Unseen hands behind Ganesha idols

Once upon a time, Ganesha Chaturthi was just a festival like any other in Indian households celebrated with enthusiasm and reverence. Then freedom fighter and social reformer Bal Gangadhar Tilak gave the festival a patriotic and mass flavour by giving a call to celebrate it in public. Thus Ganesha Chaturthi became the most widely celebrated festival where people of all castes participated without cultural and traditional restrictions.

Every year we see Gowri and Ganesha idols of various hues, sizes and themes. Every year we expect to see new designs in the idols. But we seldom think about the hands behind the creation of such artistic, intricate idols. Clay Ganesha idol was first introduced in Mysore during 1936 by sculptor late D. Puttaswamy. Even now his family makes only clay Ganesha idols without adding any chemical colours.

Some of the traditional artistes of Mysore city have shared their toils and joys in this Weekend Star Supplement. Artist and sculptor Shivalingappa, famous for his rare creation — sand idols — has also spoken to us about the significance of his artifacts.

Buy clay Ganesha idols: City artisans

Mysore is a city of cultures and traditions and has its own significance in every field of art. Similarly, it has its own tradition of making Gowri-Ganesha idols.

In the lanes of Kumbarageri, off Irwin Road in city, first starts the festive season of Gowri-Ganesha festival every year. The artisans of Kumbarageri start the long and tedious process of making Ganesha and Gowri from clay six months before the festival in their houses. They live in tiny houses, at the most one or two rooms making the whole house in which they have to eat, sleep, live and make pottery. They even prepare hundreds of idols and Dasara dolls in their tiny dwellings (see pictures). There are about 20 families of artisans left in Kumbarageri who are still continuing their tradition with confidence and reverence.

The clay Ganesha idols were first introduced to Mysore in 1936 by sculptor late D. Puttaswamy who was famous as Ganapathi Puttas-wamy. Now his grandson Raghavendra (9945441914) is following the tradition by making only clay idols of Ganesha without adding any chemical colours in his Evergreen Model Works company.

It is a joy and wonder to see the idols taking shape at the hands of skillful artisans, men and women alike; to see the making of intricate designs in clay or mud with hand without learning in art institutions or under renowned teachers. Their teachers are their ancestors and themselves. They give birth to new designs and ideas everyday through their creativity.

When SOM spoke to a few artistes in Kumbarageri, they expressed their joy of making the idols and sadness in being left destitute by the administration.

Sculptor D. Revanna, who is a resident of Kumbarageri in city, is a BA (Sclupture & Painting) graduate from CAVA. He has been making Ganesha idols for the past 35 years. He says he inherited the occupation from his forefathers.

Every year he creates something new; Sarvajna and Thiruvalluvar statues this time, celebrating the end of the 18-year-long projects of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Revanna adds that he does not sale his creative works but only the traditional art works.

“I create new designs in idols as people want change. They prefer Ganesha idols which look attractive with new designs. Our market is flooding with Ganesha idols from other places like Chennai, Kerala, Bangalore’s Krishnagiri, Alsoor, Bombay and Mangalore, which decreases the demand for idols created by city artisans. Mysore style Ganesha (with a unique style of face sculpting) has its own significance. It is also created only in clay. But the more popular idols nowadays are made from Plaster of Paris and paper pulp which are harmful to our environment,” Revanna said.

“We bring clay from nearby lakes and separate the sand or small stones from the clay which takes 4 to 5 months. After that, we start making Ganesha idols. We also make Dasara dolls for Navaratri festival,” added Revanna.

Revanna appealed to the government to help local artistes who sell clay idols by banning the sale of Ganesha idols brought from other States like 'Bombay Ganesh' which are popular as they are rich in colour, large in size with different shapes.

“The clay idols we make are eco-friendly and some of the idols are sold without paints. But the demand for colourful idols has forced us to compete with the outsiders by using chemical colours. Not many people buy the unpainted idols or those painted with water colour as they do not shine, ” he added.

Everyone in Revanna's family makes the idols for their livelihood. They create up to 10 feet high idols. They do not market their idols. People go to their houses to buy them or order them.

