A Ganesha Who Lives At A Police Station In Bihar Steps Out Only For Ganesh Chaturthi

By Mahmood Alam

Patna: Most devotees bring Ganesha idols home from sculptors or shops during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. But those residing at Silao in the Nalanda district of Bihar head to the police station for it.

The Ganesha that the Silao residents worship is kept at a Shiva temple within the campus of the area’s police station due to the fear of thieves. Two-and-a-half feet tall, the statue is made of white-coloured stone and is considered invaluable. It depicts Lord Ganesha riding a rat, which is considered his vehicle.

A large group of men takes a bath, dresses up in traditional attire of dhoti-kurta or kurta-pyjama, hires a tractor and a music band, and arrives at the police station with much fanfare to seek permission from the SHO (station house officer) to take the idol on a 10-day sojourn to the Silao market.

Once the police officer gives his consent, the people carry it out of the Shiva temple with much care and affection, place it on a tractor and move in a procession while chanting various names of Ganesha and the now ubiquitous slogan ‘Ganpati Bappa Morya’. All the mandatory rituals are performed, and it is established at its temporary abode so that everybody can worship.

Police Station where idol of Lord Ganesha is housed 355 days a year (ETV Bharat)

“This idol was previously at our temple. I do not remember the year when the thieves attempted to steal it. Around four or five of them entered the premises one night during March or April and took it away,” said Ramvilas Pandit, a priest of the Shyam Sarovar Thakurbari at Silao. “Some monks and other people sleeping there woke up, raised an alarm and chased them,” he said.

The thieves escaped after abandoning the idol in an agricultural field because it was quite heavy and difficult to carry. It was brought back to the temple, and the local administration was informed about the incident. Recollecting further, Pandit said that the administrative officials who visited in the aftermath of the theft attempt asked whether the statue was of any private individual or of the public.

Shiva Temple inside Police Station campus where idol of Lord Ganesha is housed 355 days a year (ETV Bharat)

“All the people present there said that it was a public one. A few saints had established it at the temple many years ago, and the entire Silao worshipped it. The officials then suggested to keep it at the police station for safety, take it out for 10 or 15 days for the Ganesh Chaturthi festival, and then bring it back,” Pandit added.

Since then, it has been followed in the letter and spirit. Once the Ganesha arrives in the market pandal for the festival, people from the entire Silao town and neighbouring areas come to see and pray before it.

Idol of Lord Ganesha housed in the Police Station 355 days a year. (ETV Bharat)

“We return the idol to the police station on the ‘Poornima’ (full moon day) that comes after the Ganesh Chaturthi for the sake of its safety. We will stop sending the Ganesha back to the police station after our own place of worship is constructed. We have already submitted an application at the police station in this regard,” said Balgovind Ram, a member of the Ganesha Committee of Silao.

Ram, a septuagenarian, added that the tradition of bringing the Ganesha from the police station temple during Ganesh Chaturthi and returning it after the festival was over had been continuing since the days of his grandfather. He also could not give the exact year the attempt to steal it was made, but said that it must have been around 60 years ago.

Silao SHO Muhammad Irfan Khan said that the Ganesha statue had been kept at the temple within the police station premises for a long time, but was not certain about the exact year, as the police officers keep getting transferred and the record of the incident must have been buried in the old dusty files or registers.

“But one thing is certain. The idol is kept at the temple within the police station’s campus for 355 days every year for the sake of safety and is taken around half a kilometre away to the Silao market area for 10 days during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. The Ganesha Committee people take prior permission for it,” Khan added.

The idol is worshipped mostly by the police personnel and their families when kept at the temple within the police station premises.

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