ગુજરાતી
English
Ahmedabad, 5 September 2024
Bappa’s temple in Lekhak village of Unjha taluka of Mehsana district is Lekhak’s Ganpati temple. Clay idol of Ganpati is being made here for 1200 years.
Ganeshotsav provides employment to 10 thousand people in South Gujarat. Sculptors, pavilion owners, flower sellers, gardeners, decorators, electricians etc. get business worth crores of rupees. Ganeshotsav earns 1 lakh people in Gujarat.
30 thousand idols are installed in Surat. 2 lakh rupees in the house. When there is a shortage of idols in Surat, readymade idols are brought from Pen city of Maharashtra. More than 5 lakh Ganeshas in Gujarat
About 600 public Ganesh festivals were organized in Ahmedabad. Apart from this, about 1 to 1.50 lakh Ganpatis are installed and removed by people in societies, streets, squares and houses.
5 lakh idols are made in other festivals. 79 thousand idols of Dasham were collected by Ahmedabad Municipality at 38 places in the city. The maximum number of idols of Dasham are worshipped in Gujarat. According to an estimate, there may be more than 8 lakh idols here.
Unique art of Vadodara
Sculptors from West Bengal have beautifully incorporated art in Vadodara. Running their own sculpture shops, many artisans earn a living by doing agricultural labor, house painting and other small works.
In Vadodara, mandals are known for a variety of idols of gods and goddesses. Its height ranges from 5 to 9 feet. There is a law in Gujarat that the height of the idol of Ganpati should not be more than 9 feet. Which is made of clay. There are sculptors in the city who use clay instead of plaster of Paris to make idols.
The art has beautifully incorporated West Bengal art techniques while sculpting idols of Ganpati and other deities. Idols made of clay are indeed the hallmark of Kumartuli. This art technique was brought to Vadodara from Bengal, 2,000 km away, by Tapan Mandal. Tapan is also called ‘Anna’ by his acquaintances because according to many, he looks like the film star Rajinikanth.
65-year-old Tapan’s model home, named Sri Ram Krishna Prathamalay, is located in Panchvati, a central area of Vadodara. The corridors of the sculpture gallery are littered with moulds, paints, tools and heaps of clay. When the festival approaches and the demand for idols peaks, the Murti Ghar is temporarily extended by stretching plastic over bamboo on the other side of the road.
Work continues at the Murti Ghar throughout the year. Here, idols of Ganpati, Durga, Vishwakarma, Saraswati and other gods and goddesses are made according to festivals and demand. Tapan and his fellow sculptors make ten idols of 5 to 9 feet every year, depending on the order and advance amount.
According to him, the price of those idols ranges from Rs 20,000 to Rs 1 lakh. Apart from this, they also make 20-30 idols of three feet and 40-50 idols of smaller size. The price of small idols ranges from Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 10,000.
Idols made of clay are actually the identity of Kumartuli, which Tapan brought here from Bengal.
He learned the art of sculpture from his father Adhir Mandal. He was still a child. In those days his family lived in Gauripur village of Uluberia tehsil of West Bengal, which was about 42 kilometers away from Kumartuli, the old settlement of potters in Kolkata.
In 1984, an old acquaintance brought him to Vadodara. He started coming here for a month every year. After the work was done, he would return to West Bengal, and again come to Vadodara before getting an order for idols for Durga Puja the next year.
Even after his father returned in 1992, Tapan stayed here and started working at a construction site for a few months. He used to do this except on the days of Durga Puja.
A Gujarati gentleman saw me painting deities in the workers quarters at the work site. He asked me if I could paint a picture of Ganesh ji. He then took Tapan to a sculptor in Mandvi, central Vadodara. The sculptor hired young Tapan in his factory, where 10-12 other artisans were already working. At that time, working at a construction site used to get Rs 25 per day, so he asked for Rs 35 per day and agreed. The hobby of making idols was about to end and the income was also going to be different.
Sculptor Govind Ajmeri asked Tapan if he could make a statue of Goddess Kali. Tapan made a statue of her, though it was made of plaster of Paris. However, impressed by his art, Ajmeri contracted him for special orders. This simply meant that his income was about to increase significantly. He remained in his position till 1996.
