Invasion Of The Clay Ganeshas

The Ganesha Festival honors the birthday of Lord Ganesha, the elephant-headed god fervently celebrated among Hindus as the god of success.  In an earlier post, we told you about the Ganeshas in property walls.  For the 10-day festival in early September, however, clay models of the elephant god are made en masse for a special celebration.  After worshipping the specially-made Ganeshas, people then proceed to a body of water -- sea or river -- and toss the Ganeshas in.  But we've been told officials have prohibited the tossing of the sculptures into the Bay of Bengal in Chennai because they're too polluting.

We happened upon a sidewalk assembly line of Ganeshas around the corner from our house a couple of days before the festival started.  These guys were happily casting clay into molds of the elephant god.

Their proud results.  A clay version of chocolate Easter bunnies?  The mold they used.

A simple process:  The clay is pushed into each side of the mold.  Mash the molds together and presto! The finished product.