Ganesha goes Eco-way in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar(03/09/2024): Every year we immerse thousands of Idols after the celebration of our festivities or Puja.

There is a common saying that Odisha celebrates 13 festivals in 12 months and in almost all these festivals we make idols of our different Gods and Goddesses using clay, plaster of parish and different toxic chemicals, synthetic fabrics that pollutes our waterways from rivers to ponds to our ocean.

The impact it makes on the environment, particularly on our water bodies and the aquatic animals and creatures are massive.

Further to it, land animals dependant on for drinking water and bathing including human also face the consequences. Can we not celebrate our festivals and perform pujas in a more eco-friendly way? Yes, says Ms Priyadarsini Das, popularly known as the “Green Queen of Odisha”.

Priyadarsini has been making eco-friendly Ganesha for the last couple of years just to send a message across that we can celebrate our festivals and Pujas in a more eco-friendly manner.

Last year she made around 15 Ganesha Idols using natural dyes, food-colours, seed-beads for ornamentation for which he got huge response and appreciation.

This year too she has got many orders for making eco-friendly Ganesh Idols, but she has only decided to make a few.

Since her objective was not to make business out of this, she want others to go for making of eco-friendly Ganesha and other idols in a similar fashion.

You do not need any sophisticated materials or any synthetic toxic colours or fabric to make your favourite idol, says Priyadarsini.

We can celebrate our festivals without further destroying our environment.

This might This initiative might look very small, but what I believe is that our actions, emotions and environment should go together, adds Priyadarsini.

We owe a debt to the mother Earth and need to protect the ecology and environment, emphasize Ms Das. This year she has gone little further in introducing Odisha handloom fabric on Ganesha to make it more contextual and representative of our culture.

Since handloom is made using natural fibre be it silk, linen of silk, it won’t be that dangerous as the synthetic fabric.

For embellishment, she is using different types of natural seeds including pulses, grams, rice, paddy, rudrakshya, custard apples seed, almonds, runja, kaincha, pumpkin seeds, flax seed, black gram, different types of beans, etc.

Wherever possible she applies natural dyes made from turmeric, aparajita, marigold, heena, pomegranate rind, indigo, onion peel, etc and sometimes she uses food colours to give effect and add aesthetic to the idols.

She also uses soil from termite mounds to give effect to the idols.

Her initiative and intention go hand in hand in finding all possible solution in making a eco-friendly and toxic free festival.

Let our Puja be a way of life and let us inspire our young generations to continue with our great tradition of festivities but not at the cost of the environment, says Monalisha, a person who requested Priyadarsini for an eco-friendly Ganesha this year.