Monalisa Patsani
Bhubaneswar, Sept 17: The imagination of the idol makers found its manifestations in creating Lord Ganesha in different hues. No wonder, the sculptors have added new designs to the idols and even made them theme-centric like that of controversial godman Sarathi Baba.
One of the Ganesh pandals at Unit –VIII installed a very unique Ganesh idol. The idol in question portrays an unusually robust Ganesha having six-pack like the Bollywood heroes and holding Sarathi baba, catapulted into the media box for his alleged dark-deeds, by hair.
Explaining the reason for coming up with such an idea, the puja committee members said this was an attempt to educate the people about the false gods who play with the emotions of innocent people. It is quite natural that Lord Ganesh would destroy such fraudster like Sarathi or any other false baba.
Some visitors at the pandals appreciated the creative ideas but felt that the whole personality of Ganesh has been changed. Swami Mohapatra, a resident of Acharya Vihar, one of the visitors at the pandals said: “Lord Ganesh is known for his pot-belly whereas he has been shown having six packs in that statue where he is pulling Sarathi baba by his hairs. Using novel concept is good thing but they have totally changed the personality of the Lord”. Swami Mohapatra viewed that they could have used some other innovative ideas instead of six packs. Mouse is the vahana of Lord Ganesh and here they showed Ganesh sitting on a very different kind of animal which does look like a mouse. “So I feel that in the name innovation and creativity they have changed the whole concept,” he added.
