Udaipur: Faith found a beautiful harmony with nature as a clay Ganesha idol was immersed in a bucket of water, turning a cherished religious tradition into a meaningful message of environmental conservation.
For the past 10 years, cultural activist and nature lover Vilas Janve has been making clay Ganesha idols at his home during Ganesh Utsav. Instead of immersing the idol in a lake or other waterbody, the family performs the immersion at home in a bucket.
Once the clay idol dissolves, the clay-mixed water is poured around nearby trees and plants. In this way, the clay that takes the form of Lord Ganesha during the festival ultimately returns to nature and helps nurture greenery.
Janve has made this eco-friendly practice an annual tradition. He believes that devotion and environmental responsibility can go hand in hand, and that small changes in the way festivals are celebrated can make a meaningful difference.
He also appeals to people to choose natural clay Ganesha idols and immerse them at home, helping protect waterbodies while inspiring younger generations to celebrate festivals responsibly.
The spirit of the initiative can be summed up in a few lines:
“In a bucket dissolves the Ganesha of clay,
Leaving a green message along the way.
Returning to earth, nurturing every tree,
May flowers bloom and life flourish naturally.”
Janve’s decade-long initiative carries a simple message: let devotion return to nature. When clay Ganesha becomes part of the soil again and helps plants bloom, the immersion becomes not an end to the celebration, but the beginning of new life.