Environmental concerns impact beloved Hindu festival in India

Sunil Singh took a 12-hour train ride from the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh to the neighboring Maharashtra to pray before a 15-foot bejeweled statue called Lalbaugcha Raja in central Mumbai.

“I feel very blessed,” Singh said. “I feel like I have got everything I wanted from the Lord.”

Singh was among the millions who came to observe Ganesh Chaturthi, a 10-day religious festival in India earlier this month, which celebrates Lord Ganesha, also known as Ganpati, the Hindu god of wisdom and luck. 

Ganesha, known for having an elephant head and a human body, is revered across India, but especially in coastal Maharashtra and its capital city, Mumbai. 

Each year, as part of the festival, people purchase small idols of Ganesha for their homes or pray before larger ones at community centers before releasing the sculptures into bodies of water. 

This year, though, many of the idols were technically banned across the state, including Lalbaugcha Raja. Days before the holiday began, the Maharashtra High Court prohibited the use of plaster of paris in Ganesha idols because of the environmental damage caused by releasing the idols into water. 

Dr. Shyam Asolekar is an environmental engineering expert who spent years working with local civic leaders and municipal corporations, educating them on the issue. He explained that particulates from plaster of paris spread across the bottom of lakes or are carried across other bodies of water.

“You have no control,” Asolekar said. “You put [the idol] at Place A, it will go to Place B. You think you put it in one place, but you have no idea how long a distance it can travel on its own.” 

The toxins can be carried by rivers and deposited in the depths of the ocean, harming marine life. 

According to Asolekar, there are “hundreds of thousands of idols you’re putting in the water body at various places.” He added that this changes the local ecosystem.

Because of its chemicals, plaster of paris is more harmful to water bodies than natural materials like clay, which disintegrates quickly in water. Asolekar even said that if families released their statues less frequently into the water supply, that could be even better. 

Sculptor Santosh Shaharkar, who spends the entire year preparing for Ganesh Chaturthi, stopped using plaster of paris in his statues four years ago, following government guidelines.

But many idol makers have not made the switch, which Shaharkar said puts him at a disadvantage. Recently, Shaharkar was among the petitioners before the High Court, calling for the plaster of paris ban. 

Although the court ruled in his favor, he said “the ban remains just on paper.” Though the High Court called for the ban to be enforced in Mumbai, it was common to see plaster of paris idols near water bodies during the festival.

Shaharkar said that he hopes that the authorities take stricter action soon.

“I feel that when a strict order is issued, there will be no choice but to use eco-friendly idols. Then, automatically, everyone will be on the side of clay idols.”

Until now, Shaharkar said, it’s been hard to persuade craftspeople and the public to go with eco-friendly idols. 

Shaharkar said that he believes that clay idols are more difficult to sculpt than plaster of paris statues, which can be created quickly using a plaster mold.  

And often, customers are more focused on price — the idols he makes are biodegradable, but tend to cost more. 

“The soul of the art has been lost, and it has been completely commercialized,” he said, adding that he wants to bring back the artistry of the holiday by switching to clay.

Some worshippers, like Sagar Patel, are committed to getting Ganesha statues made of natural materials. Patel purchased an idol made from clay and coconut shells, which he said his family chose because they didn’t want their idol damaged, preferring that it dissolve quickly in the Arabian Sea. 

Oftentimes, when the idols wash ashore after the holiday, “you see the condition of the Ganpatis, it’s not good. It’s very bad.”

Others found it tougher to adhere to the court ban on plaster of paris, which remained far more popular for idols this year. 

Rachna, who preferred to use her first name given the sensitive subject matter, helped release her family’s Ganesha idol on Juhu Beach. She said her family thought about an eco-friendly statue, but “if you’re doing one thing for a very long time … you can’t convince your family, especially.”

In particular, she said, her family worried that it would be a bad omen to buy a smaller idol than last year’s version. And when it comes to clay, the statues tend to be smaller and heavier — and more prone to cracking. 

The larger the size of the idol, the harder it is to make from biodegradable sources.

On the festival’s final day, endless rows of 20-to-30-foot idols were paraded to Girgaon Chowpatty Beach, almost all of them made of plaster of paris.

Slowly, these enormous Ganesha idols were rolled into the water where they were released into the Arabian Sea. People wished for peace, prosperity and even iPhones. 

One of the many organizers, who asked to go by Venki, said they will try to use clay next year, but he was still unsure how they would be able to construct the spectacular Ganeshas that people have come to expect. 

“Clay is very heavy and unstable, and the jewelry will leave lines across the idol.”

But others say they are ready for the Ganpati holiday to return to its bio-friendly roots. 

Richa Ahuja said that historically, Ganpati sculptures were made from sand and clay, “which denotes that we’re all going to be in the sand one day.”

The size of the idol is irrelevant, she added. Even with the smallest idols, “we treat them like it’s an actual Ganpati. The most important part is believing.”