Khairatabad Ganesh
The Khairatabad Ganesh idol in 2021
StatusActive
GenreFestival ceremony
BeginsWith Ganesh Chaturthi
EndsAfter 10 days
FrequencyAnnual
Location(s)Khairatabad, Hyderabad, Telangana
Coordinates17°24′39″N 78°27′49″E / 17.410713°N 78.46373°E / 17.410713; 78.46373
CountryIndia
Years active70
Inaugurated1954
FounderSingari Shankaraiah
Attendance4 million (2019)
Budget₹1 crore (US$130,000) (2019)
Organised bySri Ganesh Utsav Committee
Websitewww.ganapathideva.org

Khairatabad Ganesh is an idol of the Hindu god Ganesha (known as "Ganesh" in Hindi) that is installed during the annual festival of Ganesh Chaturthi at Khairatabad locality of Hyderabad, India. Constructed annually and known for its height and the laddu held in the figure's hand, the idol is worshipped during the 10-day festival where thousands of devotees visit every day. On the 11th day, the idol is immersed in the nearby Hussain Sagar lake.

Inspired by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Singari Shankaraiah first established a 1 foot (0.30 m) Ganesh idol in 1954 at a temple in Khairatabad. The height of the constructed idol increased by one foot every year until 2014, where it reached 60 feet (18 m). The size was later reduced owing to the limitations of the route to Hussain Sagar lake and environmental concerns. The idol's peak height was 61 feet (19 m)[lower-alpha 1] in 2019, thereby becoming the tallest idol of Ganesh in India that year.

Origins

A 1 foot (0.30 m) high idol of the Hindu deity Ganesha was first established in 1954 at Khairatabad locality in Hyderabad to commemorate the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi. It was started by Singari Shankaraiah, Indian independence movement activist and former corporator, who was inspired by Bal Gangadhar Tilak's call in 1893 to celebrate the festival as a mark of unity.[1][2]

Devotees participate in the 10-day festival where thousands of people visit the Khairatabad Ganesh every day from various parts of the city, and other places. On the 11th day, the idol is immersed in the nearby Hussain Sagar lake.[4][5]

Chinnaswamy Rajendran, who previously worked in film set designing in South Indian cinema, has been the chief architect and supervising the design of the idol since 1978. In 1978, the organizers had commissioned a backup idol to be built at Dhoolpet, a neighbourhood in Hyderabad, had Chinnaswamy unable to deliver. The idol has been placed outside the temple since 1978.[2][6]

Height

The height of the idol constructed increased one foot every year since 1954 until 2014 where it reached 60 feet (18 m).[7] The organizing committee then decided to reduce the height gradually, following the High Court's order to cap the height at 20 feet (6.1 m).[8] In 2019, the height was increased to 61 feet (19 m)[lower-alpha 1] due to requests from the devotees.[9]

Laddu

The Khairatabad Ganesh is also known for its laddu, offered as prasadam.[3][10] Until 2009, the Khiaratabad Ganesh Utsav committee used to place a 50 kg laddu at the pandal.[10] Starting from 2010 until 2015, the laddu was offered by PVVS Mallikarjun Rao a.k.a. Malli Babu, who is a sweet maker from Tapeswaram, a village located in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. It was made in Tapeswaram and transported to the idol location at Khairatabad, and came to be known as Tapeswaram laddu.[lower-alpha 2][3][11] Rao donated a laddu weighing 500 kg in 2010, which gradually increased to 6000 kg in 2015.[3] This is the heaviest laddu offered in the idol's history.[12]

In 2016, the Utsav committee asked Rao to reduce the laddu weight to 600 kg, citing the distribution of large laddu to devotees as a problem.[12] Later, Rao announced that he would not be donating laddu any further to Khairatabad, alleging that the committee had breached their contract by placing the laddu at the feet of Ganesha instead of placing it in hands as agreed before. The same year, Rao entered the Guinness World Records by creating a laddu weighing 29,465 kg which was presented to a Ganesh idol at Visakhapatnam.[13]

