Ganapati Idols Collection

Last weekend, we had the opportunity to visit the residence of Mr Krishnamurthy and Mrs. Bhuvana Krishnamurthy, who have been collecting several Ganesha idols over the past over 30 years and have now over 450 idols of the much-loved and worshipped elephant-headed God in India, especially Maharashtra. We learnt about this amazing collection from our family friends, Mr. Chaitanya and Chitralekha Pandit, who happen to know the Krishnamurthys very well. A majestic woodwork mural greeted us just outside the door setting the tone and dropping a rather heavy hint of the visual delight that awaited us inside their flat in North Mumbai.

A 5 feet tall massive Ganapati mural from Poompuhar the Tamil Nadu Govt Handicrafts promotion body.

Ganeshas in all their splendour adorned every wall right from the passage leading us from the door to their main hall, where we settled down to chat with the family. After a brief introduction about ourselves, we got down to learn how did it all begin, this penchant for collecting Ganesha idols over the years? It was a crystal-formation kind of rock which Mrs. Bhuvana Krishnamurthy found in a compound in Rasayani, where they had been living in the residential premises of public sector chemical giant, where her husband was heading the operations of the plant, we were told.

A crystal rock formation found inside a tank near their house in Rasayani. This piece started it all!

Although this was a natural-formed wonder rock, which could not be attributed to the workmanship of the artisans of our land, the find was the source of great energy and inspiration - the cause for the urge to collect various artistic forms of the Lord manifested in mud, fibre, quartz, crystal, wood, terracotta, clay, rocks, precious stones, brass, several metals and alloys, shells - and even sponge! Apart from such a wide variety of materials used for the idols in the collection, is also the fact that Mrs. Krishnamurthy has taken care to include diverse cultural forms that have been rendered by the rich imaginative artistic characteristics that differ from place to place and region to region, including some tribal art forms. Wherever they went, no opportunity was missed out to visit the local artwork exhibitions or permanent display centres set up by the regional craftwork promotional bodies - looking for that rare Ganesh idol that would catch her fancy! On finding her collection growing steadily, friends and relatives contributed too - by gifting some more to add to the growing collection. What's more - no two Ganesha idols in her collection are identical!

On display are idols from the North to South India, Nepal, Bhutan and as far away as Malaysia and Japan! So let me share with you all the visual treat we partook at the Krishnamurthys' residence last weekend ..........

Lest i forget, must thank the couple for patiently explaining to us the uniqueness of several pieces - and their little grand-daughter, Shubhra and my daughter, Supriya, for assisting us with the picture-taking tasks. We do hope the collection grows forever to please the future generations to come as well....


A mural purchased in Andhra Pradesh - at the Kalahasti exhibition


The Lord sitting on a Jhoola - A brass piece from Tamil Nadu


A cupboard full of Ganesha idols - the couple explained to us some rare pieces amongst them


Balaganapati idol of Terracotta from Chakrapur Delhi Temple


An old pillar-engraving from Chettinad


A fibre creation from Pune


Several brass idols in another cupboard here!


A Teracotta piece from Kolkata


This is made of Bamboos!


Some wall hangings here


The Ganeshi idol - the female form of Lord Ganesh


A Ganapati carved out of a coconut from the Chamundeshwari Temple in Karnataka


This piece is from Mysore


A Karnataka wall-panel


A Wooden wall panel


A piece made by a handicapped child - much treasured in this collection


A piece from Jaipur


An idol made of pure mud - Pillaiyar Patti - from South India


A Terracotta piece with flourescent bright colour from Pune


A Panchamukha Ganapati on lotus - a brass piece from North India (Murtizapur)


A piece made with sponge - the material used for making stuffed toys


A rare piece made of soapstone, in which Bala-Ganapati is sitting in Shiva's lap - usually Bala-Ganapati is sitting in mother Parvati's lap


An idol of the Lord made with Seashells! purchased from South India


The Veera-Ganapati - with 16 arms!


Ganapati brass idol - defeating an asura


The prayer room of the family


Ganapati playing the Sitar - a brass piece from Kolkata


Ganapati playing the flute in this brass idol


Ganesha holding an umbrella - from South India


Sinhavahana Ganesh idol with 5 faces seated on a lion instead of the usual mooshaka


Mrs. Bhuvana Krishnamurthy posing before the Chettinad old pillar-engraving.


Mrs Bhuvana Krishnamurthy with her grand-daughter, Shubhra, who enthusiastically helped us by bringing the idols for the picture taking session


Mr and Mrs Krishnamurthy the proud owners of the collection of the Ganesha idols


Mr. Krishnamurthy in his study room - has a large collection of books - more about that in a separate post!

