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- Ganpati Market Of India; Pen Hamrapur Village | Maharashtra Ganesh Chaturthi Special Report
PuneOne hour agoAuthor: Ashish Rai
Have you ever heard the name of Hamrapur? You may not have heard of it, but this village is very special. 100 years ago, an artisan here started the work of making Ganesh idols from clay. Now 3 crore idols are made every year in the village. 80 to 90 crore business. Hamrapur with 418 houses has 500 factories. It has got the name Ganpati Market of India.
Let us take you around this village. Pen taluka is in Raigad district, 120 km from Pune. Hamrapur comes in this. As soon as you enter the village, you can see the godowns built on the side of the road. Trucks are parked outside everyone for several days. Small and big idols are being loaded in them. Seeing the people working, it is understood that they do not have any time at all.
One and a half to 2 km long jam due to people who came to buy the idol
There is a road about 14 feet wide leading to the village. On this one and a half to two kilometer long jam was found. Most of the people trapped in this have come to buy idols from Mumbai and surrounding areas. Rajesh Tambe, associated with Mumbai’s Kripalu Ganesh Mandal, says that cheap idols are found here from Mumbai. That is why every year they take Bappa from here.
Apart from Maharashtra, the demand for idols made in Hamrapur is high in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
The village sarpanch himself was seen getting the traffic cleared
After being stuck in a jam for half an hour, we reached the main square of the village. Cars were stuck here too. The village sarpanch Pradeep Mare was seen getting the traffic cleared standing at the intersection. Pradeep told that for two years due to Corona, very few people came to collect idols. This time people are arriving as before, so there is so much traffic.
The village had suffered a loss of 25 to 30 crores due to Corona. This time orders worth more than 90 crores have been received.
Idols go to America and Britain, hence the name Ganpati Market of India
Pradeep told that the idols made here go to many countries including America, Britain, Germany, Japan, Australia. Send them by ship or plane. More than 3 crore idols are made in a season in the village. That’s why it is called ‘Ganpati Market’ of India.
Ganesh idols made laborers millionaires
Hamrapur City Headquarter is about 58 kms from Alibag. The population of the village is 1,820 and each household has one or the other involved in the making of Ganesh idols. Most of the people have converted their home into a warehouse and a factory. Shriram Patil of the village used to work as a laborer in Mumbai 10 years ago.
It was difficult to survive there, so he returned to the village and started working in the idol’s factory. During this time he came up with the idea of making unique statues instead of traditional ones. 5 years ago he opened his own factory with 6 family members. Now his sculptures go to America, UAE, Australia and Malaysia. This time order has also been received from Canada.
Two brothers making sculptures leaving engineering
Shriram has two sons Rohit and Sagar Patil. Rohit has done Diploma in Mechanical Engineering. His brother Sagar did his B.Tech. Both also got good placements, but they left their jobs and started making idols with their father.
Loved the work of making idols more than government jobs
Some distance away from Rohit’s house we met Satish Sameen. He used to work in a bank earlier. Quit his job and started making sculptures. Now they earn 4 times more than the annual salary of the bank. Children and family members are also associated with this profession with them.
Satish Sameen’s entire family specializes in making idols. Satish found this job better than a government job.
A family making sculptures for 100 years
More than 10 thousand people of the village do the work of making idols. Of these, Pandarnath is also the family of Govind Dabhade. Pandarnath started making Ganpati from Shadu clay 100 years ago. Their fourth generation is in this business. His grandson Rakesh Chandrakant Dabhade told that Grandfather taught father and I learned from him. My kids are doing the same thing. 15 members of the family are in this work. More than 150 people work in our factory.
Rakesh says that grandfather used to make only clay idols. We have also started making plaster of paris gypsum sculptures.
Came after getting married, then got the skill to make an idol in the gift
Rakesh’s sister-in-law Sasikala came to the village after getting married 20 years ago. Sasikala told that as a gift here, she got the skill to make idols from the family. It felt strange at first. Then came the work. Now I am an expert in decorating Bappa’s idol.
Sasikala says that this is a family tradition, so the coming generation will also take it forward. We never thought of making children doctors or engineers.
Employment to 10 thousand people of the village and 25-30 lakh people across the country
There is also a union of village sculptors. According to Abhay Mhatre, Maharashtra President of Ganesh Sculptor Utkarsh Mandal, different people do the work of molding the idols, polishing, giving the final touch of colors and decorating them with artificial ornaments. In Hamrapur village alone, more than 10 thousand people are associated with this business.
If the sellers of transport and maintenance of idols are added, then this number becomes 30 thousand. Adding the entire Pen taluka and the people outside it, then 25 to 30 lakh people are getting work from the idols made in the village. They also include people from Kerala, Gujarat and Rajasthan, who prepare kabal, shadu mitti and plaster of Paris made from the coconut husks used to make the statue.
Some member of every family of Hamrapur village is associated with the profession of making idols. In many families this has been going on for generations.
Job in the day, Decoration of idols in the evening
We found Tejas Naik in a village factory. Tejas has been doing sculptures for 12 years. They work in a company during the day and decorate the idols at home in the evening. His brother and sister-in-law are also doing the same for 10-12 years.
Prices of idols change depending on the distance of cities
The village sarpanch Pradeep Matre said that depending on the decoration of the idols, the rate goes up to 1.5 lakhs. The idols made here go to other cities including Mumbai, Surat, Delhi, Meerut, then there is an increase of 15-20% in the price. An idol found in Pen for Rs 500 becomes Rs 1500 in Pune.
Most of the students of the village chose fine arts for studies.
Sahil Thakur of Hamrapur is pursuing his graduation in Fine Arts. Sahil said that we have been making idols in a traditional way. I want to take this business further by studying anatomy and color combination. Like Sahil, many students of the village are studying fine arts.
Sahil told that the idol goes to the house of Bollywood musician Shankar Mahadevan from our factory. Many times Shankar Mahadevan’s son Siddhartha has come to our factory to collect the idol.
Material two to four times expensive in a year
Krishna Thakur, a resident of the village said that the color we used to bring for Rs 100 last year has been found for Rs 150 to 200 this year. The rates of fluorescent powder increased from Rs 600 per kg to Rs 1000 per kg.
Sculptor Vidyadhar told that 30% of Ganesh idols are made of Shadu Mitti and 70% idols are made of plaster of Paris. This year the rate of raw material has increased by 400%.
Also know about Kumartuli in Kolkata, where idols are made throughout the year
Kumartuli is a place in Kolkata. Kumar means ‘potter’ and Tuli means ‘locality’, meaning the potter’s abode. Only idols are made here throughout the year. This is where these people live, eat, drink and work. There are workshops of potters on both sides in the small streets here. Sculptures go to more than 90 countries from Kumartuli, settled 300 years ago. In this, the idol of Maa Durga is in high demand. Read full news…