The Hindu deity Ganesh (the God of new beginnings and remover of obstacles) is the patron saint of Mumbai. Mumbaikers LOVE him. Today marks the beginning of the 10 day Ganesh Chaturthi festival which celebrates his birthday. The festival is centered in the Lalbaug area of town that used to be the garment district. In Lalbaug there are two major Ganesh shrines that an estimated 1.5 million people a day will visit. Families also set up small shrines with Ganesh idols in their homes to celebrate. As the festival draws to an end, roughly 150,000 Ganesh statues will have been paraded through the streets (with drums, beautiful costumes and much fanfare) and taken to the sea to be submerged. Statues can be as small as an inch or as high as 70 feet.
When the festival originally started, the idols were made out of clay so that when they were submerged they disintegrated back into the sea. The significance of that disintegration was seen as a reminder that we are more than our physical form and will ALL eventually return to the earth. As the festival grew in prominence artisans began making the sculptures out of plaster of paris. These did not disintegrate and caused large amounts of pollution as well as statue parts to wash up on the beach. The government has since banned the submersion of plaster of paris idols so families have reverted back to submerging small clay idols again. The larger plaster of paris idols are still created and marched to the sea, they are just no longer submerged.
The CLO had arranged a special tour for us last Sunday at the artisan workshops where the final preparations were taking place. Since it was also the last non-working day before the festival started, some of the larger idols were already starting to be paraded toward the sea as well.
As we were gathering for our tour we came across a group of young men with drums. They were all dressed alike and were waiting to parade with a Ganesh statue. Of course Nia wanted to try out their drums. And of course the nice Indians said yes. So that was a hit. :)
After our group was all present and accounted for we headed into a big workshop where we came across a large decorated cart. This is typical transport for the idols.
In the workshop there were Ganesh idols at various stages of completion. Here is one in the early stages that only has a rough plaster of paris form.
And here’s one a bit farther along with more detail and a solid coat of paint over the top.
And this one is near completion with decorative painting, fabric draping and the addition of jewels.
This Ganesh was very close to finished. Isn’t it stunning??
We also got to wander through some pretty amazing markets en route where we saw goodies like these.
Between the noise, smells, crowds and heat it was a major sensory overload, but as I’m learning, that’s Mumbai. I now factor in 2 hours for a nap after each outing in the city because it is inevitable that I will come back exhausted. It’s just that kind of place. But the payoff is that there are visually interesting things to see around every corner.
I got some really incredible shots during this outing and highly recommend you check out the full photo gallery (especially if you want to see everyday street life shots).
CLICK HERE to view the full gallery.
Ciao for now! I’ll be back with more postings soon!
