Karmayogi spends two decades in the service of Ganapa

Mangalore, September 10: K Yogish Mallya has been preparing Ganesha Idols for the past 22 years. A native of Kasargod, he has made Mangalore his Karmabhoomi for over 17 years. At present he is based in Shri Vira Hanumantha Temple Gollarakeri Mangalore.

Dwelling on the tradition of idol-making in Mangalore, Mallya said: “Mangaloreans use clay, and paints. We never use any special paints, we follow the elders in this trade. If there is new technique in making we adopt it.”

On complaints about environmental pollution due to immersing of the idols, Mallya says, “How will it pollute the water? Pollution is the problem created by big factories.”

The sculptor continued: “We get special kind of clay, prepare it and then start our work. The devout families get there Ganesha Peetha’s. We start preparing according to size of Peetha, the size varies from one feet to six feet. It takes three to 10 days to prepare a idol depending on the size.

Sujith who paints the idols, says first paint with white primer, then apply pink colour, try varying the shades of pink, then yellow, red and gold will be applied finally. “The time depends upon the weather and time needed to get the paint absorbed.”

The idols will be prepared from Ashada to Bhadrapada months 1st day i.e. Ganesh Chaturthi, all preparations have to finis by that day. We have started working on this from past two months from July 2nd, and have got nearly 100 orders from the families.

“Every year the number of idols is increasing. People are getting more religious,” he opines. “We don’t prepare it for commercial purpose. But we make a living out of it,” he says.

Regarding the scope and young generation learning it, he says, the demand for idols is on the rise and orders even come from abroad.

Sindhura Ganapathy, Mushika Vahana, Heramba Ganapathy – there are many more froms of Ganapathy. “We never try experimenting in idol making in the designs, fearing it may affect the beliefs of people,” he says.

The idols are kept for a maximum of 15 days. On the day of Anantha Chaturdarshi visarjana Pooja will be performed and the idol will be immersed in the water body. Till that day daily pooja and Naivedya will be offered to Lord Ganesha.