Low demand hits idol makers as Ganpatis get smaller
CHANDIGARH : City-based fourth generation sculptor Khokhan Adhikari, 50, looks forward eagerly to Ganesh Chaturthi, when he and 15 small-time sculptors from his native West Bengal make idols to earn a decent amount that helps them get by every year. Khokhan’s paternal uncle Govardhan, 65, runs a similar operation and employs 12 artists each year.
The Covid-19 outbreak, however, has changed the way religious festivals are celebrated, hitting people like Adhikari hard as costs of religious idols have crashed because of lack of demand even as Ganesh Chaturthi is just round the corner on August 22.
Last year, Adhikari, who has been running his idol making unit at the Kalibari temple premises in Ram Darbar for the last three decades, got an order of over 400 medium and small size idols of Ganesh and 50 big idols, their height ranging from 6 to 12 feet.
While the price of a large sized idol is ₹10,000, the smaller ones range from ₹ 500 to ₹ 2,500, but this year larger Ganeshas have all but disappeared and demand for smaller sized idols cut down by half, curtailing their overall turnover to onefourth.
The number of hired hands has come down to just four from 15.
The eldest of the Adhikaris, Govardhan, whose idolmaking unit is in Shiv Mandir, Baikund Dham in Ram Darbar, too had a flourishing business last year, but this time orders are limited.
Govardhan’s son Subhash, 40, and three of their relatives have made the idols, without any of their regular outstation artists for the first time in 35 years.
“Because of pandemic, people are avoiding gatherings even for pooja, so no one has ordered the big idols and ask for smaller ones that can easily be immersed at home. Earlier, apart from Ganesh Chaturthi, we used to get some work preparing tableaux for temples during Janmashtami and then
Durga Pooja. But this time there was no work during Janmashtami and Durga Pooja too is going to be the same,” says Anubhav Adhikari, 19, a second year BA student, and who helps his father in the business. “Every year we use to get 14 to 15 sculptors to meet the demand, but this time because of the pandemic we have only four artistes from Bengal,” he adds.
“Demand has been increasing every year, but this year things have changed,” says sculptor Nepal Noskar, 70, from West Bengal.
This year, the cost of idols has also gone up by 20-25%, as Adhikari (Khokhan), who is flying in his artists this time, tries to cover costs and cope at the same time with limited demand.