Hyderabad: Vinayaka Chavithi festival is one occasion where devotees come across Lord Ganesha in different shapes, sizes and forms at various pandals in twin cities.
But if one pays a visit to bank employee P. Shekhar's house in West Marredpally, there is an opportunity to see over 11,000 Ganesh idols in different forms and nearly 14,000 photographs collected from across the globe. What started as a hobby of collecting different Ganesh idols from childhood, eventually turned into a passion for Mr. Shekhar. So much so that after entering the Limca Book of Indian Records in 2010, he is now applying for the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest collection of idols. “My family and I visited Shirdi when I was 12 years old. I purchased the first idol of the Lord by spending half a rupee. Since then, there was no looking back,” says the 49-year-old Shekhar. His collection includes all the 32 forms of the Lord right from Bala Ganapati to Sankatahara Ganapati. While the smallest idol in his collection is just half-an-inch, the heaviest one is a Panchaloha Panchamukhi idol weighing about 50 kgs. He boasts of collecting the idols from 32 countries, including United States, Japan, China, Afghanisthan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
“I purchase them online or at different exhibitions held across the country. Idols in my collection are made of metal, precious stones, wood, terracotta, paper, shells, aluminium etc. No two idols or photographs are similar to each other,” he says. He even made 25 types of idols on his own using pebbles, paper, aluminium foil, etc and began constructing a temple for the Lord spanning 13 acres near Yadagirigutta and launched a charitable trust to seek donations. For details contact on 92465-05368.
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