Ganesh Chaturthi 2012, Pune: Pandals, 2

Walking through Pune during the 11 days of Ganesh, you encounter numerous Ganesh idols and pandals everywhere, from small to large.

There are though some Ganesha's in the city that are considered the most famous and important. 

The newspaper highlights one of those each day, describing the history and context of that specific statue.

Several of the famous ones belong to the main and/or richest temples or communities in the city. So it is not surprising that they also get the most elaborated, special and huge pandals erected for them.


Often these pandals have a story, a theme or are replica's of a well-known building or place, like the one below:

More about this one in a separate post this week.

Sometimes the themes are religious or historic, but nowadays social topics are popular as well. This year e.g. several mandals have chosen female foeticide as their theme. (I will show you an example of that later this week.)

Other ways for a temple or community to express their social involvement is to not only set up a pretty pandal, but next to that to initiate social projects. 
One temple even chose to be restrictive in the decorating, thus saving money for help programs for the needy.

I think the one that is considered as the main one in terms of the elaboration of their Ganesh decor, size, beauty and popularity is the one from Dagdusheth Halwal Ganapati Trust. This trust (and the temple with the same name) do philanthropic work from donations and is said to be the richest in Maharashtra.

My post from tomorrow will show you what they have set up for Ganesh Chaturthi this year. Get ready to be wowed!