#### Food-Based Ganesh Idols Inspire Ecology
Father-daughter duo create idols from rice for eco-friendly immersion
Kota, Across the city, from major crossroads to residential colonies, Ganesh idols are being installed in unique ways this festive season. But at Nayagaon, a remarkable initiative has been taken by Dashrath Singh Chauhan and his daughter, Lakshita, who for the past nine years have been crafting idols of Lord Ganesha entirely from edible items. Their objective is simple yet powerful: to ensure that immersion rituals do not pollute water bodies, but instead contribute nourishment to aquatic life.
This year, the duo has sculpted Ganeshji from rice. Nearly six kilograms of raw rice were used, shaped around earthen pots and carefully affixed to give the idol its divine form. The idol was placed in the courtyard of their home, where neighbors joined in prayers and rituals. On Ganesh Chaturdashi, the family carried the idol on their heads to Kishorsagar Lake for immersion.
Inspiration from ruined idols
Lakshita recalls that as a child, she often visited Kishorsagar Lake during Anant Chaturdashi and was troubled by the sight of broken, damaged idols scattered on the banks. “That’s when the idea struck me,” she explains, “Why not create idols from food so that immersion becomes a form of offering to nature, not a burden on it?” Since then, the family has never purchased idols from the market, instead creating their own at home.
A creative legacy of eco-crafts
Dashrath notes that since 2017, they have experimented with various natural and edible materials, including jaggery, paper, pulses, vermicelli, sago, coconut, clay, soybeans, and even puffed rice. This year’s rice idol took eight days of painstaking work. In a patriotic gesture, they also inscribed “Operation Sindoor” on the idol’s trunk, dedicating it to the honor of soldiers.
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