Sandhya takes two days to make one Ganesha idol. “The clay is powdered and sieved to remove impurities. It is soaked in water for a fortnight, strained and wedged to remove trapped air for plasticity. After the mud gets to a leather-hard stage, it is perfect for shaping and etching,” explains Sandhya.
While traditional potters and many in the market use PoP and cover them with layers of clay for commercial business, Sandhya’s passion for the “brown, earthy gold” sees her idols retain a muddy look. She charges approximately ₹ 600 for an 8-to-10 inch idol.
