Begum Bazar Ka Raja

Begum Bazar: For the 11-day Ganesh festivities where thousands of pandals are set up in the entire City, the unique theme of 'Pahelwan Ganesh' is set to be one of major attractions, particularly in the parts of Old City like Begum Bazar.

The city of Hyderabad is known for celebrations on a grand note after Mumbai and Pune and mass immersion program taken out by Utsav Samithi every year draws huge crowds and this is led by the Pahelwan Ganesh.

Apart from city's famous Ganesh of Khairtabad and the famous Laddu of Balapur Ganesh, this unconventional idol has its history in the streets of traditional wrestlers and continues to pull huge crowds and attracts the devout to have its glimpse. The giant Ganesh idol, which is unique and proudly called as 'Pehalwan Ganesh', appears to be like a wrestler.

According to members of Jai Sri Krishna Yadav Ganesh Mandal association around 8 to 10 Pahelwan idols used to be installed in the nearby areas in Begum Bazar earlier. But now it is only two giant Pahelwan idols in Begum Bazar. The prominent among them are of Pahelwan Ganesh of Santosh Pahelwan and another is of Kanhaiya Pahelwan in Begum Bazar.

Begum Bazar ka Raja Pehelwan

Speaking about the Santosh Pahelwan's Ganesh, Aakash Man Singh, a member of the association, said that this Pahelwan Ganesh is famous as 'Begum Bazar Ka Raja Pehelwan Ganesh.'

It is being installed for 40 years and remains second only to Khairtabad Ganesh in city in terms of height. The main immersion juloos (procession) starts with this giant Pahelwan Ganesh on the day of immersion. "Earlier the height of Ganesh was around 35-40 feet, but for last three years the construction of metro rail bridge has prompted the organisers to reduce the height to 25 feet," he added.

Man Singh said that this year the giant Ganesh was made by an artist from Kolkata, who took about a month to come up with this year's Pahelwan Ganesh. It is made up of Plaster of Paris (POP). Each year the Ganesh has the different themes, as last year the theme was based on 'Surgical strike', as models of soldiers were placed in front of Ganesh and this year, it's a surprise for the devotees, said Aakash.

Speaking about the Kanhaiya Pahelwan Ganesh, Mahender Yadav of Kanhaiya Pahelwan Ganesh Utsav Samithi said that they are installing the giant idols with same Pahelwan theme since last 10 years. Earlier the height of the Ganesh was around 30 feet and now it now cut down to 20 feet.

In 1990's the Pahelwan Ganesh which was installed by the Kanhaiya Pahelwan was based on the death of Rajiv Gandhi and the photo still in Parliament highlighting the incident. This year's Pahelwan Ganesh was made by the artist Ramesh Singh from Dhoolpet, said Mahender.