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!