Eco Friendly Ganpati

Lokmanya Tilak chose Ganesha as a rallying point for Indian protest against British rule because of his wide appeal as "the god for Everyman". It was an important festival during the Peshwa rule in Maharashtra, but acquired a more organized form all over India during the Swaraj movement (Freedom struggle).

Tilak was the first to install large public images of Ganesha in pavilions, and he established the practice of submerging all the public images on the tenth day. The festival facilitated community participation & involvement in the form of learned discourses, dance dramas, poetry recital, musical concerts, debates, etc. It served as a meeting ground for common people of all castes and communities, in a time when social & political gatherings were forbidden by the British Rule to exercise control over the population.

'Ganpati Bappa Morya Pudhalya Varshi Lavkar Ya'. We say good-bye to our beloved Ganesha, who we treated like a King. We prayed to him, fed him, called family, friends and strangers over to admire him and take his blessings.

But did you know that the beaches and riverbanks are dirty for days after Visarjan? The water gets toxic with idol remains, plastic garlands, coconuts, crowns and what not.

Traditionally, clay was used to make Ganesh idols. Over the years however, plaster of Paris (POP), which is lighter and cheaper, has become the favoured material to mould these idols.

The disadvantages of Plaster of paris are given below.

Plaster

The term "plaster" is one of the most universally used, describing a multitude of products, usually those which will provide a smooth coat to a wall or other surface. Most of the idols are made up of plaster of Paris does not disintegrate easily, the idol floats in water after immersion.

The chemical dyes and colours being used to colour them contain poisonous elements. Particularly, Red, Blue, Orange and Green colours contain Mercury, Zinc oxide, Chromium and Lead, the potential causes of developing cancer. Massive hurt is caused by the Plaster Of Paris on the fauna and flora of these coastal areas. Since Plaster Of Paris is a costly substance, the artisans sculpting the Ganesh idols resorted to more economic material during last few years. This material is the lime stone being used in the industries to eliminate the acidity of the chemicals. This limestone in a chemical reaction with the industrial chemicals produces Calcium Sulphate or Calcium fluoride. One can see heaps of this whitish waste product outside many factories near Thane. This white clay like looking substance has in it many poisonous substances over and above acids. The idols prepared out of this material get easily dissolved after entering the water, but the dangerous chemicals too go into the water, killing the population of fish in the affected area.

Eco friendly Ganpati Procedure :-

With the grace of P. P. Aniruddha Bapu, Sadguru Shree Aniruddha Upasana Trust has prepared 3500 Eco friendly Ganesha Idols last year. So let’s serve our motherland and save the nature. Paper pulp is made from Ram Naam Books. (Ram Naam Books:-In this book we have to write down the Jap which is mention on the particular page e.g. RAM,SHREE RAM JAI RAM JAI JAI RAM,DATTAGURU,KRISHANA,JAI JAI ANIRUDDHA HARI. After the complication of the book writer have to submit his book to Ram Naam Bank office.All these submitted book papers are use to prepare eco friendly Ganpati) Normal news paper can also be used.

How to make paper pulp:

Remove the water content from the paper pulp. Spread the paper pulp to attain uniformity. Take 250 gms of Gum Arebica in steel utensil. Add 1.25 liters of water. Then keep the utensil on medium heat, boil it for 10-15 minutes. Keep stirring with the help of wooden stick throughout. Filter the Gum Arebica after it cools down. Take 500gms of the paper pulp. Pour in the filtered gum arebica. Merged it is properly. Then add 2.25 kg of white ink powder. Make this mixture soft and firm as textured dough

Clean the mould with water and dry it. For fibre mould apply of Oil and Soap mixture from within. If it is a rubber mould apply Natural Shell Dust. Take the paper mache and roll it in a circular form with 1 feet radius. Use Natural Shell Dust while rolling. Keep the rolled paper mache on the mould and start pressing it, with help of stencil brush. Remove the excess paper mache. Press the paper mache with your hands, so that the impressions of the mould would get embossed properly. In case you see any gaps, fill up the same with small piece of paper mache. Merge it properly from all sides, so that it doesn’t look like a patch. In this manner, you can fill up the front side and back side of the idol. Stick the paper pieces with the help of binding gum, leaving 1-inch distance from the border. While sticking see to it that there are no air bubbles in between. Apply 2 to 3 layers of paper pieces. Seal the border with long dough strands. Join the moulds and tighten it. Seal the inner joints and the base with this long dough strands. Use Gum Arebica for sticking. In this manner you can also fill up the Lord Ganesha’s hands. Keep the mould for drying for 1 to 1.5 days in sunlight. Slowly open the mould either from the face portion or from the middle portion. Remove each part one by one

To smoothen the surface of Ganesha use of 80 & 120 polish paper. Be careful while polishing, else the ornaments will get defaced. For joining of Ganesha hands, use paper mache and Gum Arebica. After joining of Ganesha hands with the help of polish paper or metal file smoothen the joints

This is how we prepare eco-friendly ganesha’s idol in following sizes:-

12”

15”

18”

24”

30”

4 feet.