Religion Vs Environment
The festival season is upon us. Millions of Indians, from all walks of life, participate in these festivals. In Bengal and Odisha, Durga puja is celebrated in a grand scale. Similarly anyone who has visited Bombay, Pune or any parts of Maharashtra, would know how grand the Ganapati celebrations are.
These festivals are conducted in a grand scale. People from all strata participate with enthusiasm starting from collecting monetary contributions, idol making, erecting the “pandals” in public places, decorations etc etc. It increases bonding among people. Wayback, in 1910, Lokamanya Tilak, had observed the Durga Puja celebrations in Calcutta and had realized its potential for increasing bonding among people. He had realized that to take on the might of the British rule, the comman man need to be mobilsed. So he had urged people to celebrate Ganesh Puja in Maharashtra. Ganesh Puja or Ganpati as it is known locally, has assumed mammoth proportions, and is celebrated in a massive scale. You would find an idol of Lord Ganesh in every lane during the festival.
After the Ganesh Puja and the Durga Puja, the idols are taken to a river or sea or nearby tank and immersed in water. During my childhood days, I used to watch the idols being made of clay, straw, bamboo etc. and then finally they are painted. In earlier days, our painters used to use paints made out of vegetable and other organic matter. However, today the paints are very toxic. And together with the explosion of the population, the number of idols have also increased in an exponential manner. So it has been very difficult for the rivers and sea and other water bodies to handle this increased number of idols as well as the toxic and non-biodegradable material being used these days. I am sure, most of you would find reports of fish dying in lakes and rivers after immersion either due to the oxygen content in the water going down or due to toxic chemicals.
We have already turned some of our rivers into gutters. The residents of Delhi can immediately relate to the present state of the river Jamuna. These rivers actually stink and it becomes unbearable when you are passing over the bridge on these rivers. A question comes to my mind. Do our Gods deserve to be immersed in gutters like Jamuna river and other rivers that have met the same fate?
Edit: While shooting for a documentary on Thane Creek, I saw the creek covered with a black film like coating after the Ganesha iold immersions. It took two days for the dark coating to get cleared. And then for several weeks I saw Ganesha idols made of PoP (Plaster of paris) lying in the creek amidst all the filth and excreta. My heart sank. Do we want our Gods to face this fate? Think! Act!
Crows on Non biodegradable idols of Lord Ganesha
Action by Citizens:
As concerned citizens, we can take the following steps to improve the situation.
- We can urge our local Puja committees or organizers to use biodegradable material and organic colours for the idols.
- We can consider immersing the idols in specially created temporary water tanks, so that toxic sludge can then be disposed safely.
- Urge the Central Government and State Governments to ban idols made of PoP (plaster of paris) as those are non-biodegradable.
- If you are donating to your local puja committees then insist that your donation is tied up with shifting to bio-degradable idols.
- Spread the awareness among people so that the burden can be reduced.
4,666 Views
Sabyasachi is an award winning Cinematographer and shoots for international broadcasters, production houses and corporates to make a living. He is a passionate filmmaker/wildlife photographer and has won awards and accolades for his documentary 'A Call in the Rainforest' and "Discovering Rann". He has been striving to make his films and photographs full of life and emotion and writing articles to educate and evangelise the need for conserving the last tracts of vanishing wilderness and wildlife in our country. He hopes that his wildlife films, photographs and writings force people to pause, look, ponder and ultimately take action.
Sabyasachi is available for Hire as a DP for shoots any where in India.
Sabyasachi is available for Hire as a DP for shoots any where in India.
Latest posts by Sabyasachi Patra (see all)
- GoPro Hero 12 Black - 6 September,2023
- Leopards: The Last Stand - 2 July,2023
- Drifting in the Waters of Sundarbans - 26 March,2023
True.. we see it all around us…. in a country like India, where we boast of 13 major festivals in any given calendar year..this is a huge issue. Though the urban areas are walking up to this unpleasant truth, the rural areas, where the festivities are more prevalent and celebrated with vigour… this habit of immersing idols persists. The rivers are running filthy.. the lakes are dead the ponds are toxic cess pools… the sea shore is fast reaching a point of no return…
Maybe we should all begin at home… try and stop our own near and dear ones from adding to this degradation… It is a common sight.. we may crib and cry about what is happening around us… but are unable to see this when we are involved in these acts ourselves…
Can we stop it…?? It would be the crucial first step..!!!!
