Crisis of Faith

Every year in India, and particularly in the city of Mumbai, Hindus participate in a festival, known as Ganesh Caturthi, to celebrate the god Lord Ganesh. This festival takes place in September and lasts eleven days. It is highly elaborate and consists of dancing, painting, singing folk songs, and most noticeably, constructing large statues of the god Ganesh.

These statues, strangely enough, present a particular problem to the environment of India. At the end of the eleven-day celebration, the statues are placed in the river to symbolize the farewell to Ganesh. Historically, these statues were made of mud, soil, clay, and sandalwood paste. These substances were easily biodegradable. However, in recent times, as this festival has been more elaborate, the statues began to be constructed from plaster of paris. This is not a naturally occurring substance and takes years to dissolve in a river. In addition, the statues are now painted using paints heavy in lead and mercury, which are also far from naturally occurring.

This wouldn’t seem to be such a problem until one understands how many of these statues are placed into the river during this festival. In Mumbai alone, 190,000 were placed in the river, and some of these statues were ten feet tall. Studies of water quality in Mumbai and surrounding areas have revealed that the statues have increased the iron, mercury, and acid levels significantly. Because there are also many fishing communities in this area, this pollution has ramifications beyond the water itself.

In response, the environmental secretary of Mumbai has considered a ban on plaster of paris, but because the festival is so enormous, the law has been deemed impossible to implement. Efforts have been made to promote the buying and selling of “green” statues, which would be easily biodegradable in the river, but sales of these statues do not seem to be competitive with the environmentally disastrous models. One concern among the people is that the statues made of weaker materials will not hold up as they are dragged from the crowded streets to the river. The desire to celebrate decadently may defeat common sense in this case. Will there be a solution in sight?

-Evan Aronson, Legal Extern