The house at Ganapoga-Raia is popularly known as ‘Devagharr’. It’s not, however, a church or a temple, but the site where Prakash Fernandes seated on the ground, and his wife Linda, carrying on a traditional family occupation, painstakingly chip at pieces of wood carving out religious statues.
It’s rare, today, to find a carver who will work with wood to make an idol. It’s also expensive. But Prakash, who learnt the trade when he was 18 picking it up from his father Fermino, keeps the tradition alive. Today decades later his house has statues of the Christ Jesus, the Virgin Mary, various saints, the Crucifix, an entire scene of the Last Supper in various stages of production.
Prakash’s day starts at 8 am and often ends at 11 pm, depending on the number of orders in hand and the delivery date. And the orders are plenty and varied.
He points out that his carved wooden statues can be seen in various Goan Churches, including Fatorda and Loutolim, as well as Churches in Mumbai and other parts of India. One statue of St Francis Xavier, 7 feet tall, can be seen at the St James Church in the United Kingdom. He added that he recently received an order from Nasik and that the popular order these days is for statues of Goa’s only saint – St Joseph Vaz.
Speaking on the art of carving statues, Prakash says the key is in the detail. “For that one needs patience, time, commitment, concentration and dedication,” says Prakash. The work, he explains, involves getting the wood from the saw mill, designing the statue, cutting the wood to size, carving it to the requirement and finally polishing it.
Prakash carves the wooden statues using traditional instruments and if at all he uses an electric grinder it is for the final finishing bit.
What keeps Prakash going is the support and encouragement he receives from priests and well wishers, but he is discouraged by the lack of youth coming forward to take up the job. Many that he has trained have quit after three months complaining that it was too much hard work. “But hard work pays,” quips Praskash.
When he is not making statues, Prakash is still working with wood, crafting designs from roots and branches of trees. He collects roots and branches that are thrown away as waste and converts them into decorative vases. And when it’s not wood he’s busy with, Prakash will be with his buffaloes and cows in the cattle shed just outside this house.
