Karnataka - Bidar   

Devoted to Buddha in his own way

Staff Correspondent

Bidar: Bandeppa Gundappa Ganeshpure was a newspaper boy in Bidar 25 years ago. Today, he is an internationally acclaimed carver of Buddha statues. The Crafts Corporation of Japan has presented him with the Good Craftsman award. Associations of art critics of Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan have felicitated him. He started a cooperative society of sandalwood artisans 15 years ago and it has made profits since its inception. It has received many international honours.

The society's products are exported to the U.S., Europe, Japan, Taiwan, Dubai, Australia, Mauritius, Ireland and Poland. The average annual turnover of the society is Rs. 30 lakh. The society's order books are full for the next three years. The society has orders estimated at Rs. 45 lakh this year.

The 220 members of the society share profits. The society sells its products through the Karnataka Handicrafts Development Corporation and Cauvery Emporium in Bangalore. The society employs over 200 persons in its units at Backchoudi and Naubad in Bidar taluk. The society recently started a centre to train unemployed youth and destitute women.

Every year, the centre trains 300 people in jute knitting, embroidery, woodcarving, carpentry, off set printing, screen-printing, bookbinding and Agarbatti making. At least half of those trained are from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, says Mr. Ganeshpure.

Mr. Ganeshpure does not come from a family of traditional craftsmen. His bother Vaijanth was trained in sandalwood carving by the Khadi and Village Industries Corporation. He trained the other members of the family. Everyone in the family is now an acclaimed artist.

Mr. Vaijanath's daughter Shakuntala won the Rajyotsava Award last year. She is the first woman in the State to be awarded for sandalwood carving. She now runs an art studio-cum-store in Zaheerabad in Andhra Pradesh.

"The Department of Forests, State Bank of Hyderabad, the Lepkashi Emporium, and other government institutions have been supporting us. We plan to open a college of crafts soon," he says.

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Devoted to Buddha in his own way

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