India’s idol rituals take toll on environment

August 31, 2009
By Liz Neisloss
CNN

PALLAVAKAM, India – South India’s sun beats down on a long line of trucks wending to the Bay of Bengal. In the back of these trucks, giant, brightly painted statues of the Hindu god Ganesha are waiting to be dropped in the nearby ocean.

All over India, Hindus recently celebrated the birthday of the elephant god and now the idols made for this festivity are being taken to India’s ocean, rivers and lakes and deposited.