Idols made of plants to cow dung, Ganesh Chaturthi goes green this year

Ganesha Chaturthi is around the corner and with growing awareness about the environmental implications of the traditional clay and POP idols, devotees are trying to adopt more eco-friendly alternatives. During the 10 days celebrations, devotees bring Lord Ganesha’s idol at home, perform puja and offerings to God and submerge the idol in water, called visarjan, on Chaturthi.

However, this process of ‘visarjan’ has some hazardous impact on the quality of water resulting in degradation of marine life and water pollution. To counter this problem, several initiatives are being introduced to make the festival more environment-friendly and ecological.

Here’s are some eco-friendly initiatives by Indians to replace traditional Ganesha idols.

Cow-dung Ganesha idols

 A Bhopal-based artisan Kanta Yadav is making eco-friendly Ganesha idols using cow dung that can also be used as manure after being immersed. The cow-dung Ganesha idols are easy to make and inexpensive. Devi is receiving orders from various states like Delhi and Maharashtra for these idols.

“The process of making takes eight days & it costs very less. We are receiving orders from other States after we uploaded the video on social media,” Devi told ANI.

Seed Ganesha initiative

The Seed Ganesha initiative was launched by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MP J Santosh Kumar. Under this initiative, Seed Ganeshas were distributed to the visitors at a popular shopping mall in Hyderabad to promote the idea of celebrating Chaturthi in an environment-friendly way. These idols are made organically, with pure mud, cocopeat or cocoa powder with various seeds embedded in them.

Food colour Ganesha

A group of artisans who have shifted from Rajasthan to Moradabad are preparing small and special Ganesha idols made of food colours and flavours.

 “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people are not able to afford big and expensive idols of Lord Ganesha this year. So, we are making small and eco-friendly idols, painted with food colours,” the makers told ANI.

Plant Ganesha

Plant Ganesha is another modern-day alternative to traditional POP Ganesha that pollutes water. In this, devotees can get Ganesha fixed in a plant or seed Ganesh murtis that are plantable. Instead of immersing the Ganesh idol in a pond, one can plant it in a pot and water it. The murti will grow to be a beautiful green plant.