Sangramsinh’s royal family celebrates Ganesh puja

Sangramsinh and his family immersed the idol on Sunday, after three days of ritualistic reverence. For the family, Ganesh Chaturthi is one of the many ways of connecting with the people. His son Pratapsinh, who spoke with this reporter after the immersion ritual were over, said that next year, the family will make the celebration public and grander.

On Sunday, Pratapsinh devoutly performed the final aarti, before bidding Ganesh goodbye at the Palace gates. The idol was sculpted by the royal family’s traditional artistes — the Chauhan family — that makes the Lukshmi Vilas Palace idol every year.

Jeetendrasinh Gaekwad, who presided over the ceremonies at Indumati, said, “Traditionally, the idol was created in red mud, as per the specifications of the Ganesh Puranas. We have brought home an idol of Bal Ganesh this time.”

Jeetendrasinh says the traditional idol was installed at the Indumati Palace until 1966, when the then coronated Maharaja Fatehsinh broke away from the tradition and shifted the idol to Durbar Hall of Lukshmi Vilas Palace, where the current coronated family continues to instal its Ganesh idol.

Another land row

Sangramsinh’s family has now been dragged into another controversy, this time with city-based real estate developer C K Shah, who has staked claim on the family’s share of properties via a deal of 1999. Though Shah approached the High Court for an arbitration, Pratapsinh says the family is in a “good place” legally. The family had earlier been dragged to court by activists for partly pulling down Mandvi’s Nazarbaug Palace. Pratapsinh says, “We don’t want to speak much about the case. The court will decide the validity of the deal…Shah had come in as one of the aspiring buyers for it when the Company Law Board put up the property for sale years ago. It has changed since then.”