PONDA: At Pokale Wada in Adpai, Ponda, three generations of the Naik Pokale family are coming together under one roof to shape, paint and finish Ganesh idols ahead of Chaturthi, keeping alive a family craft that has travelled from one generation to the next.
In the family’s Chitrashala, senior sculptor Vishnu Raghuveer Naik Pokale oversees the work as his sons Rajesh and
Paresh and grandchildren Ved, Varad and Arvi join him in preparing around 125 idols this year.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
For Vishnu, the Chitrashala is not merely a workplace-it is where a family inheritance continues to take shape.
“Idol-making is not just an art or a profession for us, but a practice that has been passed down from generation to generation,” the Pokale family said.
The tradition is visible in the way the family works together. Vishnu’s sons have taken up different aspects of the craft, from giving form and character to the idols to creating designs and applying the finishing layers of paint. Vishnu’s wife, Asha Naik Pokale, is also an important part of the family effort.
The youngest members of the family are already being introduced to the craft. Ved, Varad and Arvi, though still school-going children, spend time in the Chitrashala learning the painstaking process from the basics of handling clay to shaping, painting and finishing the idols.
Their involvement has given the old family tradition a new sense of continuity. Vishnu believes the craft will remain in the family as long as the younger generation continues to take an interest in it. What was once learnt from his forefathers is now being passed on to his grandchildren, ensuring that the skills and techniques associated with the family’s idol-making tradition are not lost.
The Chitrashala has also begun drawing devotees as Chaturthi approaches. Visitors are coming to see the collection of 125 idols and choose the Ganpati they will welcome into their homes for the festival.
The rush is a familiar part of the season, but for the Naik Pokales, the significance goes beyond the annual demand for idols. Every Chaturthi becomes an opportunity for the family to work together and pass on something that cannot be learnt from a book or taught in a classroom.
The family’s work also connects with Adpai’s own dis-tinctive Ganesh Chaturthi traditions. The village is known for its five-day celebrations, with Ganesh idols later taken for immersion in the Zuari river as part of a float proces-sion.