Mumbai Ducks

“We are sitting ducks”, insisted the celebrity author, Shobha De on news channels, following the Wednesday terror attack in Mumbai. If there is one development that has positively taken place since the latest terror incident in Mumbai, it is the acceptance by one and all that the words “resilient Mumbaikars” and “spirit of Mumbai” have become taboo forever. Mumbaikars have had enough of this undeserved praise for doing what we all have had to after the previous blasts – to get back with our livelihoods, simply because, we have no other choice! That’s not speaking too well about us, is it?

Thankfully, the media persons and their select invitee personas have sensed the mood of the city dwellers this time around and have avoided this oft-repeated cliché, which followed blasts, like thunder follows lightning - and with annoying regularity. It had been haunting us with every attack – in fact it was a blow that would hit us after the blasts did – and the blasts happened at the free will of the terrorists. This time around, several citizens like Hemant Mehta, other witnesses at the blast site and Shobha De effectively conveyed the anger amongst the common people arising out of the inactions resulting in the failure of the counter-terrorism measures promised to us since the audacious attacks of 26/11. We also found bloggers post their annoyance/frustration/helplessness/anger such as this outstanding one by fellow-blogger Sharad Bapat here.


Had there been an instrument to measure the anger of people, it would’ve certainly tripped! And if there had been an inverter-like power converting device to convert anger into electricity, we could have lit up all the remote villages of our country for the next 5 years! Sadly, there aren’t such devices or instruments. More saddening is the fact that we have yet to learn how to convert our anger into constructive nation-building activities, let alone electricity! If we had learnt this, the anger we all felt when scam after scam rocked our country would’ve resulted in some scam-preventing mechanism, which would go off the moment scheming scamsters began looting the ex-chequer. We always learn about scams much after they happen – in fact so late, that the money looted has already left the shores and have even come back into our shores in a different avatar – thanks to the loopholes like Participatory Notes,that have been intentionally designed and provided for such purposes.

So even our getting angry is nothing new, just in case you thought that our high-intensity anger would change things this time around and think that we shall see quick action to ensure that counter-terrorism efforts will be hastened to quell the seething public. Relax – no such thing is likely to happen, folks! After the next blast, it will be the politicians’ turn to tell us – don’t tell us we are angry, we know! Didn’t you hear why the much-needed equipment like CCTV cameras have not been procured? There is now the fear of ‘allegation of corruption’ in the tendering processes! So all that anger and cynicism of corrupt procurement has hit us back like a boomerang, has it? Or are they saying that unless we stop picking holes in every public procurement and our media turns its cameras away and let them loot the kitty, we wont buy anything that we are in dire need of?

I am not sure if the cynicism expressed by us would stir the folks that run our government or not – just to prove us wrong, if nothing else – but what I am sure about is that we are sitting Mumbai ducks – helplessly awaiting the next jolt that would hit us. We don’t even know whether it will be a bomb blast, an accident, or a master con job cheating the taxpayer of his hard-earned money? And on a day that goes by without being hit by a blast, we may assume that Rahul Gandhi’s men must’ve foiled someone’s nasty bid on our lives! How else could we justify his claim of 99% success in foiling terrorism attacks? But if that 1% that remains uncovered means that we shall continue to suffer attacks on innocent city dwellers now and then, chances are that we shall accept this new reality as our “new normal” – a recently invented term to deal with deteriorating quality of our lives. In days to come, we may not watch post-blast news analysis or read such blogposts, having taken it in our stride as we do our corruption, insensitivity, inaction and the apathy of the auhorities serving in public offices.

Maybe we would hurt the perpetrators with our indifference. Huh?

Jai ho!

An octogenarian artist who mastered the landscapes

It was in December 2009, when our community’s [Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmins] spiritual head, Param Pujya Srimat Sadyojat Shankarashram Swamiji of Shri Chitrapur Math had visited us in Borivali, Mumbai that we had the opportunity to meet Shri. Shyamsundar D. Savkoor. The local committee had thoughtfully planned an art corner to showcase the work of the local talent by displaying select drawings and paintings, besides several other musical programmes for the bhanaps, who had congregated at the Vamanashram Hall, to seek Swamiji’s blessings. Among the various paintings on display, there were some amazing landscapes that caught our attention – they stood out by their sheer ability to depict the natural beauty of our lovely planet in vivid colours. It had to be the work of someone who had toiled to perfect his art and not a learner for sure, one thought! It turned out to be the recent creations of the (then) 82-year old Shri Shyamsundar Savkoor.

