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Jaipur effigy market selling Demon Ravana
with special schemes
by Lokendra Singh

    Jaipur: As millions of Hindus across the country are celebrating Ramnavami on Sunday, on the eve of Dussera, many people are visiting shops selling large and beautifully decorated effigies of demon King Ravana. People are visiting effigy market here so that can lay their hands on the best piece, which suits their funds for the grand occasion, Vijaya Dashami festival, which denotes the victory of good over evil. Artisans, who have prepared effigies of various sizes ranging from five to hundred feet, have launched various offers to attract customers on the occasion. "This year, we have made 2,500 effigies of Ravana. Many of them are already sold and some are also booked in advance. For the convenience of customers, we are giving small sized effigies of Kumbhakaran and Meghnath free on buying one large effigy of Ravana," said Hira Ram, an effigy maker. On this day, effigies of Demong King Ravana, brother Kumbhakaran and son Meghnath are burnt after being worshipped. "If someone buys a large effigy of Ravana, we present him two small effigies of Kumbhakaran and Meghnath free. And, if the customer brings the needed firecracker for the effigies, we arrange them inside the effigies," said Harjiram, an effigy maker. Customers have host of options to choose the decorated effigies from, prepared with bamboo sticks and coloured paper and available at reasonable rates. "Effigies of Ravana prepared here are of good quality. The artisans are good. Also, we get the effigies at cheaper rates," said Mahaveer, a customer. "Being a big market of effigy, rates are very reasonable here. One can get an effigy at the rate of rupees 2,200, which costs around 3, 000 in other markets," said Kishan Kumar, another customer.
-Oct 1, 2006