HYDERABAD, July 15, 2013: With the Uttarakhand government announcing the closure of routes to Kedarnath and Badrinath for the next three years, the Khairatabad Ganesh Utsav Committee has decided to put up a replica of the Kedarnath temple and an idol of Shiva at the Ganesh pandal this year. Other minor themes would be Lord Rama's Pattabhisheka Mahotsavam and Sri Bhuvaneswari Devi's idol.

"We will put up the Shiv temple replica as devotees will not be able to visit Kedarnath for the next three years. Rajan, a Chennai-based sculptor who has been making the tallest Ganesh idol at Khairatabad for the past 35 years, will prepare the Shiv temple replica," Khairatabad Ganesh Utsav Committee organising secretary S Raj Kumar told TOI.

Lord Rama's return to Ayodhya after 12 years of agnatavasam (exile) and his being crowned the king in Vijayanama samvastaram would also be marked as this year is also named Vijayanama samvastaram as per the Telugu panchangam. The committee has decided to showcase Sri Rama Pattabhisheka mahotsavam on the right side of the Ganesh idol, while on the left side would be the idol of Sri Bhuvaneswari Devi, Raj Kumar said.

With regard to the main idol, he said the committee has decided to make Ganesh with 'Gonaga Chaturmukha' (four faces). However, the height of the idol would be restricted to 59 feet only. "We are using 20 tonnes of steel and 20 tonnes of Plaster of Paris (PoP) for the idol," he said.

Also, the jumbo laddu is all set to make a new record this time. As in the past few years, East Godavari-based sweet maker P Malle Babu has promised to offer a jumbo laddu weighing 4,000 kilograms (four tonnes). He had offered a laddu weighing 3,500 kg to the Khairatabad Ganesh last year. It would be the fourth consecutive year that Malle Babu would be offering the laddu at his own cost.
 

Source: The Times of India, DT. July  15, 2013.