Although several children had sent in some lovely pieces created with their tiny hands for our visual delight, one could not but marvel at the creations of this humble octogenarian gentleman, who would certainly have many tips to share with the young budding artists, one surmised. Sure enough, on the following day, it was the accomplished artist himself, who was waiting at the entrance of art centre, eager to meet and provide inspiration to all the budding young contributors! The children were thrilled to find the senior-most amongst them showering praise for their work and suggesting improvements to help them progress further in their chosen arts. We had a brief chat with him during that first interaction, when we learnt that he had been actively pursuing the hobby ever since he had retired and eventually the hobby had turned into a passion.

It was then that we had planned to meet up with this great artist sometime – we needed to know more about him and his works and more importantly, my daughter Supriya could do with some guidance in her pet hobby. But the rigours of routine workplace and her studies meant that we put this off for later. Finally, we acted on our plans and called him up one weekend, with a request – could we spend some time at home with him – and maybe learn something? “Sure”, was the quick reply, “but only for a couple of hours, as I have a meeting to attend later”. So we went along with Mr. Chetan Pandit and his wife Chitralekha, our family friends and also keen art enthusiasts, who eagerly wished to meet up with him.

After the warm greetings, we quickly came up with our first request – we had seen only a few of his lovely creations a couple of years ago – and now we wished to see them all! This led to a marvellous treat – a slide show of several of his paintings captured on camera on their LCD TV – as master-pieces popped up on the screen to find awe-struck viewers desperately trying to keep their jaws closed during the session! It was a truly mind-blowing visual treat for us!

Shri Savkoor had been employed with Union Bank of India and had a transferable job that had required them to pick up their belongings and move to several places covering almost all states of India during his tenure with the Bank. He had cultivated his hobby early in life, but it had been hard work to begin with. He had not received any formal education in the arts nor had he joined any classes to hone his skills – it was basically self-taught. Perhaps we could say that Mother Nature herself was his true guru! Mastering the art meant trying out several landscapes with plain sky, seas and land over and over again – and if it did not come out as he wished it – out it went!

“How do you manage to produce such life-like paintings?” we asked. There was silence, but the answer could be found in his penchant for perfection. “If it doesn’t impress me I just tear it up. Don’t labour over a spoilt piece – if it isn’t coming right – just chuck it out and try another – or maybe sometime later”,, he advised. But obviously only practice makes perfect. We got several tips as he spoke to us - how to practice on small bits of cardboard paper that come with some wedding invitation cards; the kind of paper, acrylic paints, pencils, brushes that he preferred over others, how the brush-strokes should move; where to do the detailing and where not to – and more.

Although some of the early works had been portraits, most of his recent creations have been landscapes - usually acrylic paints on paper. “Observing nature is a pre-requisite for perfecting landscapes – have a close look at the clear blue sky with white clouds, monsoon-laden clouds during a storm, the sky during sunrise or sunset, the different hues that one sees in different seasons and times of the day, the trees, the terrain in rural settings before you venture to create your landscape.”

But eager art enthusiasts had more questions coming up – “Do you paint the background first or the tree?” “How do you get all these reflections in the water just the way they ought to be?” “How do you get the effect of the sunlight through thick foliage here?” But the octogenarian artist seemed to be more than happy to answer all these questions, for, as time passed, he forgot all about the meeting he wanted to attend! “It is not so important for me to attend it, i gather” he explained gently, to his delighted guests.

Now that he was retired, he would have all the day to himself for pursuing his passion, but he gets his inspiration mostly at nights – often, he finds himself painting late into the night unmindful of the time – and catch up with his sleep during the day. Daytime also happens to be his time to relax – which incidentally comes from his other hobby – he plays his Sitar whenever he can and his Guru comes over once in a week to teach him his favorite ragas even to this day!

Finally, we had a photo-session – some select paintings that we found remarkable, some pics of the master himself, at his work as usual – all to be posted in my blogpost for your viewing pleasure! It was a meeting that will be most cherished by us – and will be hard to forget in a long time to come! We do hope and pray that Shri Shyamsundar Savkoor is bestowed with good health and he continues to enthral us with more of his lovely paintings in the days to come!


The humble, eager-to-help octogenarian artist, Shri Shyamsundar D Savkoor.



The artist at work.

Pictures of some of his spectacular creations below




















Blogger's Post-script: The camera flash may have played spoilsport in some pics, although yours truly tried to avoid it by attempting a different angle this time around! Do post your comments which will be passed on to the artist from time to time.

UPDATED ON 08/08/2011 - More pics of his landscape paintings posted in a new post link here.