Most of today's youth avoid jobs with low income and less fame like pottery and handicrafts making, even if it is a family business, for fear of ridicule from their peers. But here is a girl who finishes her college and joins her family in the evenings to make Ganesha idols. Rekha, a II year B.Com student of Maharani's College, is a model for other youth. She makes small Ganapa idols by using mould. “Ganesha is the lord of knowledge. I feel happy to do this job because I believe he improves our knowledge. I work till night 12.30 and I will not study for these 15 days as it is the festival season. My friends also come here to see how Ganesha idols are made and express their happiness. I don't feel inferior doing my family's work. In fact I feel proud because making the idols needs a lot of skill and talent.” she says.

“With moulds, we can make nearly a thousand small idols per day. But we make medium and large size idols by hand,” she adds.

When asked if they get any financial aid from the State government for their pottery work or help in marketing, she said they don't get any aid from the government and there is no recognition from any government bodies. “It is difficult to maintain our livelihood from pottery alone. We manage with difficulty because it is our 'kula kasubu' (family trade),” says Rekha ruefully.

V. Srinivas, who is the third-generation artisan, started his profession of making idols when he was a youngster. He creates the idols, whatever the size, with his hands. He says their family does not use the moulds. His wife, son Shyam Sundar and all other members of his family have involved themselves in this work. When asked about education, he replied saying what was the need of education? They all do the same ancestral occupation; that is, idol making. Thus even his children have followed in his footsteps. He says they need a minimum of six months to prepare for the idol-making process.

Nowadays, even the clay, which used to be so cheap earlier, has become costlier due to the increase in the wages of labourers who bring the clay from rural places. The artiste says his Gowri-Ganesha idols have adorned many temples like Chamudeshwari temple atop Chamundi Hill, Srirangapatna Temple and Mysore Palace when Krishnaraja Wadiyar was the King, during Ganesha festival. He proudly recalls the admiration of singer Yesudas who called the Ganesha idol created by him as 'Chinmayamurthi' for its aesthetic and spiritual look.

When asked if they give training to those interested in the art, Srinivas said that there are not many people interested in the art now and they cannot teach unless there are at least 7-8 students. With the limited space available, it is also difficult to accommodate many students.

Another artisan Raghu, also a resident of Kumbarageri, is in this profession for the past 10-15 years. He expressed his sad-ness over the conse-quences of rece-ssion and dwind-ling sale of the tra-ditional idols. Ash-wath and his wife have been making the idols for the past 60 years.

When the artistes were asked if it is possible to use eco-friendly colours for painting the idols, all artistes said that though the government calls for making the festival eco-friendly by using biode-gradable vegetable colours, it has not provided any appropriate equipment for preparing the colours, nor any method. They asked how they can use vegetable colours when it is not available in the market and they have no means of obtaining it.

The traditional artistes of Mysore use mostly water colour and oil paint on clay idols. They also say that as oil paint gives more glaze or shine to the idols and makes them more attractive, customers mostly opt for oil paint-based idols than water colour-based which are more eco-friendly. Most of the city artistes don't make idols using Plaster of Paris, which is a mixture of chemicals harmful to the water body and the aquatic animals in which the idols are immersed.

Plaster of Paris does not dissolve easily in water and the idol floats on water after immersion.

Here is what some spiritual persons say about worshipping Ganesha idols made from clay or mud. They say that as there are references in the Puranas (mythological texts) that Ganapati was created from grime, it is appropriate to use a Ganesh idol made of mud for ritualistic worship. The pure spiritual particles (pavitraks) of Ganapati get attracted to a greater extent towards an idol made of mud than to that of Plaster of Paris.

All said and done, the traditional idol makers of Mysore are dwindling fast with rapid commercialisation of the fes-tival and the entry of PoP and paper pulp idols from other States. With the lessening interest in the general public about the beauty of plain clay Gowri & Ganesha idols and the unique Mysore style, there is not much time left for the extinction of both our style and the arti-stes who have the knowledge to make them. It is imminent that the artistes turn to other professions soon, after all, the artistes too have to make a living.

Sand idols, a rare art by city sculptor

Artisans make Ganesha idols of different shapes, sizes and ideas depicting even current events in them. But here are some interesting idols of Ganesha.

