Lord Ganesha or Ganapathy is also known as Pillaiyar in Tamil. He is known as the remover of obstacles and the wise Ayyaiyar, the ancient Tamil poetess has rendered the ' Vinayagar Agaval ' in chaste Tamil. The 72 line ' Agaval ' is a form of blank verse close to speech. According to tradition a person reciting the ' Vinayagar Agaval ' everyday will realize his or her true potential. Ganesh Chathurthi or Vinayagar Chathurthi is being celebrated across the country as per tradition. It is a time when the people used to place orders with potters for clay Ganeshas in order to perform the festival. The wet clay God used to be offered prayers and used to be immersed in the waters of the nearest river.
Lord Ganesha or Ganapathy is also known as Pillaiyar in Tamil. He is known as the remover of obstacles and the wise Ayyaiyar, the ancient Tamil poetess has rendered the ' Vinayagar Agaval ' in chaste Tamil. The 72 line ' Agaval ' is a form of blank verse close to speech. According to tradition a person reciting the ' Vinayagar Agaval ' everyday will realize his or her true potential. Ganesh Chathurthi or Vinayagar Chathurthi is being celebrated across the country as per tradition. It is a time when the people used to place orders with potters for clay Ganeshas in order to perform the festival. The wet clay God used to be offered prayers and used to be immersed in the waters of the nearest river.
Community worship was quite popular and clusters used to install Lord Ganesha in their neighbourhood for a few days. It was a time when people used to enjoy each others company. Thereafter this deity used to be immersed in a nearby pond or river. The worship of Lord Ganesha became extremely popular in the nineteenth century due to influence of Lokamanya Bal Gangadar Tilak. The worship of Lord Ganesha and the Ganesh Chathurthi celebrations have been popular since the times of the Satavahana rulers. In fact one of the Satavahana Emperors was Lambodhara (A name for Lord Ganesha). It was Chatrapati Shivaji who made it extremely popular and this was followed by the Peshwas too. Bal Gangadar Tilak ( 1856 - 1920 ) saw this festival as a great unifier for members of all sections of the society were involved. It was year 1893 when he began organizing the festival culturally . The English had banned meetings and Ganesh Chathurthi was the most popular way to spread the fervor of nationalism during those trying times. 125 years have passed and people all over the country have celebrating the festival and now the non eco friendly Ganeshas have begun to be used for the occasion. The immersions are an ecological problem and many have spoken about this issue.
The management, teachers and students of Kumaraguru College of Technology ( KCT ) have been at the forefront of a number of innovations in the interest of the society at large. The dynamic Joint Correspondent ( JC ) Shankar Vanavarayar has been known for his interest in conservation and thanks to his initiative, the team members of the Natural Fibre Research Centre ( NFRC ) launched the project ' Bagasse Ganapathy '. Bagasse is the dry pulpy fibrous residue that remains after the crushing of the sugarcane in a mill. It is bio degradable and the team consisting of about 15 members decided to use bagasse as a raw material for producing eco friendly Ganeshas.
"We saw a lot of polluting images and therefore decided to make an idol that was bio degradable. Initially our members used bagasse and fevicol , the adhesive. Subsequently our team used bagasse and latex. Latex was bio degradable but could not be dissolved in water. Finally we began to try it out with plant starch. We used the starch of potato, maize and tapioca in our experiments. Tapioca was found to be the best suited. Therefore we decided to use bagasse with tapioca starch," stated Nishanth Sivaswamy ( Manager - Communication Services ) of KCT.
Team member Niveda was forthwith while sharing her experiences, "Finding a suitable mould was the next issue. Rubber and Plaster of Paris ( POP ) did not work. Finally we elected to work with metal moulds and it worked. Our team made the Ganeshas in 7.5 inches and 9.5 inches. We studied the cost and sizes in the market and understood that 9 inches and above would work. People were paying about Rs. 120 to 135 for the POP one. We had discovered all these details just 20 days before Ganesh Chathurthi and therefore decided to experiment by making 750 idols for the year 2018. Out of the 750, we gave 250 to the students and sold about 500 at the rate of Rs.125 per piece. Samples were sent to the President , Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Ministers, bureaucrats and a number of politicians. We did a press meet at the time of launch."
