Guwahati: Worship and abandon — this is what is being mostly done in case of clay idols of Gods and Goddess everywhere.
The idols, that are paid for in hefty amounts, brought home or to the puja pandals with great fanfare and worshipped with utmost religious zeal, are often seen left abandoned on the roadside, under bridges or culverts, and even near public dustbins, at times.
In many instances, the idols are kept in the house till the next idol is brought the following year, and the old idol, which acted nearly as the incarnation of the Almighty till a day ago, is left on the road.
This unceremonious dumping of the idols in public places has led a group of friends in a small town of Assam to mobilise their own resources and immerse the abandoned idols as per rituals.
A group of nine youths of Mariani in Jorhat district have taken this initiative and launched their programme on Sunday.
One of the youths involved, Moon Nayak said, “The abandoned idols used to always prick our eyes, but we were told that these cannot be immersed and hence, these were left in such a pitiable condition. But recently, two priests from West Bengal had visited our town and when they saw these abandoned idols, they themselves immersed two and told us that all idols can be immersed after worship.”
This set the boys into action and in one day collected 30 such abandoned idols lying in Mariani town area and immersed these in the nearby Bhugdoi river.
“We mobilised the funds necessary for the activity ourselves. One of our seniors lent his pick-up van for the purpose,” Pallab Baruah, one of the youths associated with the immersion, said.
Another group member, Sandeep Biswas, added, “There are about 15-20 more idols lying abandoned. Then, with Viswakarma Puja due on September 18, more idols will be added. We shall carry out our next drive after Viswakarma Puja.”
Nayak said their plan is to immerse all abandoned idols before Durga Puja this year and also make the people aware about such immersions, rather than abandoning the idols. (UNI)