The idols, the exemplary examples of creativity of city-based artist L. Shivalingappa, are made of sand and thermocol. They each portray a different theme.

The artist, who is also a sculptor and writer, says the art of sand-sculpting is not very common among artistes. The sand is mixed with chemicals for bonding. It will not dissolve easily in water unlike regular sand sculptures. He creates idols with new themes every year. People like his innovative ideas, he adds.

Explaining to SOM about the three idols of Ganesha he created this year, Shivalingappa said the Ganesha's idol with books (see picture left) depicts knowledge. His Ganesha has books in the place of face, veena and trumpet (kahale) and as should be on a God’s idol, the Abhaya hasta, assuring the devotees of his benevolence.

The sand scupture of Ganesha (see picture on right) depicts severe famine in the land. As can be seen in the idol, Ganesha's huge stomach has shrunk into a hole due to hunger and non-availability of food. And most interestingly, Ganesha's snake, which is usually tied around his plump stomach has come down and is chasing the rat, his vehicle, unable to bear the hunger. The artist very effectively portrays the situaton of the people and the country where there is less food, less water and less survival rate.

Some stray thoughts on I-Day

When I was young, I would reverently watch the Independence Day parade at New Delhi every year. I thought it was blasphemous and utterly unpatriotic to avoid watching it and I got angry with anyone who dared not to. But the same display of the traditional dances, art forms, temples, tourist spots, etc. of every State, the military force, each year, bored me to tears. The unvaried patriotic and promising speeches of the Prime Ministers too did not change with years. I guess once you get into the Prime Ministerial office, you also get into the spirit and speaking mode of the office. Now, like thousands of young Indians, I too have stopped watching the parade despite my pride towards everything Indian. When our heart is not with something, our spirit too disappears with it.

While thus thinking about the Indian psyche, after many years, I remembered what Pearl S. Buck, that celebrated author who wrote Good Earth and won Nobel Prize for it, wrote on India after her visit to the country during the British rule. She very rightly summarised the Indianness when she said the worst result, perhaps, of the colonial system was to provide the subject people with an infinite excuse against work and so against helping themselves. 'You are responsible for me, you have undertaken to feed me and clothe me and govern me. If I die, it is your fault,' is the subject's attitude towards a ruler. Then, there were always the British to blame for our follies and sloth and now, we have the government, our own democratic government selected by ourselves, to do our work for us, and thus, we need just depend on government machinery for everything. After all, we selected them so that we can rest assured we need not break our back working hard to improve the society or at least our own immediate surroundings.

I have seen people who refuse to clean the area in front of their own house saying it is the work of the Corporation or Municipality. But try telling them not to park their vehicles on roads haphazardly or litter the public space, they will remind you zealously that it is a public road and it belongs to them too and they have a right to do what they want. This is just the so-called tip of the iceberg and it has penetrated deep into the 'national attitudinal psyche.'

Do we, with this kind of attitude, need absolute leaders or absolute citizens? My vote is for the latter because citizens are future leaders, not vice-versa. But then we need to be free, in mind and in heart, to be able to choose such leaders or become one ourselves. We choose carefully when choosing our leaders, we see their caste, their previous vote record, if any, how much they can spend to win an election, how much we can scrape out of it, their charm and convincing abilities. But never what they can do to help us, for free. And speaking of freedom, I cannot afford to assume we are because we are not. We are not free to choose our path in this country because all paths are decided not by our liking or interest, but by how much we can afford to spend to reach our goal. We flaunt a few success stories which cloak the countless failures.

All that is said and done, I believe in democracy, which is so much better even if it allows for moral, societal depravity and hunger and in a way increases them. I believe in it because it allows us to be free, free even to make the wrong decisions and not learn from them, free enough to be our own censure.

And coming back to the Independence Day, it is ridiculous for us to go on parading ourselves in front of the world like a peacock flaunting its feathers to attract a peahen. We are proud, I am proud that we are very near to becoming a world power in economics, intelligence and man power. But it is imperative that we work hard silently like the Japanese do and let our deeds speak for themselves instead of living in the aura of the past.