Vinagar Chaturthi Special: Nature no ‘OBSTACLE’ to jumbo Celebration
Natural ways of celebration is the key to help the ecosystem which has been going through unfavourable climatic changes and global warming
CHENNAI: At around 10 pm, the night before Vinayagar Chaturthi in 2018, sat Karpagavalli Krishnamurthy, trying to source natural clay powder for her nephew’s school project. Putting her two year old son to sleep with her parents, she started moulding the clay till she got her Vinayagar right.
“Seeing my tiny little Vinayagar taking its form and smiling at me, it was already past 2:30 am. My parents were surprised and elated to see what I had made with just clay. Next year, somebody had asked me if I would take classes on making clay Vinayagar idols,” says Karpagavalli, who, along with Ahila Subramanian, conducts workshops on teaching children on making their own eco-friendly Vinayagar with natural clay in the city.
A creative mother of two, the artiste aims at creating an environment where kids can learn the art and importance of eco-friendly ways of celebrating festivities of India, deviating their attention from screen time.
Karpagavalli Krishnamurthy
“Our country's age-old traditions and cultures have been focused on honouring nature, where our ancestors used natural substances for their livelihood. They would use the soil from the river beds which had been wet by the rains, make the Vinayagar idols, and later immerse them into the river, which was the perfect environmentally-friendly way. This unfortunately lacks now as people have moved towards idols made of plaster of paris with synthetic colours which affects the aquatic life adversely,” highlights Karpagavalli.
The idea of Vinayagar ‘looking beautiful’ using man-made resources and not by natural resources is a debate which Karpagavalli finds herself in, stating, “Using resources from nature does not degrade the beauty and quality of the idols. We have flowers and leaves which could be incorporated for a much natural touch to the Vinayagar idols. We can as well source natural dyes. It's beautiful to take note of how our traditional culture of pooja is aligned with nature.”
Natural ways of celebration is the key to help the ecosystem which has been going through unfavourable climatic changes and global warming, according to the artiste.
“An awareness regarding the usage of natural resources and the impact of harmful man-made substances is the need of the hour, especially for our kids to be educated on. Our workshops for children are based on our traditional cultural values which are eco-friendly, but lost in recent times. As aware and responsible people, we should learn to respect nature and cherish what it has to offer in the right way,” states the artiste.
