Climate Change: Khairatabad Ganesh’s theme of 2019

Ever since Khairatabad Ganesh idol gained popularity with its immense structure, this is the first time the idol is being built at a 61 feet height. Around 150 members are constructing this gigantic sculpture.

Design of the Idol

Every year Khairatabad Ganesh comes in a different avatar. This year it is being showcased as the Dwaadashaditya Maha Ganapathi avatar. People have witnessed 64 varieties of Ganesh idols so far and will commence its 65th-year celebrations on Ganesh Chaturthi on September 2nd.

61 feet height idol will feature 12 heads, 24 hands, seven horses, thrimurthulu (Three gods; Brahma, Vishnu, and Maheshwara) on one side, and Dattatreya Swamy on the other side of the Ganesh idol. The 12 heads will be roofed with 12 serpentines; one each for each head. The Ganesh head will resemble Suryudu (Sun).

“The estimated budget for the construction of the idol is Rs.80 to 90 lakhs. The weight of the laddu increased to 750kgs from last year’s 500kgs,” said organizing secretary Singari Raju of the Kahiratabad Ganesh Utsav Committee. The 150 member crew will include special sculptors from Tamil Nadu.

Ganesh for Climate Change:

The theme of Dwaadashaditya Maha Ganapathi's avatar this year is climate change.

Talking to Newsmeter, Raju said “After performing ‘Karra Pooja’ on April 30th, the work began on May 5th. We have seen a very hot summer this year and rainfall is not up to the mark. To overcome this climate change impact, we performed ‘Varuna Yaga’ and we believe this Suryudu avatar will bring rains this year. The rains in Khairatabad started on the day of pooja and the rains have been

good from that day".

A Chennai resident who came to Hyderabad to visit Khairatabad Ganesh idol said that “Such a big Ganesh idol for Ganesh Chaturthi with a theme of climate change is something that I have never seen before. But, the use of Plaster of Paris

(POP) in the Ganesh idol will lead to water pollution during the immersion .”

“Around 600 bags of POP is used in the making this 61 feet Ganesh idol,” said the chief sculptor of the idol C Rajendran.

Last year the height of the Ganesh idol was 57 feet and was immersed first in Hyderabad’s Hussain Sagar lake on the day of ‘Ganesh Nimarjan.’ “This year we increased the height to 61 feet because of the Suryudu face. Moreover, this year, we are planning to immerse the idol at last so that devotees will have the time to

worship the god."

According to Raju, Telangana governor ESL Narasimhan will participate in the first pooja on September 2nd. Narasimhan has been participating in Khairatabad Ganesh idol's first pooja every year for the past four years but missed last year due to unavoidable circumstances.

Ganesh Chaturthi is an 11-day Hindu festival celebrated all over India. Khairatabad Ganesh is very famous for its big sized idol, the strong belief of the people, and large laddu. Thousands to lakhs of members come to visit the idol during Ganesh Chaturthi.