Sardar Chowk mandal joins centenary club of Ganesh mandals in Nashik city

Nashik: Sardar Chowk Mitra mandal in Panchavati, which is celebrating its 100th year of the Ganapati festival this year, is the latest in the city to join the centenary club of select mandals.The other two include the 113-year-old mandal by Nashik Saraf Association and the 105-year-old mandal by Ravivar Karanja."Needless to say, all these mandals were inspired by Lokmanya Balgangadhar Tilak, who started the Ganapati Festival to raise awareness among the masses. It was a time when people were afraid to come together because the British would look at everybody suspiciously and put them behind bars for no reason. The stalwarts from society, however, chose a different path. This is how the mandals came into existence. Today, we are celebrating the century," said Ganesh Bhore, the president for holding the celebrations of the festival as part of Sardar Chowk Mitra mandal. Mahesh Mahankal, the president of the Sardar Chowk Mitra mandal, said, "The mandal was formed in the ‘Wada' of Dinkar Muthe in Sardar Chowk, attended by Vishnupant Madane and others from the area who then formed the Mitra mandal."Bhore said that the mandal has always focused on creating social awareness and carrying out social works occassionally. It has produced some notable personalities like freedom fighter Sadubhau Bhore and social workers like Ramesh Bhose and Sanjay Adayprabhu.The Chandicha (Silver) Ganpati of the Ravivar Karanja Mitra mandal had a similar history. Rohan Pawar, for holding the celebrations of the festival of Karanja Mitra mandal, said, "The Ganapati festival was started by Gangaprasad Pannalal Halwai, who came down to Nashik from Bundelkhand and started his sweet shop in Ravivar Karanja. Later, as the youth formed the Mitra mandal, Halwai gave away his property to select groups in Nashik city, including RK Mitra mandal, which then started the celebration on a grand scale."Gradually, as the celebration gained momentum, people kept joining it. Around 1971, the members of the mandal — Viju Bhosale, Shantilal Hiran, Suryakant Rahalkar, Vijay Pawar, and Subhash Pawar — decided to ensure the idol was made of metal instead of plaster of Paris, which affected the water. Therefore, the mandal started with 11kg of silver. Now, it is a 200kg silver idol that is permanent.Pawar said that through the proceeds, the mandal has set up a clinic that caters to the needy people of the area. The oldest group is the Nashik Saraf Association, which started the practice of the Ganesh Festival 113 years ago. "Stalwarts like KL Thakur, Manohar Saraf, and other goldsmiths came together and decided to form a group that would celebrate events together. The association formed would then discuss social issues among themselves and find solutions for the same," said Sunil Mahalkar of the Association.
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