Representative image
Representative image
The newest attraction for this Chaturthi holiday in Tamil Nadu is a unique 32-foot-high statue of Lord Ganesh built of fig tree, in standing position, in Tamil Nadu’s Nagapattinam district.
According to the committee’s president Kubendran, the enormous idol “Athi Vinayagar” that the Nagai Viswaroopa Vinayagar Committee and devotees created using 83 fig trees won’t be immersed with thousands of other idols. Instead, it will continue to bless the devotees forever.
Sthapathi Thirunavukarasar and 14 other sthapathis began the enormous effort of carving off the figure of Lord Ganesh from the sacred fig tree in January of this year, and they just finished it.
Nagapattinam resident Kubendran said that due to COVID-19, there hasn’t been a Ganesh Chathurti event for the past two years. And this time, he made the decision to have a Ganesh idol built from a sacred fig tree, which has been a dream of mine for the past 15 years. He also stated that they invested over Rs 1.5 crore in this 4-ton idol and a sizable ratham on which the Lord will be seated.
The committee approved, and money was then raised to create the idol. With unprocessed fig trees obtained from the Kaveri delta districts, it took nearly 8 months to carve this lovely picture. The principal sthapathi Thirunavukarasu remarked that they laboured assiduously day and night to make the idol of Pillaiyar.