The team members had studied the efforts of others too. From the seed idol to the ones which used other materials were looked into. They understood that most of the types had sand and clay. Finally they decided to use bagasse from Sakthi Sugars. Dr.N.Mahalingam, the Founder of Sakthi Sugars happens to be the Founder of Kumaraguru College of Technology. "We found bagasse to be a safe and acceptable material. it is the waste from the sugar factory and contains all the nutrients found in the soil. Bagasse is indirectly containing the soil which has been assimilated by the sugarcane. Packing was also made eco friendly. Therefore we used ' Vaikkol ' and cardboard for the same. In a way ' Vaikkol ' is a favourite of the deity. The ' Bagasse Ganapathy ' disintegrates in a day while the POP one takes a year to do so. We are grateful to the management, particularly our Joint Correspondent Shankar Vanavarayar for his support and encouragement," stated another Team Member, Gowtham.
The bagasse was from the Appakoodal plant of Sakthi Sugars which is near the River Cauvery, the life line of Tamilnadu. "Our Joint Correspondent Shankar Vanavarayar suggested that the research should be done in the interest of the environment. He was deeply involved with this project and gave us his complete support. We understood that many good habits were nurtured by successful people. Habits make our lives better. However, making things better with existing habits was rare. We thought that let us do it through the Project 'Bagasse Ganapathy'. The idea is to take this concept forward and execute it in an eco friendly manner without disturbing the culture and tradition of the country. We felt that we will have the support of the people and the blessings of Ganesha too," stated Nishanth Sivaswamy.
"We have applied for a patent under the Natural Fibre Research Centre. The research was in house and was by the students. We have to apply for a GST code and our target is 100,000 Ganeshas for 2019. We are going to work out on space, production, training workshops, a bit of automation, pricing structure, sourcing of raw materials, logistics for distribution among other things. A PERT chart will be made by us for it will an enabler. KCT can supply dies, raw material, eco friendly paints and teach the people who are in the business already too. this way we will not be disrupting their incomes. The figure of the deity will be as per tradition and we shall create awareness through the media and social media. The paint will be lead free, zinc free and magnesium free. We are in the process of making new moulds with master craftsmen. We may have to mechanize some time in the future in order to ensure mass production. By using these ' Bagasse Ganapthy ' idols, the devotees will be able to save the ecology and also preserve our tradition for posterity. It will be the best way to celebrate Ganesh Chthurthi," asserted Niveda and Gowtham.
The Eco Friendly 'Bagasse Ganapathy' project by Kumaraguru College of Technology is sure to be the best cultural initiative based on technology from Coimbatore for the year 2019.
Community worship was quite popular and clusters used to install Lord Ganesha in their neighbourhood for a few days. It was a time when people used to enjoy each others company. Thereafter this deity used to be immersed in a nearby pond or river. The worship of Lord Ganesha became extremely popular in the nineteenth century due to influence of Lokamanya Bal Gangadar Tilak. The worship of Lord Ganesha and the Ganesh Chathurthi celebrations have been popular since the times of the Satavahana rulers. In fact one of the Satavahana Emperors was Lambodhara (A name for Lord Ganesha). It was Chatrapati Shivaji who made it extremely popular and this was followed by the Peshwas too. Bal Gangadar Tilak ( 1856 - 1920 ) saw this festival as a great unifier for members of all sections of the society were involved. It was year 1893 when he began organizing the festival culturally . The English had banned meetings and Ganesh Chathurthi was the most popular way to spread the fervor of nationalism during those trying times. 125 years have passed and people all over the country have celebrating the festival and now the non eco friendly Ganeshas have begun to be used for the occasion. The immersions are an ecological problem and many have spoken about this issue.
The management, teachers and students of Kumaraguru College of Technology ( KCT ) have been at the forefront of a number of innovations in the interest of the society at large. The dynamic Joint Correspondent ( JC ) Shankar Vanavarayar has been known for his interest in conservation and thanks to his initiative, the team members of the Natural Fibre Research Centre ( NFRC ) launched the project ' Bagasse Ganapathy '. Bagasse is the dry pulpy fibrous residue that remains after the crushing of the sugarcane in a mill. It is bio degradable and the team consisting of about 15 members decided to use bagasse as a raw material for producing eco friendly Ganeshas.
