MYSURU: Visitors to this two-floor old house on a narrow street adjacent to the Shankar Mutt at Fort Mohalla will be met with large heaps of clay stored in front of the house. Venture closer and you will see a 15-year-old busy loading clay into a bucket while stirring it. His cousin, in his 20’s, helps in curing the clay.
Once you climb around 30 steps to reach a room on the second floor, you will find 65-year-old Krishnamurthy, his brother and their family members, busy sculpting hundreds of clay Ganesha models. Regulars will tell you this is a common sight at this house in Mysuru, where Ganeshas come to life. It is a tradition which has been going on for the past five generations with the Ganeshas making their way into customers homes for more than 80 years.
Over a hundred years ago, the present family’s ancestors, were involved in making clay pots. It was D Puttaswamy, Krishnamurthy’s grandfather, who learnt the art of making Ganesha idols and started the tradition. “He had a keen interest in learning the art of idol making. He took his lessons at the Chamarajendra Technical Institute. Later, he took the plunge into sculpting out of clay and created thousands of clay models and cement models,” says Krishnamurthy.
“Even today, his creations are in the Vontikoppal temple, Jaganmohana Palace and other places in Mysuru. Inspired by his work, my father D Dasappa continued this tradition and later me, my brothers and sisters, their children and now our grandchildren are maintaining it,” he says. Krishnamurthy, retired as an inspector at a tyre factory in Mysuru.
At a time when the number of traditional idol makers are dwindling in the country, this family has managed to keep the art alive. There are teachers, lecturers, engineers, engineering students as well as other professionals working in different fields in this family, but their dedication is so strong that they get done with their daytime jobs and unite at the house, spending the evening engaged in sculpting Ganesha idols.
Speaking to The New Sunday Express, D Nagendra Kumar, a high school teacher and Krishnamurthy’s brother, says, “We are just taking forward the legacy set by our grandfather. Striving to protect this fast-disappearing art form. For us, it is a holy mission and it also helps us to grow as an artist while honing our creative thinking. Besides, it is very satisfying!” In fact, Kumar spends almost all his time at the house during the school vacations while during school days he dedicates his evenings to the task.
The family members have split themselves into separate groups to carry forward this tradition. A few in the family take the responsibility of digging near the river or lake bed to collect the clay-rich soil, while others get themselves busy in filtering stones and waste particles from the clay. They are then cured and made into a paste which will be poured into moulds to get the structure with details of ornaments and postures of the idol.
“It is not possible to create idols with hands and trunks, so we mould them separately and later join it to the main idol, following which we will neatly give it a shape and dry it in the open sun,” says Krishnamurthy
All the members in the family have mastered this art and can create idols of a size as small as 3 inches to idols up to six feet tall. They have also mastered the art of creating Ganeshas in different styles, attires and can easily create idols of Lakshmi, Gowri, Sai Baba, Shiva and other religious idols too.
“We feel really happy that even our grandchildren enthusiastically join us and help in making these creations. Irrespective of gender and age, everyone sits and spends quality time in making the idols. While the young kids create small hands, ‘ShankaChakra’ using the moulds, the experienced and seniors take care of giving it shape and decorate it,” say Krishnamurthy and Nagendra.
S Vinay Kumar, a 9th standard student and grandchild of Krishnamurthy says, “It gives a sense of happiness to be part of this activity. I want to continue this traditional art form. Taking part in this activity has helped me in a lot of ways, it has helped me to be more creative and by mastering this skill, I am able to get prizes in clay modelling competitions that are organised in our school.”
Though the senior members in the family begin the work of collecting the clay and other things from the month of April, the children and grandchildren join in only by the last week of July. Ravi Kumar, who works in the medical Field, Rajendra Kumar, an engineer, Anil Kumar, a lecturer, Shreyas, an engineering student and nearly 12 others in the family enthusiastically take part and work overtime to cater to the demand for the idols which start from July.
In the run-up to the festival, this house becomes the cynosure of all eyes. Hundreds of people throng this house and the traffic on this narrow road suddenly goes up. While many choose from nearly 3,000 Ganesha idols that are created exclusively for the festival, few others give prior orders for particular designs. Almost all the idols they create are eco-friendly and range in price from Rs 20 to Rs 6,000.
“The unique feature about the idols we prepare is that it is completely made of clay and we don’t entertain plaster of plastic or any other toxic elements. We generally don’t use colours, however, when there is a particular order we use natural colours, watercolours and avoid any synthetic and chemical paints,” say the family members.
POP ban has pushed up demand
The family members pointed out that today with the authorities clamping ban on idols made of plaster of Paris, there is some good response for clay idols. Balaji and his family who purchase Ganesha idols from them from the past 30 years said, “The quality of work done here is unmatchable. The detailing on the idols and the eco-friendly Ganesha made by them are of the best quality.”
Not enough clay to go around
“However today with many lakes getting dried up and layouts coming up on this, we are not able to find good quality clay or soil, the need of the hour is to protect the lakes,” said Krishnamurthy
AN IDOL FOR ALL
The idols range between 3 inches and 6 feet in height. The family does not use Plaster of Paris or any toxic and synthetic colours to create the idols. Over 3,000 different size Ganesha idols with different shapes are created every year
Wealth of Experience
The family has been making idols of Ganeshas for five generations and D Puttaswamy is the first in the family to learn the art of making clay models. In the run-up to the festival, from 65-year-old Krishnamurthy to 4-year-old Disha, all members ensure they sit together to create clay models