Artisans give ‘shining touches’ to Sant Tukaram Maharaj temple

“The silver polishing work of the chariot, which will carry the palanquin to the temple town of Pandharpur, has been completed. And inside the temple premises, the sanctum sanctorum, walls and pillars which are covered in silver have also been polished thoroughly,” Nitin More, who heads the Shri Sant Tukaram Maharaj Sansthan, told The Indian Express on Sunday.

And in the 10-member team which carried out the silver polishing work of the temple premises and the chariot included eight Muslims artisans in their early twenties. All of them have been born and brought up in Pune. And all of them seemed to have carried out the silver polishing as “something close to our heart” and “a matter of seva….” Kushal Varma, who owns Ghanshyam gold shop in Pimpri, has been given the contract for the silver polishing work of the temple premises besides the chariot and ‘palkhi.’

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“We have been doing the work for the past 6-7 years. We don’t charge a single paisa for the silver polishing work. Our team includes eight Muslim artisans who are all skilled and hard working. They do the allotted work with lot of enthusiasm and with keen sense of interest,” he said.

The silver polishing, said Varma, is carried out as the silver coating gets oxidised due to exposure to air, pollution and water. “We use chemicals, tamarind, lemon and brushes among other things to polish the silver, remove the dark spots and make it look bright and beautiful,” he said. The work was carried out over two days. “The artisans worked relentlessly for 12 hours each day and without complaining about being tired and exhausted,” Varma added.

Kamar Attar (31), one of the artisans, said, “This is not the first time we have carried out the silver polishing work of the entire temple premises as well as the chariot and palanquins. There was a lull during Covid for two years but now we are back. For putting in the hard work, we don’t charge anything. But the temple provides us material required to carry out the polishing.”

Attar said no one objected to them carrying out the polishing work. “No, there was no objection to us being Muslims. Everyone knows who we are. And we do it on our own as a ‘seva’ towards Sant Tukaram Maharaj. It gives us immense happiness. We believe the God is one no matter which religion you belong to,” he said.

Umar Attar, another artisan, said, “Our grandparents are from Pandharpur, so you can understand how much the Dehu temple matters to us…We have carried out the silver polishing work not only in Dehu but also in Pandharpur and at Dutt Mandir in Pune, the famous Ranjangaon Mandir and several other temples in Maharashtra.”

Umar said, “We don’t believe in caste or religion. We do the silver polishing work in temple as it comes from our heart. After a two year gap, we enjoyed doing the work in Dehu and in the end, it gave us a sense of satisfaction and joy. We will keep doing the ‘seva’ whenever we are called,” a view echoed by others.

Meanwhile, the temple administration said they will present a special ‘headgear’ to the Prime Minister. “The Prime Minister will be honoured with a designer Tukaram pagdi and a shawl on the occasion,” said Nitin More.