Zen and the Art of making Ganesha

I keep seeing the incomplete Ganeshas on my way to, well, nothing. I am only bumming around right now. I decided to go inside this place to see how Ganesha is being made.  Ganesha Chaturthi is only a few weeks away, the biggest Hindu festival in Bangalore and most other places in India. Ganeshas were being made from clay and hay. I am not sure what else they need to finish the statues.  It takes about a month for the people to finish a large Ganesha. Some of them are really huge. The interesting part is that, these Ganeshas being made won’t be around for long. They will be around for just a few days. After the festival, every one of these Ganeshas will be immersed in a lake or some water body. Impermanence of it all does not make these statues any less beautiful. They are all perfect.

The people who are making the statues are very talented. Each one of them is a masterpiece. They have to be so careful while making these, there cannot be any flaws. Gods must be perfect. I even saw one Ganesha in a perfect padmasana. The fingers, the toes, the face are all so beautiful. As of now, most of the Ganeshas are white. I like them like this. I was told by the people who work there, that they will start painting next week. I will visit the place again to see the difference.

The immersion of Ganeshas in the water have created a lot of environment problems, as the paint and some materials like plaster of Paris cause many issues. I do not know how green the process is in 2009. I have to find this out next time I visit this place. In the olden days, these statues were made from clay and they would be immersed in water with no issues.  This would represent the cycle of life and death.

Checkout the slide show for various Ganeshas in the making.

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