Mayem family saves 300-year-old temple idols from immersion

Keri: Nine stone sculptures that were earlier worshipped at an old temple in Mayem were handed over to the directorate of museum, Goa, by the Karbotkar families, instead of being immersed in a water body. The families, residing at Gaonkarwada in Mayem, installed new stone idols after renovating the temple and removed the earlier ones.Traditionally, temple committees across Goa immerse old idols in rivers or tanks after new installations. However, the Karbotkar families chose to preserve the sculptures by donating them to the museum. Yeshwant Karbotkar, 70, told TOI, “As the stone sculptures worshipped earlier were around 300 years old, we have installed new stone ones. However, instead of immersing these earlier sculptures into Mayem lake, we handed them over to the directorate of museum.”He said archaeology student Vismay Vishnu Karbotkar and heritage enthusiasts Vithoba Gawade and Sanish Aukhale from Sanquelim approached the family and explained the archaeological and historical significance of the idols. “Accordingly, elder members of our Karbotkar families handed over these sculptures to the state museum,” Yeshwant said.The donated sculptures include Balvansh, Goud Bengal, Bhutnath, Betal, Mulpurush, Mahamaya, Gram Purush, Sateri and Kelbai. Vithoba Gawade, a student of archaeology at Mumbai University, told TOI, “Immersing old stone sculptures in water after installing new ones has led to loss of invaluable heritage assets. Temple committees should donate old sculptures to museums, as this will help students and researchers study their history and heritage in detail.”Museum curator Manisha Govekar said, “The steps taken by the Karbotkar families to hand over archaeological heritage assets will help us display these sculptures in the museum gallery.”