Black Ganeshas Big Draw Ahead of Festivities This Time
CHENNAI: At Kosapet, Ganesh Chathurthi arrives early every year. Weeks before the elephant God’s birthday, the locality is overrun by Ganeshas. From gigantic 10-foot high idols that jut into to the skies to little mud ones, the idols crowd around every bit of space from the road side junctions to people’s bedrooms.
B Kumar, belonging to the traditional community of potters, the Kuyavar community, after which the locality is named, is busy with his idols. Every year he makes around 500 mud idols of Ganesha during the festival. Days before Ganesh Chathurthi, the mud idols at various stages of completion are ubiquitous in his two room house, rows after rows on the floors, on the walls, on top of his TV, everywhere. Even his two children are now restricted to the single bed, as one wrong step could damage an idol.
“We sell one idol of 0.5 feet for Rs 50, the rate increases with the size. But with mud idols, one cannot go above a particular size,” says the 33-year-old who has been making idols for the past 20 years. While business is good during the season, the scarcity of clay every year is what is driving mud idol makers like him anxious.
“Last year I got the clay for Rs 1,500, this year for the same quantity it is Rs 5,000,” he says.
Meanwhile, for all the etymological associations and the many idols in the locality, Kosapet, cannot really be called an artisans colony any more, if it wasn’t for the few like Kumar.
“All the big idols are from Andhra Pradesh. We don’t make the big ones here anymore,” says S Sathyanarayanan, who is into the business.
“We used to have around 300 families of idol makers. Now most of them are involved in other small time jobs. To make these idols we need a lot of free space to build them, dry them and work on them. The Andhra Pradesh government has provided their artisans with such facilities. So we order from them, give our ideas and ask them to make it. Here we do just the final finish,” he says.
But even in the trade, there are other challenges, especially the plaster-of-paris idols which are banned in the State but are still sold on road sides at much cheaper rates by traders from other States.
But all these challenges do not stop Kosapet from turning into a splash of colours during Ganesh Chathurthi. “The Krishna Ganesha is the latest variety this time. This is Ganesha in the standing pose of Krishna. Black Ganesha’s are also a huge hit,” says M Appu, who is also into the businesses.