Gorkhas of Mizoram Install Fibreglass Durga Idols to Preserve Environment

Aizawl, October 6, 2019:

To combat ecological degradation, the Durga pandals in Mizoram, mostly run by Gorkhas, have installed Durga Pandals made of fibreglass.

There are very few temples in Mizoram, where 87% of the population is Christian. Hoewever, the goddess Durga is worshipped by the Gorkha community in the State. Of the 13 that are managed by the Central Gorkha Mandir Committee, five are in Aizawl.

Until about a decade ago, the Durga Puja celebration in these temples was similar to that in adjoining Assam and Tripura, and clay idols were installed.

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However, in 2011, the images of the goddess were printed on flex. Biodegradable material was used to conduct the puja.

Five years later, the committee members realised that the non-biodegradable flex were also prone to tearing.

In 2016, the temples in Mizoram changed to a fibreglass idol. The bigger temple at Bawngkawn has a 5ft idol while the one at Om Mandir in Thuampui, our locality, is smaller.

These Durga Puja idols are being re-used each year, and thus, by installing these idols, the environment-friendly people of Mizoram certainly seem to be doing the environment a favour.

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It may be mentioned here that about 20,000 of Mizoram’s 1.12 million people are Gorkhas, mostly descendants of soldiers the British, who had been brought along 120 years ago.

The Puja this year began on Saturday, October 5, and will finish on Tuesday, October 8.

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