More than 200 people gathered at a temple in Bengaluru last Saturday for an event promoting the respectful disposal of sacred images and idols. The event, called Udhvasana, is an initiative of a non-profit organisation called HSR Citizen Forum.
HSR Citizen Forum, founded by Dr Shanthi Tummala, has been active for the last 30 years. “We dismantle all these into different categories—easily about 13 to 14 categories, like metal, plastic, wood, cardboard, paper, POP items, and all that. The HSR Citizen Forum executive added that last Saturday’s event drew 212 devotees. More than 1,762 kilograms of religious artefacts were collected.
Because these are religious and a lot of religious sentiments are associated with them, we always wondered how to rightly dispose of them. In recent years, it has started a novel initiative to tackle a problem faced by many devotees: how to correctly and respectfully dispose of old idols and images of Gods. Last Saturday’s event at a temple in HSR Layout proved just how many devotees are keen for a solution. HT.com spoke to Suma Sarjapura, an executive committee member of the HSR Citizen Forum, to understand why the initiative matters and what happens to the religious memorabilia that is collected. Suma Sarjapura explained that the issue of respectful disposal of sacred artefacts came up when the group was discussing solid waste management. “Most of the divine idols and photos are discarded there. Udhvasana is an initiative to solve this problem by ensuring that the sacred idols do not end up in landfill. Sustainability is at the heart of this initiative, Sarjapura added. The HSR Citizen Forum organises an Udhvasana event once every three months. Last Saturday’s event was the seventh edition of this initiative. A temple in Bengaluru’s HSR Layout donates space for the event to take place. It has been donating space since the very first Udhvasana event. Devotees can show up with old sacred images and idols that they want to dispose of sustainably and respectfully. Volunteers of HSR Citizen Forum collect and segregate these photos, photo frames and idols. it is not mandatory Although a donation is requested. The priest at the temple conducts an Udhvasana Pooja. Suma Sarjapura explained that an Udhvasana Pooja is done during the collection process. “You are constantly doing pooja for the idol, which has a religious attachment, right? And finally, once you want to give it away, there is a giving away pooja, which is called the Udvasana Pooja,” she elaborated. “Once that is done, we see people getting easily detached from their idols or photos which they have been praying to for a really long time. It’s an easy way of giving them away. The aim of the initiative is to make sure that the images and idols do not end up in a landfill. Volunteers work for days afterwards to segregate the collections, and they are subsequently recycled or upcycled. “After segregation, they get delivered to their respective factories where they get recycled or upcycled—whatever needs to happen—so it doesn’t go to the landfill. Over the next six days, volunteers will work to sort and dispose them correctly. Sarjapura stresses that Udhvasana is fundamentally about encouraging sustainability and mindful consumption within the community While keeping tons of waste out of landfills remains a key outcome.
“We were thinking how to dispose of these divine photos and divine idols, which are just left under trees and on the streets,” she said. “After collecting the frames, we weigh them and a small donation is requested from the devotees,” Sarjapura explained. This is the whole idea behind the Udvasana program,” Suma Sarjapura said.
“Dividing one photo frame into 13 different categories takes a lot of labor. We want people to realize this and choose more sustainable alternatives when buying or gifting sacred items in the future.”
“The main purpose is to bring about awareness so people stop buying these photo frames unnecessarily,” she noted, highlighting how difficult complex items like laminates are to recycle.
