Vinayakar Chathurthi at my home :)

Discussion in 'Festivals, Functions & Rituals' started by AkilaMani, Sep 2, 2014.

  1. AkilaMani

    AkilaMani Local Champion Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Hi everyone,
    Hope you all had a wonderful Vinayagar Chathurthi celebration.

    A few weeks ago I was telling my DH how I felt bad about having to do the visarjan (immersion) of our Lord's idol in the sea in a secretive manner (here in SG many people look upon this as littering and pollution). To my surprise, my DH said that the whole point of doing it has been lost over time and it only remains a ritual. Now that tickled my curiosity and I asked him what was the original intent and he explained what he had read in a magazine recently.

    In the olden days, most of the clay idols where immersed in the village pond after the festival with a coin stuck to the idols’ tummy. The economically poor would later enter the pond to collect these coins and in the process the clay would get disintegrated and settle to the bottom of the pond. This helps the ponds maintain their water levels as well.

    I marveled at how ingenious our ancestors had been. They induced two wonderful concepts, helping the needy and protecting the environment, through a simple religious ritual. Also I will hazard speculating that they could have had social reasons behind this. I understand in some parts of India some communities are not allowed to enter the certain ponds but for a few days following this festival it is considered okay for them to enter to collect the coins. So they might have thought that this ritual would later pave way to bringing in social equality. This is only my guess though.

    Now we can all debate if the one rupee coin has any value for even the poor and whether lining ponds with clay would maintain water level, but I would like to think that it did make a difference :)

    Well…. So here I was wondering if I did not like the way I have to do visarjan and if there was no real value to it, then what I should do!! A simple (but not original am afraid) occurred to me…. to make my own idol and do the visarjan at home!!

    So I set about finding the simplest way of doing it and decided to do a small idol of wheat flour. Here is the step-by-step of it.

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    Today, two days after doing the visarjan in a small bucket at my home, my Ganesha has completely dissolved and I have watered my plants with the water :)
     
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  2. superwoman09

    superwoman09 Gold IL'ite

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    Awesome. Thanks for highlighting the importance of the concept of visarjan. Most of us do not know about it :)
     
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  3. Shanvy

    Shanvy IL Hall of Fame

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    yes AM, even today we do stick a coin in his tummy when he is brought home, so that it sticks well to the clay that is still wet. the ritual is lost in many places today. and a that is a lovely ganesha.
     
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  4. AkilaMani

    AkilaMani Local Champion Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Hi Superwoman,

    That was quick.... thanks dear :)
     
  5. AkilaMani

    AkilaMani Local Champion Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Hi Shanvy,

    Yes, I too do stick a coin, though this time I just kept one beside him as it did not stick well ;) Thanks for the appreciation dear :)
     
  6. iyerviji

    iyerviji Finest Post Winner

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    Wow awesome Akila , whatever you do you do it perfectly. Mine is nothing compared toyour Ganesha.
     
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  7. AkilaMani

    AkilaMani Local Champion Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Thank you sooooo much amma for your kind words. Your too is a lovely ganesha, I loved the lovely hue of pink, the lord looks so lovely and adorable ma :)
     
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  8. prana

    prana IL Hall of Fame

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    Good Job Aki...
     
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  9. meenueash

    meenueash Platinum IL'ite

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    wow..lovely and cute ganesha. decoration also too good dear
     
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  10. suryakala

    suryakala IL Hall of Fame

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    What a lovely creation of the Creator! Thanks for sharing dear Akila.
     
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