Meet Gujarat’s Ganesh Vandana Parivar, which crafts Ganesh murtis from natural clay, colours but doesn’t sell them for this peculiar reason

“We are murtikaars. Those who take our murtis are called Yajmaans. It is a beautiful analogy. We tell our Yajmaans to grow something, to do dairy farming like desi ghee, or can give something to artisans that is made by hand, and give that to us in exchange for the murtis. So that is the form of ‘dhan’ that we accept. One may choose to give us a handful of grains or one may choose to give us 10 kgs of gold. There are no price tags on murtis,” Ashutosh told indianexpress.com.

The members come together every year for 2-3 months ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi (Express Photo by Nirmal Harindran)

Ashutosh, who is an engineer by profession and has worked in corporates for a while, said that he and his architect wife Sneha Jani travelled across the country’s villages before deciding to begin the initiative in 2016 under the guidance of their Guru Shri Ravindra Sharmaji.

“We had certain fundamental questions about our country and we wanted to understand that. This was the reason we decided to travel. We travelled across 16 different states. We went to the remotest villages and we found out their strength, their uniqueness. Unlike what most of the people would do, we did not look at them as beneficiaries. We rather believe that we need an external intervention for a meaningful life which they of course have. So, when we went to the villages, we did not go with a view to train them. We went to the villages to learn something from them,” shared Ashutosh.

“While doing this, we happened to meet our Guru Shri Ravindra Sharmaji in Adilabad in Telangana. He had set up something called Kala Ashram almost three decades back. He was a master craftsman with sculptures and many materials. He shared many of his experiences, and anecdotes with us of the tribal, rural societies. He gave us the true insight of knowing Bharat,” said Ashutosh, who soon decided to “live in the village” and “learn how the rural societies function”.

Ashutosh recalled taking a small room in Gujarat’s Chhota Udepur district for three years. “We learned many things. Guruji passed away in 2018. We saw him make Ganeshji murtis. That is one of the many things that he did. He would give them away. So, we thought, let’s do the same thing. We started in the year 2016. This is the eighth year. So, we started calling our effort Ganesh Vandana. It is not a trust or an organisation. It is just an informal group of people who are passionate towards this cause.”

Calling the art of making murtis a science, Ashutosh elucidated, “We don’t call them idols or sculptures but murtis or ‘vigraha’ because they have ‘praan’ and ‘pratishtha’. This is the fundamental difference. They have to be made from clay because there is a huge science behind it. The clay is taken from the river or pond in the month of June or July or Jyeshth. After it is the month of Ashad when the rains start. So, prior to the rain, when you dig some clay from the pond or river, you are practically increasing its water-carrying capacity and cleaning it. So, it is not just an act of making murtis but also an act of cleaning the water bodies. You take the clay from them and clean the waterbodies.”

The initiative began in 2016 (Express Photo by Nirmal Harindran)

Stressing that the murti visarjan is done at the end of September or October when the rains have stopped and the irrigation requirements have been met, Ashutosh expressed that it is the time when you give back the clay that you borrowed from the Earth. “Visarjan is important and needs to be done in the waterbodies and not artificial ponds because dissolving the clay in the riverbed enriches it,” said Ashutosh.

What do they do?

The members go to the nearby potter and source the clay from them. “Potter sources the clay from nearby farmers or rivers or ponds,” said Ashutosh, who uses clay and rocks for colours. “These clay and rocks are actually collected from many different places. We keep on travelling a lot. So, for the first time, we bought some clay from Kashmir. It was white-coloured clay. That was very much suitable for our work. Then we bought some clay from Dehradun and Kutch. So, yellow clay along with white comes from Kutch. Red stone comes from Dwarka and brown comes from Rajasthan. So, they come from different places. We know some places where this kind of natural combination is present,” said Ashutosh.

So, just taking a small piece of stone would suffice for 8-10 years, Ashutosh mentioned. “We hand pound them into fine powder. Sieve them using a cloth so that it is extremely fine. After that, we add natural glue to it. It can be taken from a Babool tree. After mixing this natural glue, the paint is ready to be applied to the murti. The paints also contain minerals. They are totally from nature. Nothing is sourced from the market,” described Ashutosh.

How can you approach them?

Ashutosh explained that the person or yajmaan has to personally visit them with a chawki (wooden slab) on which the murti will be placed. “This chawki has to be given to us before Raksha Bandhan. After that, we make murtis for that person. Every year, a four-hour function would happen. This year, the function is on September 17, 2023, where each yajmaan also takes up some or the other responsibilities,” said Ashutosh, emphasising the traditional way of life.

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