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)
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 😛
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.
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 😉
@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 🙂