Yes..this is a issue for which immediate action has to be taken,without letting our religious values to come in between.
everyone has to do his or her bit. we cant depend on others to do it.
Gud note indeed…
We Indians have always been religious & culturally inclined.. The religious festivals are being celebrated so much pomp & show, everywhere be it in India & abroad.. We have been doing this… even since we have identified Idols as images of gods.. The religious values of Good over evil will remain for many more years to come….
Having said that, the festivals celebrated could certainly be ECO friendly…like how it was in earlier years, before the advent of paint & other toxic waste like plaster of paris etc. BTW, in some of the rural areas in Tamilnadu & Karnataka, the Ganesha is still created from the mud & soluble clay, w/o a tinge of paint… 😉 This definitely shows that some of the sects in Rural areas are definitely conscious of the pollution, which would create in their ponds, lakes, rivers or acquifers..
Well… I do agree, everything begins at home… However, there ought to be an awareness creation programs, especially to the household sect. Perhaps, in the school, for example, to start with.. Conduct experiments to the children to show the lead content in a Idol immersion.. Environmental NGO’s can definitely take up this issue.Children, in turn could actually tell their parents, granma’s & granpa’s NOT to buy the idols, which contributes in polluting the environment.
Religion Vs Environment:
But wasnt environement the genesis of religion as we know it? Most major religions, Hinduism, Jainism, Paganism for that matter are deeply anchored in the environment and nature.
Perhaps, what really is disturbing is the jingiosm of man to celebrate religion. In his jigoism, man is probably bleeding nature. Diwali was all about lighting candles, till the crackers came (the chinese crackers, the “sutuli bomb”, etc, etc). Holi was about nature based colors, till the varnish based colors came about. Till some time, major festivals like Ganesh Puja, Durga Puja were about the whole city coming to the city idol pandal. But as you rightly mentioned, as man’s ego grew, so did his phallic reason to do everything bigger. That has probably given rise to the millions of pandals and idols and the entire chain of self destruction.
In this context, I am fascinated and proud of the Jagannath celebration. Every year, we have devotees coming down to Puri to witness the spectacular festival. In other cities, the same chariot is reused every year. And even today, the Puri pandas would go ballistic if anything but the most organic of paints are used to decorate the chariots. The only unnatural thing used probably is the thermo coil “bahuda”!
So I guess its time we let go of our jingoism and go back to tradition. For in the original tradition, religion and environment do go together. And secondly we should take a leaf out of modern software development: collaboration and sharing saves money, energy and space. Perhaps celebrations needs to be core collaborative.
The Bombay High Court (Aurangabad bench) has banned the use of Plaster of Paris from being used in making idols. It will be a criminal violation if one uses Plaster of Paris. It has ruled that all the idols must be made using soil, paper, natural colours and other environment friendly materials.
In my child hood days, I used to see the sculptors painstakingly create idols which were work of love. The Plaster of Paris and the other chemicals used in idol making these days poisons the water bodies. In a recent case in Tamil Nadu, a film making unit disposed off the plaster of paris items in a waterbody and several deers died.
Lets see if the MNS (Maharashtra Navnirman Sena) creates any ruckus over this judgement.
Sharing this news –
Mumbai, Feb 10 (PTI) Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray today said his party will oppose the decision of the Bombay High Court to impose a ban on the use of Plaster of Paris (PoP) for making Ganesh idols.
“Shiv Sena will never tolerate this (decision) and will lead fight against it,” Uddhav said in the Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ today.
Shiv Sena will oppose HC ban on PoP Ganesh idols: Uddhav
The ban was imposed by the Aurangabad division bench of the Bombay High Court on Tuesday, following a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Narendra Dabholkar, president of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (MANS), in 2005.
The court ordered that Ganesh idols be made by using soil and natural colours and warned that criminal cases would be registered if anyone does not to follow the verdict.
Link – http://www.ptinews.com/news/1340395_Shiv-Sena-will-oppose-HC-ban-on-PoP-Ganesh-idols–Uddhav
There the lead and mercury in the paint kills the fish. Yes the very fish that finds its way on to your plate and poisons you, bit by little bit, with cancer, liver damage and worse. The environment our celebration pollutes isnt a river far away, but is in our bodies and our lives.
This year, a heartening change is sweeping through a fair section of Puja committees. Toxic paints are being dumped for eco-friendly dyes. And even if some are only paying lipservice, the winds of change are surely blowing this autumn………………….