Since 2016, the laddu is presented by J. Tanay Rana and his family who run an air-cooler business in Hyderabad. The presented laddu, which weighed 62 kg in 2016, reached 1,100 kg in 2021.[14]

Once the puja ceremony is completed, the laddu is distributed to the devotees,[15] ranging between 2,000 and 3,000 every year. In 2015, overcrowding led to an almost stampede situation. The police were unable to control the crowd due to broken barricades and had to stop the distribution in the middle.[16]

Contemporary ceremonies

In 2013, a 59 feet (18 m) Ganesh idol was installed with the Tapeswaram laddu weighing about 4000 kg[lower-alpha 3] was kept in the palm.[3][18] However, the laddu was damaged due to rainfall and had to be immersed in the Hussain Sagar lake.[10]

In 2014, the height of the Ganesh reached 60 feet (18 m), celebrating 60 years of its formation.[19] In 2018, a 57-feet tall idol was constructed at the cost of ₹80 lakh. 35 tonnes of Plaster-of-Paris (PoP), 22 tonnes of steel, 15 tonnes of clay and 500 litres of paint were used for the construction.[20]

The 2019 Ganesh idol was the tallest idol at Khairtabad.[21] The 61 feet (19 m)[lower-alpha 1] idol was constructed at a cost of ₹1 crore (US$130,000) and around 40 lakh (4 million) devotees visited the idol during the 10-day festival.[2] It was also the tallest Ganesh idol in India that year.[3]

A short idol with a height of 9 feet (2.7 m) was constructed in 2020 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in India, and no devotees from other areas were allowed to visit.[2][22] Devotees, however, continued to visit the idol despite restrictions.[5] The idol was limited to 40 feet (12 m) in 2021 due to limitations of the route to the Hussain Sagar lake.[1] The organizers commissioned a turban to be designed by experts who designed turbans for the film franchise Baahubali.[23] The immersion event of the idol witnessed devotees ignoring COVID-19 preventive measures.[24]

Immersion

The 2019 idol being immersed in the Hussain Sagar lake

The Khairatabad Ganesh, along with several thousand other idols in the city, are immersed in the Hussain Sagar lake on the last day of the festivities.[lower-alpha 4] The idol is taken on a shobha yatra (transl. Radiant journey), an immersion procession rally in the city.[26] Massive trolley pulls up the idol with the help of advanced cranes from Khairtabad to Hussain Sagar. The Khairatabad Ganesh idol is taken on a direct route to the lake at Tank Bund Road, while other idols are taken in a longer procession route around the city. Once the idol reaches the lake, cranes, fitted with specialized equipment in the recent years, lift up the idol and immerse it in the lake.[27][28]

The Hyderabad City Police impose preemptive traffic sanctions along the procession route. In the recent years, the police has started using technology like Google Maps to monitor the traffic.[29] Since the construction of Hyderabad Metro in the late 2010s,[30] the procession route had to be avoided along the railway route so as to prevent collision of the idols with the metro stations.[31]

List of idols

2019's Khairatabad Ganesh idol was the tallest in India.

Each year, the committee chooses a different avatar for the idol.[1]

YearAvatarHeight in feet NotesRef.
2013 Go Naga Chaturmukha Vinayakudu 59 [32]
2014Kailasha Vishwarupa Maha Ganapati60 [33]
2015Trishaktimaya Moksha Ganapati59 [34]
2016Sri Shaktipitha Shivanagendra Maha Ganapati58 [35]
2017Sri Chandikumara Ananta Maha Ganapati57 [36]
2018Sri Saptamukha Ganesh55 [37]
2019Sri Dwadashaditya Maha Ganapati61[lower-alpha 1] [9]
2020Sri Dhanvantari Narayana Maha Ganapati9 [22]
2021Sri Panchamukha Rudra Maha Ganapati40 [17]
2022 Pancha Mukha Maha Lakshmi Ganapati 50 [38]
2023Dasha Maha Vidya Maha Ganapathi63 The tallest Khairatabad Ganesh [39]

