Handicraft: Finishing Ganesha and fixing Krishna

We took the local bus and landed in a village, where the traditional potter families are these days working on crafting Ganeshas of different sizes for Ganesh Chathurti, the colourful Hindu festival, celebrated on the occasion of  Lord Ganesha's birthday. Ganesha, who is believed to bestow his presence on earth for all his devotees in the duration of this festival is the son of Shiva and his wife Parvati,  It is the day Shiva declared his son Ganesha, the god with the elephant head, as superior to all the gods. Ganesha is widely worshipped as the god of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune and traditionally invoked at the beginning of any new venture or at the start of travel.

Ganesh Chaturthi starts with the installation of these Ganesh statues in colorfully decorated homes and specially erected temporary structures mandapas  in every locality. The pandals are erected by the people or a specific society or locality or group by collecting monetary contributions. The mandapas are decorated with lights, etc. or are theme based decorations, which depict religious themes or current events. After that all figures are dispersed into a water body, accompanied by prayers and singing. Only then, Ganesha will bring luck!

Painting the clay figures is mostly the job of women. The government has set up rules to use specific natural colors to protect the water bodies, but nobody is following these regulations. So the figures once put into the lakes are causing ecological damage.

Marion is sketching the design of the idol.

For about 4 month a year the tradtional pot production stops for the preparation of the Ganesha festival.

The potter and his family are excited and happy to explain their craft to us, the foreigners.

Fixing Krishna

There is another beautiful workshop in the village. The craftsman works traditionally using an alloy of five metals — copper, gold, silver, lead, and zinc for the casting of religious idols.

"Metal holds an important position in both religious and everyday life for the Indian people. The Silpastrastras (art text about metal working) goes into great detail about the composition of alloys used to cast both sacred icons and mundane utensils. Panchaloha (an alloy of five metals — copper, gold, silver, lead, and zinc) is widely used to cast icons and idols for worship because of its auspicious nature.
Metal working is deeply infused with religion. In fact, before an artisan even begins a project he prays for guidance to Tvastram, the son of Visvakarma, who worked with copper, brass, and other metal alloys. Even in the household, metals have religious significance, from icons in the family temples to cooking utensils. Hindu religion forbids the use of copper for cooking; thus in a Hindu kitchen we could find primarily brass tools, whereas a Muslim kitchen would boast mainly tinned copper." (Quote from the website of the Museum of Anthropology, Missiouri, http://anthromuseum.missouri.edu/minigalleries/lostwax/intro.shtml)