Hyderabad: An idea drawn during the visit of Maha Kumbh Mela in April 2025 helped an artisan from Dhoolpet to craft ‘Mahakal Ganesh’ idol that became the cynosure of all eyes in Telugu States, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu this time during the Ganesh festivities.
Such was the response from customers that the artisan Vikas Singh Kalakar, popularly known as Ganesh Singh Kalakar (GSK), in Dhoolpet was flooded with orders to make ‘Mahakal Ganesh’. However, he could deliver only 30 idols each with 16-feet height.
The magnificence of the idol is elegantly crafting 12 Jyotirlingas on the trunk of Lord Sri Ganesha idol. This enabled devotees to worship 12 Jyotirlingas while participating in 11-day Vinayaka Chaturthi festival that commenced from Wednesday.
“We craft idols with a different concept every year to attract devotees. Last year, we made an idol resembling Lord Sri Venkateswara Swamy. This time, we made ‘Mahakal Ganesh’ idol,” explained Vikas Singh, whose family has been into idol making business for the last 40 years.
He said he got the idea of making ‘Mahakal Ganesh’ while visiting Prayagraj to attend Maha Kumbh Mela. “We visited popular temples in Kasi and Ujjain and got the idea of making ‘Mahakal Ganesh’ idol. It took eight months for us to bring the idol to a proper shape and make it more attractive using Plaster of Paris (PoP),” Vikas Singh said.
“We never expected such a huge response from customers. It’s really an amazing experience as our hard work yielded positive results,” he said. He said Ganesh festival organizers from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu purchased ‘Mahakal Ganesh’ idols.
“We crafted the idol keeping in view the height of bridges and flyovers in Hyderabad and on highways. This helped everyone to carry the idol easily to their pandals concerned in trucks,” he said.
