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‘In service’ of Khairatabad Ganesh
M. SRINIVAS, The Hindu
Hyderabad: Over the years, Ganesh festivities in the city have come to centre around the towering idol set up at Khairatabad. A cynosure of all eyes during the 11-day long celebrations, the Khairatabad Ganesh remains a dominant idol given its sheer size, while the man behind it seldom gets noticed.
Preferring to remain in the shadows of the idol he creates every year and not seeking any attention happens to be the 54-year-old Chinna Swamy Rajendran. Right from putting up the shed, welding works, carving out the idol with Plaster-of-Paris (PoP) to painting, Rajendran leaves no stone unturned in making the city’s tallest idol more attractive.
Assisted by 110 idol makers from Maharashtra and West Bengal, he takes up the work three months before the Vinayaka Chaturthi. And that too without seeking any fee in return!
DEEKSHA
Soon after finalising the basic theme with pandal organisers, Rajendran who hails from Perambalur in Tamil Nadu, observes ‘deeksha’ and begins the task. “The Khairatabad Ganesh has become a part of my life,” he says.
Apart from making the idol, he also helps the organisers in getting PoP and other material required from donors. This is the 25{+t}{+h} time he happens to be sculptor shaping this famed idol.
Continuing the tradition, he made “Vishnu Roopa” avatar seeking universal peace and harmony this year. The idol stands on a falcon (Garuda vahanam) and is sheltered by 18 snakes with their hoods open.
Rajendran’s tryst with the Khairatabad Ganesh began in 1978 when pandal organisers approached him while he was putting up a film set in Ramakrishna studio at Golconda crossroads.
The organisers requested him to make a 14-feet idol. When he expressed apprehensions as to how effective such an idol would be, they told him about backup idea to have another idol prepared from Dhoolpet.
“After I sculpted the idol, they appreciated me and my idol was put for worship along with the other from Dhoolpet,” recalls Rajendran who is also behind city’s second tallest idol, at Chappal Bazar. From then on, he started making the idol there each year, except for a gap of nine years.
Forced to give up studies after 5{+t}{+h} class due to family’ precarious financial condition, Rajendran had moved to Chennai and took up work at a hotel. Later, he started assisting a sculptor and picked up the threads of the craft. And it was molding work for the sets of NTR-starrer ‘Daana Veera Soora Karna‘ in the year 1976 that brought him to the city.
After the festival, the sculptor will commence his regular interior and exterior design works. “I am also into temple architecture and associated with Surendrapuri project near Yadagirigutta,” he adds.
Tech savvy Ganesh of Hyderabad
Touted as the largest Ganesh idol in the State, the Ganesh idol at Khairatabad is usually everyone’s favourite and a must-visit during the 11-day festival. Organised by the Ganesh Utsav Committee, in their 57th year they have put up a 52 feet tall idol. Rajkumar, the organiser, says, “This time the cost has been Rs 30 lakhs and donations were quite generous, which went upto as high as Rs 50,000.” He further adds, “We also got some donation in kind — 20,000 kgs of laddoo that can be placed on the palm of the idol.”
The artist who is the brain behind this year’s Ganesh idol is Rajendra, informs the organiser. “It was his basic idea. The concept of the idol this year is Ganesh, who is riding on the Garuda Vahanam (vehicle), spreading the message of world peace” adds Rajkumar. This idea had come to Rajendra in his sleep. A total of 100 artists have worked on the idol for two and a half months. The year, the governor has been invited to conduct the Prathisthapana pooja.
So, for people who cannot go all the way to Khairatabad, their pooja requests can be booked online. For those keen on knowing more about Khairatabad Ganesha, http://www.ganapathideva.com is where you got to go. Another wonderful page on the website is the photo gallery of the Khairatabad Ganesh idols of yesteryear from 1954 to 2008
Over 2,000-kg ”laddu” offered to Khairatabad Ganesh in AP
Hyderabad: A sweetmaker from Tappeswaram in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh has offered a huge ‘laddu’ weighing over 2,000 kilogram to the 52-feet tall Ganesh idol at Khairatabad here. “The 2,200-kg laddu contains 150 kg dry fruits, 250 kg ghee,600 kg sugar and 400 kg of Chana dal. Prepared completely with Ghee it will remain fresh for a month,” Mallikarjuna Rao Head of Suruchi Foods, Tappeswaram told PTI. He said the expenditure for this laddu, which is to be placed on the hands of the Lord, was around Rs 4 lakh. The laddu was brought from Tappeswaram in a separate vehicle in a procession and reached Hyderabad yesterday, where it was handed over to the Ganesh Utsava Samithi, Khairtabad. The idol installed at Khairatabad is famous for its size and attracts thousands of devotees during the nine-day festivities. Governor E S L Narasimhan and his wife visited this Vinayaka idol and sought his blessings. State Labour Minister D Nagender, who is local MLA, and several other leaders were present on the occasion. Ganesh Chaturthi was celebrated with traditional fervour across Andhra Pradesh today with devotees ushering in the elephant-headed God at homes and thousands of pandals set up across the state. Dressed in traditional attire, people performed ‘Vinayaka Chavithi’ puja at home and also visited temples in the morning to offer special prayers. About 50,000 Ganesh pandals are set up every year in Hyderabad alone. However, a 94-feet tall Ganesh idol, claiming to be the tallest in the country, was installed in Visakhapatnam at AS Raja Grounds in MVP Colony at a cost of Rs 40 lakh. The organisers there also offered a huge laddu costing Rs 6 lakh to the idol. Another 85 feet-tall idol prepared by Gajuwaka based developers using pure clay from Ganga river, coconut ropes and dried rice grass was installed at the port city. The nine-day-long festivities would end with the immersion of the idols in water bodies. Majority of the idols are immersed in the Hussain Sagar in Hyderabad.
