Make your Eco-friendly Ganpati for Puja at Home!

In India Vinayak Chaturthi or Ganesh Chaturthi is one of the biggest festivals celebrated in major parts of the nation. The planning and preparation take full swing prior to the grand day. However, pollution is the major concern of the nation today many sculptors put a great effort to make eco-friendly idols using water-soluble products or bio-degradable materials.

Non-biodegradable products and synthetic paints from the idols causes a serious threat to aquatic life and environment when immersed in water bodies soon after the celebration gets over. So, let’s take a step forward towards the conservation of our natural resources and instead of buying those hazardous idols for the puja at your home, we can try making ecofriendly idols. Another advantage of the homemade idol is the immense satisfaction of creating Ganpati idol with your own hands and not just bringing the idol to home.

Let’s make it happen…

Ingredients

2 cups wheat flour or Atta, 1 cup salt, 1 pinch of turmeric, enough water to make a tight dough, about 1 cup

Making the dough –

1. Take a large bowl and mix the flour, salt, and turmeric properly.
2. Now add water and mix thoroughly and knead to make a tight dough.

Dividing dough into parts and make balls

1. Make one large round ball for making the belly of the idol
2. Make two medium size balls for making the base and head of the idol
3. Then two round small balls for the legs
4. Two very small balls form hands
5. Then make four more tiny balls, two for ears and two for eyes and even one more ball for the trunk

Now the real creativity begins…

Out of the two, take one medium size ball and flatten it as shown in the image to make the base.

Then take the large ball and place it on the base to form the belly. Please note that belly should not be placed at the center but a little back on the base. Use a few drops of water to make it glued to the base.

Level the back using your fingertips after placing belly ball of dough so that it is smooth all over.

Now let’s make the legs. Take two of those small balls and roll them making a stick-like shape, then press at the ends and bend the tip of the ends little back as shown in the images.

Now take the two very small balls and make small stick like shape. Then bend them into a V shape.

Fold the two legs and place them at the 2 sides of the belly and place the V-shaped hands above the legs as shown in the image. Now, slightly press and make the tip of the right hand little straight as per the image below.

Now time for making the head part, take the 2nd medium size ball and place on the belly. Level the back using fingertips to smoothen it.

To make the trunk take another small ball and make a long conical stick as shown in the image and fix it in the middle of the head and stomach. Now slightly bend the edges of trunk sideward as in the image.

Take the two tiny balls for ears and fix them at each side of the head and then press in the middle, top, and bottom to flatten it. In the same way, take other two tiny balls for eyes and fix them as in the image.

Now comes the final step to make the crown. For this take three small balls of different sizes. Press them and place one above the other. Another tiny ball can be placed and fixed at the center of the crown to give it some more decoration. Now fix the crown on the top of the head as shown in the image.

You can also show your talent in making the idol looks more beautiful and natural.

Once the idol-making is completed, bake it for an hour in the oven at the lowest setting to make it more durable.

Notes: You may use kumkum and haldi for decorating purposes. Salt acts as a preservative and baking helps in solidifying the murti/idol. The most interesting fact is the flour or atta becomes food for the fishes in the lake after Ganpati Visarjan.

Ganpati Bappa Mouryaa!!!