"We saw a lot of polluting images and therefore decided to make an idol that was bio degradable. Initially our members used bagasse and fevicol , the adhesive. Subsequently our team used bagasse and latex. Latex was bio degradable but could not be dissolved in water. Finally we began to try it out with plant starch. We used the starch of potato, maize and tapioca in our experiments. Tapioca was found to be the best suited. Therefore we decided to use bagasse with tapioca starch," stated Nishanth Sivaswamy ( Manager - Communication Services ) of KCT.
Team member Niveda was forthwith while sharing her experiences, "Finding a suitable mould was the next issue. Rubber and Plaster of Paris ( POP ) did not work. Finally we elected to work with metal moulds and it worked. Our team made the Ganeshas in 7.5 inches and 9.5 inches. We studied the cost and sizes in the market and understood that 9 inches and above would work. People were paying about Rs. 120 to 135 for the POP one. We had discovered all these details just 20 days before Ganesh Chathurthi and therefore decided to experiment by making 750 idols for the year 2018. Out of the 750, we gave 250 to the students and sold about 500 at the rate of Rs.125 per piece. Samples were sent to the President , Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Ministers, bureaucrats and a number of politicians. We did a press meet at the time of launch."
The team members had studied the efforts of others too. From the seed idol to the ones which used other materials were looked into. They understood that most of the types had sand and clay. Finally they decided to use bagasse from Sakthi Sugars. Dr.N.Mahalingam, the Founder of Sakthi Sugars happens to be the Founder of Kumaraguru College of Technology. "We found bagasse to be a safe and acceptable material. it is the waste from the sugar factory and contains all the nutrients found in the soil. Bagasse is indirectly containing the soil which has been assimilated by the sugarcane. Packing was also made eco friendly. Therefore we used ' Vaikkol ' and cardboard for the same. In a way ' Vaikkol ' is a favourite of the deity. The ' Bagasse Ganapathy ' disintegrates in a day while the POP one takes a year to do so. We are grateful to the management, particularly our Joint Correspondent Shankar Vanavarayar for his support and encouragement," stated another Team Member, Gowtham.
The bagasse was from the Appakoodal plant of Sakthi Sugars which is near the River Cauvery, the life line of Tamilnadu. "Our Joint Correspondent Shankar Vanavarayar suggested that the research should be done in the interest of the environment. He was deeply involved with this project and gave us his complete support. We understood that many good habits were nurtured by successful people. Habits make our lives better. However, making things better with existing habits was rare. We thought that let us do it through the Project 'Bagasse Ganapathy'. The idea is to take this concept forward and execute it in an eco friendly manner without disturbing the culture and tradition of the country. We felt that we will have the support of the people and the blessings of Ganesha too," stated Nishanth Sivaswamy.
"We have applied for a patent under the Natural Fibre Research Centre. The research was in house and was by the students. We have to apply for a GST code and our target is 100,000 Ganeshas for 2019. We are going to work out on space, production, training workshops, a bit of automation, pricing structure, sourcing of raw materials, logistics for distribution among other things. A PERT chart will be made by us for it will an enabler. KCT can supply dies, raw material, eco friendly paints and teach the people who are in the business already too. this way we will not be disrupting their incomes. The figure of the deity will be as per tradition and we shall create awareness through the media and social media. The paint will be lead free, zinc free and magnesium free. We are in the process of making new moulds with master craftsmen. We may have to mechanize some time in the future in order to ensure mass production. By using these ' Bagasse Ganapthy ' idols, the devotees will be able to save the ecology and also preserve our tradition for posterity. It will be the best way to celebrate Ganesh Chthurthi," asserted Niveda and Gowtham.
The Eco Friendly 'Bagasse Ganapathy' project by Kumaraguru College of Technology is sure to be the best cultural initiative based on technology from Coimbatore for the year 2019.