News India Durga idols hit international markets online, target NRIs

Durga idols hit international markets online, target NRIs

Kolkata, Oct 9: With the internet expanding exponentially, can Kolkata's traditional idol makers stay behind? Certainly not! Plans to launch a community website for Kumartuli, the colony of the city's traditional idol makers, so that




Artisans here supply idols of Hindu gods and goddesses to community pujas in not only Kolkata and its neighbourhood but also other parts of India.

Celebrated idol maker Amarnath Ghosh, who had sent a Durga idol to Hamburg as early as 1979 and has been the largest exporter of fibreglass idols from Kumartuli for the last 6 to 8 years, was the first artist to create a website.

This year Ghosh and his son Kaushik sent 24 fibreglass Durga idols overseas to European countries, the US, China, Ukraine and Ethiopia.

Kaushik seconded Pal on the need for a website.

"It is important for an artisan to connect with the international market. The number of idol markers setting up personal websites is rising," he said.

Bhabesh Paul, Kumartuli Mritshilpi Samiti (Kumartuli Potters' Assocation) assistant secretary, who expressed a desire to put up his own website, said that artisans would need to have a web presence in the future to attract not only overseas but even domestic clients.

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