Bhubaneswar, Sept 1: The festival of Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated all around the country with a lot of enthusiasm and joy and as the festival is just around the corner, one can see that the preparations for the festival have began in the capital city from the fact that the idols of Lord of Wisdom are taking shapes. People in the city are all ready to install a distinct and new design Ganesh idol.
As per local sculptors here, people these days are demanding for ‘Dinosaur Ganesha’ or some demand for ‘Pagdi Ganesha’. But most people want the Mumbai famous ‘Lalbaug Ganesha’, which is exclusive and special in its own way. The demand for ‘Mumbai Style’ Ganesha is witnessed more this year in the capital city as compared to other design idols.
Other designs of Ganesha idols such as Mandar Pataria Ganesha, Natraj Ganesha and Surya Singhasan Ganesha are also in demand. For these idols, the price range varies between Rs. 1000 to Rs. 30,000.
Besides, 10 mute and deaf students made a beautiful 6-foot tall Ganesha idol for their school Bipin Bihari Choudhry High School for the Deaf. They made the idol under the supervision of a muslim sculptor, Nasim Azam with materials costing around Rs 1500 which shows how religion does not become a barrier for an artist to carve his creativity.
The major attraction this year is the 35-feet tall Ganesha idol named ‘Thailand Ganesh’ which will be built up at a Pandal near IMFA Park at Sahid Nagar. This idol would be the tallest idol in the city with an 18 kg laddu in the hands of the lord.
Lord Ganesha, son of Mata Parvati and God Shiva is the God of wisdom and prosperity. He is believed to be the remover of obstacles and problems as well as creator of happiness in the life of people. Devotees of Lord Ganesha offer prayer, offerings (especially Modak), sing devotional songs, recite mantra, do aarti and seek his blessings of wisdom and prosperity. It is celebrated separately by the families or group of people in the Pandals or temples or community by installing the idol annually on the birthday of the Lord. People see off Ganesha on Anant Chaturdashi with Ganesha Visarjan. They pray to God to come back again next year with lots of blessings.