Environmental concerns

In 2017, E. S. L. Narasimhan, the governor of Telangana called for construction of the Khairtabad Ganesh idol using clay and natural colours instead of the usual Plaster-of-Paris (PoP).[40] However, the organizing Ganesh Utsav Committee expressed concerns over the clay idol as it could be damaged due to heavy rains and the plan was eventually dropped.[41][20]

In September 2021, the Telangana High Court issued a ban on immersing the Ganesh idols made out of Plaster-of-Paris (PoP) in the Hussain Sagar lake due to environmental concerns. The verdict had put immersion of the 40-feet Khairtabad Ganesh in a state of limbo.[42] The governing body of the city, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), sought a stay order from the Supreme Court of India. The court allowed the immersion for the last time with an undertaking that there would be no immersion of PoP idols from the following year.[43] Following the exemption, GHMC dug up Hussain Sagar lake, for the first time, along the shore on NTR Marg so that the idol would be fully immersed in accordance to religious beliefs.[24]

During the same time, the organizing committee announced their plans to build a 70-foot (21 m) eco-friendly Ganesh idol made out of clay in 2022, following the request by the mayor of Hyderabad. The committee also stated that they would explore the idea of immersing the idol at the site itself, instead of taking it to the Hussain Sagar lake.[44] The first such idol at a height of 50-foot (15 m) was made in 2022.[38]

