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Temples of Kashi - The Tilbhandeshwar Temple

The city of Kashi is filled with temples, big and small, old and new. There are temples at every corner, and you never know where you will stumble upon a small shrine. There are idols beneath what remains of trees (there are hardly any trees any more within the core area of the city), there are saffron covered forms resembling deities which seem attached to walls, an especially incongruous sight when the idol itself appears to be old, while the wall is evidently new…. And there are surprisingly large temples rising from what appear to be a bunch of houses. The city is sometimes colloquially said to be as old as time, and some of the shrines and temples are said to date back to times unknown, at least the deity itself, if not the structure. Not much remains of the ancient structures anyway. The city has seen more than its fair share of good and bad times. It has seen the heights of grandeur, and the lows brought about by destruction. The city that exists today has grown so haphaza...
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Handmade Ganeshas - My first entry for Artsy-Craftsy September 2010



I have been following Shruti's Mindful Meanderings for a while now, and enjoyed the wonderful craft works posted by her, as well as the monthly contest and their entries. I have, however, never been able to participate, for various reasons. This time, as it happens, I actually have something to contribute, so here is mine...

These are the Ganeshas we made from clay for our Ganpati Celebration this year... the bigger one made by me and the smaller by Samhith.


Most of you would have already seen this, since I posted the pics earlier, as part of my Ganpati celebrations post. I am posting this again for two reasons - I wanted to add the link to the Mindful Meanderings blog for one, and secondly, I have recieved a lot of emails asking about how I made it...

The answer is that it was actually quite easy, thanks to the net (you arent surprised, are you???) I found the clay when I was searching for something for Samhith to do. Its available at most craft stores.  As to actually making the ganesha, here is what helped me out....


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Comments

  1. IndraniSeptember 19, 2010 at 2:42 PM

    Great entry Anu.
    The video captured well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anuradha ShankarSeptember 19, 2010 at 2:57 PM

    thanks Indrani. Finding that video went a long way in making the idol!

    ReplyDelete
  3. P.N. SubramanianSeptember 19, 2010 at 10:41 PM

    Very well explained. I remember, in my childhood, we used to go to the potter for two three buckets of clay and used to prepare the Ganeshas along with friends.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousSeptember 19, 2010 at 10:41 PM

    oh Anu!! lovely videa.. and you've done a fab job!! also... Shruti's blog is awesome!! loads of artsy stuff on there!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. AswathiBabuSeptember 20, 2010 at 10:02 AM

    Anu
    Great work and congrats to yr dedication. I will surely try this wishing you a very nice day

    ReplyDelete
  6. UshaSeptember 20, 2010 at 9:38 PM

    Thanks again, Anu! I will try this out!

    ReplyDelete
  7. subu.psSeptember 20, 2010 at 11:10 PM

    hey Anu nice work and thanks for sharing the video. I have been away from the blog world for some time.. Lots to catch up in your blog..seems like u have many posts on ganesha.

    ReplyDelete
  8. callezeeSeptember 21, 2010 at 6:50 PM

    It is made in clay,we can also do it in candle,but the pink ganesha is chubby looks great..

    ReplyDelete

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