People took him to task, arranging clay, grass, bamboo and colours while celebrating the Ganpati festival. A statue of him has been erected at the place provided by him at the Dandiya Bazaar in Mandvi. In 1996, Vadodara’s tallest statue – eight feet tall – was erected at a place called Pauwa Wali Gali for the board, and he received a remuneration of Rs 1,000.
Tapan’s struggle for work and income continued till the year 2000.
In the year 2002, Tapan gradually formed a team of helpers and together they made a 9 feet tall clay statue for a youth group. He also made many small sculptures for small buyers. Gradually his popularity increased
The number of customers started increasing. Similarly, people also started worrying about the pollution caused by the disposal of POP idols.
Tapan and his fellow sculptor Saha
Lakata use only soil brought from the banks of the Ganga. Every year after Diwali, he himself goes to Howrah and brings a truck full of soil to Vadodara. Sometimes when there is a shortage of soil, soil is purchased from Bhavnagar in Gujarat. The fine particles of Ganga soil make the idols unique. Ganga soil is considered sacred.
Tapan craftsmanship has now become West Indian sculpture.
The colors he uses are acrylic and watercolor, while many sculptors in West Bengal use natural colors for their sculptures. The idols in Tapan’s sculpture gallery are usually adorned with ornaments reminiscent of the Peshwa period under Maratha rule.
Tapan’s brother is Swapna.
I left school after class VIII because I was interested in this work (sculpture). No degree is required to study art. During festivals, about 15 artisans from his taluka Uluberia work with the brothers of the troupe. They all earn around Rs. 9,000 per month. They get work for two months of Ganesh Utsav. After the completion of Ganesh Puja, they return to their homes and engage in other works as farm labourers, house painters, tenant farmers, etc.
Some of these artisans have learned the nuances of sculpture from Tapan and some are sculptors who have developed their own skills. One such sculptor is an entertainer, who is around 60 years old. He and his 40-year-old nephew Shyamal Karmakar have their own idol shop in their village Kulgachiya. We arrive two months before Ganesh Utsav and after that spend the whole time in Bengal.
Ganesh Das, around 35 years old from Kamala Chak village, devotes his entire attention to decorating clay flowers and leaves and idols. He used to do embroidery work while staying at home. Came here in 2015. Learned this work from Tapan Dada.
In Mandal’s sculpture gallery, there are many sculptors who are from Kamala Chak and belong to the Ruidas community, which comes under the Scheduled Caste category. Ravidas Ruidas, around 50 years old, works as a daily wage laborer in his village when he gets work. He has to run a family of five.
Arun Ruidas (40 years) also works as a daily wage laborer in his village or goes to Delhi in search of work during recession. He also plays keyboard with the band during the wedding season.
The traditional work is to play the dholak on auspicious occasions, but it is not a job that can always fill the stomach.
People of the Ruidas sect play many types of musical instruments. They play the flute.
The bad days of the Mandal brothers are now over. Their family is living well. Tapan now lives permanently in Vadodara with his wife Mamoni and three daughters.
Swapna and her family also live with them now. Tapan’s elder daughter Tanima is 17 years old and studies in class 12. She wants to become a surgeon when she grows up. Anima studies in class 6; and the youngest daughter is in kindergarten. Tapan hopes that his daughters will carry forward his artistic tradition. A difficult art, but it has to be kept alive.
Anna’s idols have become a brand.
Keeping the environment in mind, the government has ordered to make clay Ganesha instead of POP from 2015-16. Under this project, 3646 artisans from across the state were trained to make clay idols in the last 4 years. The idol fair of these artisans has been organized in Parsi Aghiyari.
Shaileshbhai Prajapati, who lives in Kumbharwas of Disa, makes eco-friendly idols of gods and goddesses from clay. The demand for the idols made by Shaileshbhai has increased in Rajasthan including Gujarat. He makes idols from Rs 50 to Rs 500. He made more than 2000 idols in the festival. He told that it takes about 15 minutes to make one idol. He makes more than 50 idols in a day. He has been associated with this business for 30 years. (Google translation from Gujarati) Photographer Aditya Tripathi Translation: Prabhat Milind
