Giant hands are shaped on the floor of a makeshift workshop in Mumbai.  Elsewhere, a hollow torso cast from Plaster of Paris is waiting to be filled with coconut husk.  It is that time of year, when the monsoon rains subside and faith takes form in rich technicolor.  Inside roadside structures made of scaffolding and strewn with raw materials, numerous murthis (idols believed to be embodiments of god) are moulded, primed, painted and draped in shiny clothes, embellished with sequins and golden ornaments.  Crowns, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, anklets and even nail polish - the adornments limited only by the artisan’s imagination.

Residents of various neighbourhoods across the city come together to purchase an idol in time to celebrate the festivals of Ganesh Chaturthi followed by Navaratri.  Although there are a multitude of deities in Hinduism, distinct Gods and Goddesses for different things - including the sun, wind, fire, dawn, darkness, music, learning, even speed – the two deities worshipped during this festive season are Ganesha, the elephant headed god of new beginnings; and Durga, the warrior goddess worshipped for her fight for good over evil.

On the start of these festivals, priests perform a ritual to infuse life into the idols, after which they are worshipped as living deities.  There is no containing the immensity of devotion for these deities.  Faith spills out into the streets and sweeps the city in a surge of festive fervour.  There is no austere, quiet contemplation of life which these festivals embody.  Instead, fuelled by commercial and political interest, everything is in excess - sound, motion, colour, imagery and energy.

The festivals become a mesmerising escape from the humdrum of ordinary life for the faithful; a period filled with worship and rituals held amidst theatrical tableaux of larger-than-life idols.  Devotees welcome the living idols home with oil lamps and incense, modaks and laddoos, music and dance, firecrackers and flowers, all night vigils and invocations of prayers and hymns.   

The festivities reach their crescendo when it is time to bid farewell to the idols.  Drums, loud music and vigorous dancing accompany these ancient Hindu Gods as processions slowly make their way down the densely peopled streets of Mumbai, while teeming crowds clamour for a last darshan (vision), jostling each other to capture an image on their phones.  

Beaches burgeoning with devout followers, across caste and class, from every corner of the city await the arrival of the idols. Families camp out since the night or break of dawn to witness visarjan, the immersion of the idols into the sea - a symbolic return of the Gods to the unfathomable depths from where they came.

- Text by Samira Sheth (Art Writer)

- Field & Research Assistance by Krupesh Pandya