In the tradition that I have been brought up in, Ganpati is a nitya bhramachari (an eternal celibate). His brother Kartikeya has two wives. Legend has it that he is cursed by his mother to wander the shores till he finds a mate.
My father, ever the soft hearted, refused to perform visarjan of Ganpati, and thereby condemn him to walk the shores of the sea for ever. So in 45 years of marriage – my folks collected a fair number of Ganpati idols in every shape and size.
If you keep the idol at home, you have to follow due process in taking care of it. It’s not a show piece. It goes into the prayer room and gets taken care of with the remaining Gods.
A few years ago ( it could even be a decade ago) my mother threw a fit. No more ganpati’s – there was no room in the prayer room for any more. And, when mom throws a fit, we all tend to listen. it can be fairly harmful to health if we don’t. She decided to make her own every year – that would be dunked in Ganga jaal post the pooja and given to the tulsi plant….
So for the last 10 years or so — mom makes these lovely ganpatis’ made of haldi and chandan. Installs it in her pooja — and the following day dissolves it in Ganga jal.
(amidst all the flowers is a ganapati made of haldi and chandan)
Clap
Clap
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Lovely Ganpatis. I love your Mom’s way.
I would ask your Dad to cheer up – Ganpati doesn’t need to walk the shores alone – all he needs to do is migrate to a different part of India and he would acquire two wives
[Reply]
That’s wonderful – an instance that demonstrates the flexibility and adaptability of Hinduism.
With so much pollution associated with Ganesh visarjan, your mom is probably doing the right thing. I’ve also heard of people using a metal Ganesh statue, symbolically immersing it in a tank/bucket and then re-using it for many subsequent years. Have you heard of Kalpavriksh (http://www.kalpavriksh.org/) and their efforts around Ganesh puja? Check them out. I think both Nita and I have written about this issue from an ecological perspective.
[Reply]
I agree with Amit on pollution. I think however if he were made with suji or besan and lots of nuts etc, he could experience visarjan into appreciate stomachs later
No? If you do tell your mom this, don’t say I said so. I don’t want to be beaten up 
[Reply]
@lekhni –
. ah.. but the reason why he isn’t married is coz there can be no woman like his mom…. 
not lack of women !:)
@amit – for mom it serves both the environmental and the religious aspect. after all, she says, parvati created ganesh in the same way. thanks for the link. will check it out…
@shefaly – i am not sure about eating “gods” – i am sure that there is breach of some protocol or the other !! though it sounds lovely. a chocolate ganesha maybe
[Reply]