Hyderabad Decks Up for Dasara Celebrations

Hyderabad: The city is getting set to celebrate Navratri and Dasara, starting in a week, when the cynosure of all eyes would be the idols of Goddess Durga. The presence of the sizable Bengali and Gujarati populations makes for additional rich celebrations.

With an increasing number of pandals of Goddess Durga coming up each year, idol-makers have come to the city as usual carrying mud from the bank of the Ganga. These artisans have seen a huge transformation in festival celebrations in the city, over a period of time.

An artisan from a group that had arrived in the city told Deccan Chronicle that they used to make only two idols 20 years ago and now the demand was for more than 50.

Two idols were sent to the USA to be installed in the state of New Jersey, said Madhusudan Pal, a 46-year-old idol-maker from Nadia district in West Bengal. Madhusudan along with his team of 25, has been busy for the past three months in shaping the Durga idols for this festival in the city.

“When I first came to this city 20 years back, I made only two idols. The same number continued till the fifth year. The festival has picked up in the last decade. Now, so many pandals are coming up. Earlier, we used to make idols of two to four feet, now the trend has changed, this year I am making around fifty idols above 8 feet tall,” he narrated.

Paramah, also from West Bengal, explained the idol-making process. “We bring a truckload of mud from the bank of the Ganga. Other materials used in making the idols are straw, thread, wood, bamboo and paint.” Ganesh Pal, another artisan, said they like Hyderabadi biryani and they also have a cook to prepare food for their team.

Indranil Chaudhry, originally from West Bengal who has settled in Narsingi, said, “We entrust the idol-making to these artisans as they are from our native place. They make sure all the rituals are performed during idol making.” Monojit Gupta, staying in Kukatpally, said, “Our idol is shaping up as per the requirement, these artisans bring the ornaments and the weapons for the idols all the way from West Bengal for the idols.”