India is celebrating the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi, which began on Friday morning amid COVID-19 pandemic. This is second consecutive year that the COVID-19 pandemic has put a halt to large-scale celebrations for devotees in most parts of the country. Maharashtra and Delhi have banned public celebration of the festival. The festival marks the birth of Lord Ganesha and is celebrated in many states, especially Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka. According to the Hindu calendar, Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated on Chaturthi Tithi of Shukla Paksha in the month of Bhadrapada.

The celebrations end with Ganesh Visarjan, when idols of Lord Ganesha are immersed and devotees offer prayers to Lord Ganesha.

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Every year, people show their creativity to impress their favourite ‘bappa’. Artists and children across the country make eco-friendly Ganapati idols.

Seashell Bappa

Noted sand artist Sudarsan Patnaik made the idol using seashells. He shared the images on Twitter and wrote, “First time I have used 7000 Seashells on my SandArt installation with message “World Peace “at Puri beach in Odisha.”

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Chocolate Ganapati 

A bakery in Punjab’s Ludhiana has been promoting eco-friendly idols since 2015. The bakery makes Chocolate Ganapati and immerse it in the milk. The milk is then distributed among underprivileged kids.

“We’ve been making chocolate Ganesh since 2015 to send a message that we should celebrate festivals in eco-friendly ways,” bakery owner Harjinder Singh Kukreja told ANI.

Ganpati made from cow dung

A Bhopal-based artist, Kanta Yadav, is making Ganesha idols using cow dung and there is a great demand among people. She shared the process of making these cow dung idols with news agency ANI and explained that once the cow dung is dry, they add wood dust and maida powder to it. Kanta said that cow dung is considered sacred in Hindu culture, therefore they chose to make idols from it and they are eco-friendly.

Meanwhile, Idol maker Rama Shah, who has been making idols from past 21 years, claimed to have been blessed by Lord Ganesh and she creates these idols completely blindfolded, reported Times Now.