By: Mark Moffa
HIGHTSTOWN – Among the findings in last week’s Peddie Lake cleanup was a statue of a Hindu god, which may have been placed there earlier this month following ceremonies at Hightstown High School.
Janice Mastriano, secretary of the Capital City Dive Club, reported to the Borough Council this week on the group’s Saturday cleanup of Peddie Lake.
The group found a lot of the usual pieces and trash but one recovered item, the statue of a Hindu god named Ganpatti, may have been placed in the lake as part of a religious ceremony, according to local sources.
Sudhir and Sonia Ketkar, Hindu owners of Apana Bazaar (Indo-Pak Grocers) in Royal Plaza on Route 130, said the god plays a key role in an Hindu festival celebrated this month.
The fourth day of the 360-day Hindu calendar, which fell on Sept. 1 this year, marks the beginning of Ganesh Chaturthi, a huge celebration during which Hindus in India will purchase a special statue of Ganpatti.
The statues are made specially for the festival and are soluble in water. Hindus will pray to the statue in their home for anywhere from two to 10 days, according to Mr. Ketkar.
Then the statue is placed in water (usually the ocean in India), and will dissolve within 48 hours.
Mr. Ketkar said he knew many Hindus were celebrating the festival at Hightstown High School Sept. 1, and that someone may have placed the statue in the lake after keeping in the home for the appropriate number of days.
But if the statue did not dissolve, he said, then it was not the special kind of statue that should be placed in water.
He said the best thing to do would be to take the Ganpatti to a Hindu temple so that folks could worship it.
"Any temple would be happy to have it," Mrs. Ketkar said.
Ganpatti, according to Mr. Ketkar, is the son of the god Schiva and goddess Parvati.
There are apparently many stories surrounding how Ganpatti, as pictured, came to have the head of an elephant.
Mr. Ketkar said that one story explains how Ganpatti was told by Parvati to guard her while she bathed. Ganpatti was not to allow anyone in to see her.
While she was bathing a sage, or worshiper, came to see the goddess but Ganpatti, as ordered, did not allow him to see Parvati. The worshiper proceeded to cut Ganpatti’s head off.
Schiva and Parvati were furious, but forgave the sage when they found out that he had only come to worship Parvati. The only problem was that now their son needed a new head.
So, Schiva took the head of the first thing to come by, an elephant, and attached it to Ganpatti.
"Everybody has their own version," Mr. Ketkar admitted.
Ganpatti came to be the god of intelligence and money, the Ketkars said. Hindus will pray to Ganpatti before embarking on something new or important so that Ganpatti will remove all obstacles from their path.
Mrs. Ketkar also said that Ganpatti is the first god to whom children learn to pray.
