This Ganpati Bappa didn’t want to say goodbye

The Pilankar family with their clay Ganpati idol. Pic/Anurag Ahire

While devotees are immersing Ganpati idols in the sea, a Vasai-based family is celebrating the gift of this immersion in their home.

Nearly 50 years ago, the patriarch of the Pilankar family, late Sitaram Madhusudan Pilankar, found a Ganpati idol resting on the seabed while bathing at Dadar Chowpatty. This was just a few days after the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations. Instead of leaving it there, Sitaram, who was a pujari, brought it back home.

The one-foot-tall shaadu maati idol, which has a trunk to its right, also known as the Siddhivinayak Ganpati, has since been with the family. "Sometime after he brought the idol home, my grandfather had a dream, where he was instructed to not immerse the idol in water," says Vasai-resident Deepak Madhusudan Pilankar, 47. Every year, during Ganeshotsav, the Pilankar family performs a puja of the idol on the 11th day of the festival, and then places it back inside a cupboard for safekeeping.

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The Pilankars get the idol painted once every two years by artist Rajesh Hazare - before Rajesh, his father was assigned the task by Sitaram. Despite it being made of shaadu maati (clay), which is fragile, the family says the idol has not suffered any wear and tear. "Usually, different parts of the idol are made separately, before they are assembled together. But the one which we have, has been made as a whole. Even our painter pointed it out," he adds.

Deepak says the right-trunked Ganpati - the left-trunk Ganpati is mostly commonly found at pandals - represents the masculine aspect of Lord Ganesha. "It symbolises the sun - hot, fiery and aggressive. We don't worship any other Ganpati idol apart from this one at home." Every year, their Ganpati idol draws devotees from across communities in the neighbourhood. "People have made mannats, and their wishes have been fulfilled," adds Deepak.