Khairatabad Ganesh was featured in the K. Viswanath-directed 1983 film Sagara Sangamam where Kamal Haasan's dance sequences were shot in front of the idol.[45]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 While some sources give a higher figure of 65–66 feet,[1][2] the organizing committee chairman S. Sudarshan confirmed its height as 61 feet.[3]
  2. ↑ Some sources spell it as Tapeswaram laddoo[3]
  3. ↑ Some sources reported the weight to be of 4200 kg[10][17]
  4. ↑ Not all idols are immersed in Hussain Sagar. In 2021, 33 lakes in and around Hyderabad were used.[25]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Mungara, Sunil (10 September 2021). "Khairatabad Ganesh: Growing in stature every year since 1954". The Times of India.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Hyderabad: In break from past, Khairatabad Ganesh idol to be significantly smaller this year". The Indian Express. 2 July 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "How a 1-foot idol set up in 1954 in Hyderabad became India's tallest Ganesh idol". The News Minute. 9 September 2019.
  4. ↑ "Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations begin in Hyderabad". Deccan Chronicle. Archived from the original on 18 September 2013.
  5. 1 2 "Khairatabad Ganesha attracts large number of devotees". The Hindu. 23 August 2020. ISSN 0971-751X.
  6. ↑ "Chinnaswamy stands as tall as his 60-ft idol". The Hindu. 3 August 2016. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  7. ↑ "Khairatabad Ganesh to be 50 feet tall from next year". Deccan Chronicle. 12 September 2014.
  8. ↑ "Khairatabad Ganesh 'will be 58 feet'". Deccan Chronicle. 12 June 2016.
  9. 1 2 Richi, Priyanka (9 September 2019). "How a 1-foot idol set up in 1954 in Hyderabad became India's tallest Ganesh idol". The News Minute.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Mungara, Sunil (23 July 2017). "'Maha laddu' mystery over Telangana's tallest Ganesh". The Times of India. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  11. ↑ "Ganesh festival: 4,000 kg 'maha laddoo' prepared for Khairtabad Ganesh". The Indian Express. 7 September 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  12. 1 2 "Khairatabad Ganesh idol to be offered 500-kg laddu from Tapeswaram". Deccan Chronicle. 16 August 2016.
  13. ↑ "Maha Laddu enters Guinness Book". The Hans India. 30 September 2016.
  14. ↑ "Hyderabad's Khairatabad Ganesh offered a 1100 kg laddu on Vinayaka Chaturthi". The News Minute. 10 September 2021.
  15. ↑ "Khairatabad Ganesh To Receive 100 Kg Tapeswaram Laddu". Sakshi Post. 22 August 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  16. ↑ "Laddu distribution: near stampede situation at Khairatabad". The Hindu. 3 October 2015. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  17. 1 2 Aishwarya AVSK (22 July 2021). "Work on Khairatabad Panchamukha Ganesh idol picks up pace in Hyderabad". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  18. ↑ "Ganesh festival celebrated in Andhra Pradesh".
  19. ↑ "In the making - Khairatabad Ganesha". The Hindu. 28 September 2016. ISSN 0971-751X.
  20. 1 2 "Khairatabad Ganesh to sport a new look; at Rs 80 lakh, to be costliest ever". The New Indian Express. 5 August 2018.
  21. ↑ "Khairatabad Ganesha Puja 2019: All You Need To Know About The Tallest Ganesha Idol". Sakshi Post. 30 August 2019. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  22. 1 2 "'Dhanvantari' Ganesha in Hyderabad's Khairatabad: Know why the 'Dhanvantari' avatar is significant". Times Now. 21 August 2020.
  23. ↑ "Baahubali Experts For Khairatabad Ganesh!". mirchi9.com. 14 September 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  24. 1 2 Maddy, Deekshith (20 September 2021). "Ganesha gets joyful send-off". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  25. ↑ N. Rahul (19 September 2021). "Ganesh immersion set to regain past glory in Hyderabad". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  26. ↑ "Ganesha Shobha Yatra peaceful across State". The Hindu. 24 September 2018. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  27. ↑ Mohammed, Hussain (12 September 2019). "Khairatabad Ganesh Shobha Yatra begins in Hyderabad". The Siasat Daily. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  28. ↑ Deshpande, Abhinay (13 September 2019). "Ganesh immersion goes off without a hitch". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  29. ↑ "Traffic restrictions in Hyderabad for Ganesh immersion on Sunday". Telangana Today. 18 September 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  30. ↑ V. Geetanath (24 September 2018). "Hyderabad Metro Rail is now second largest metro network in country". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  31. ↑ V. Swathi (15 September 2021). "Immersion of Hyderabad's tallest Ganesh idol from Khairatabad turns a challenge". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  32. ↑ "60,500 Ganesh idols to bless Hyderabad this year". The New Indian Express. 9 September 2013.
  33. ↑ "Portion of Khairatabad Ganesh laddu to be sold". The Times of India. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  34. ↑ "Khairatabad Ganesh is ready". The Hans India. 14 September 2015.
  35. ↑ P, Ashish (5 September 2016). "Ganesh Chaturthi: 58-feet Ganpati major attraction in Hyderabad". India Today.
  36. ↑ "Sri Chandi Kumara Anantha Maha Ganapathi (57ft) - Khairtabad Ganesh - 2017". Idlebrain.com. 24 August 2017.
  37. ↑ "India's tallest Khairatabad Ganesh on final touch up". The Siasat Daily. 27 August 2019.
  38. 1 2 "Telangana: At Rs 1 crore, this year's Khairatabad Ganesh costliest". The Times of India.
  39. ↑ https://www.siasat.com/hyderabad-ganesh-utsav-committee-reveals-theme-for-khairtabad-idol-2670656/
  40. ↑ "Khairatabad Ganesh to be made of clay; first time in 63 years". Deccan Chronicle. 3 September 2017.
  41. ↑ Mungara, Sunil (17 May 2018). "Khairatabad Ganesha: Khairatabad Ganesha idol caught in clay, PoP mess". The Times of India.
  42. ↑ Ali, Roushan (15 September 2021). "40-ft Khairatabad Ganesh biggest worry for Telangana government". The Times of India.
  43. ↑ "SC allows Ganesha idols' immersion in Hyderabad's Hussainsagar lake 'one last time'". The Hindu. 16 September 2021. ISSN 0971-751X.
  44. ↑ "Hyderabad: Khairatabad Ganesh idol to be made of clay next year". The New Indian Express. 15 September 2021.
  45. ↑ Adivi, Sashidhar (20 August 2017). "Idol hands". Deccan Chronicle.
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