Craftsmen prohibited from making idols of elephant-headed god using plaster of paris and chemical paints deemed to be toxic

This article is more than 9 years old

This article is more than 9 years old

When the birthday of Ganesh, the elephant-headed god, is celebrated later this year the faithful will find the famous multicoloured idols of the object of their devotions a little less bright.

A court in Mumbai, India's commercial capital where Ganesh is worshipped more fervently than anywhere else, has told the estimated 40,000 craftsmen who live by making idols of the god that the plaster of Paris and fluorescently bright chemical paints they now habitually use are environmental hazards and thus illegal.

Instead, the court said, Ganesh idols, some of which are dozens of metres high and weigh hundreds of kilos, must be made by using clay and natural colours, the norm until recent decades and India's economic boom.

Campaigners welcomed the decision: "I am very happy. There are at least 10 million families every year in just [the central state] of Maharashtra alone who have these environmentally unfriendly idols with highly toxic lead and mercury in the paint," said Dr Narendra Dabholkar, who brought the court action,. "Only 20 years ago they were made with safe materials, and that is what we should do again."

However Anna Tondwalkar, a statue-maker and member of the co-ordinating council for Ganesh temples in Mumbai, said clay idols were "a thing of the past".

"We don't get enough artisans to do the work. Banning the plaster will ruin the precarious idol industry," she told the Times of India.

Other artisans complained that clay statues are labour intensive and cost more as well as being much heavier.

Supporters of the judgment argue that in addition to the environmental benefits of avoiding toxic paint, clay dissolves in water better than plaster of paris and so the "unholy" sight of chunks of the deity scattered in streams, lakes or the sea after festivals is avoided.

The court decision has taken on a political dimension with local rightwing Hindu nationalists arguing that it is an attack on their religion.

Uddhav Thackeray, a leader of the Mumbai-based Shiv Sena party, issued a statement earlier this week saying that "no one has the right to interfere in Hindu festivals.

"The decision banning plaster of Paris for Ganesh idols has hurt Hindu sentiments. Shiv Sena will never tolerate this and will lead the fight against it," he told readers of the party newspaper.

Analysts say that the populist Shiv Sena are looking to build political support among the idol-makers. Thackeray has called for a mass rally of artisans on Saturday.

Dabholkar denied that the court judgement he had won was an attack on any religion.

"The constitution of India guarantees the right to worship who or what you want. No one is stopping that. They are just stopping pollution," he said.