In 2002 I made a trip to Tamil Nadu, India with my good friend Narasimha. We stopped, as we usually do, at the government supported traditional crafts shop in Swamimalai so that we could buy some murtis to take back to the US. In particular a couple of friends had asked me to buy them a nice Ganesha for their own puja rooms.
This area is famous for traditional craftsmanship particularly in brass/bronze castings. The deities are really great as you can see from the following photos below. After we purchased the Ganeshas, we left them there to be gold coated and returned after a couple hours to pick them up. When we did these two men were waiting for us and as it turns out they were the original artisans who made the murtis.
They were surprisingly eager to meet us and Narasimha asked them why. They told him that while they were making the Ganeshas, they had a very strong feeling that they would be going someplace far away and they wanted to meet the people who were going to end up with them!
It is very reminiscent of the story in which Brahma asks Vishnu if he really has creation well organized. Vishnu points to a nearby rice field and says to Brahma, “Do you see that rice field? I know exactly who will eat each and every grain of rice in it.”
So apparently Ganesha “knew” he was headed to the US…
A couple more photos from the Swamimalai store:
They have absolutely everything; big, small, and all different metals etc.
Hanumans ready to be of service. It is so difficult not to spend huge sums of money in this store. Everything is so beautifully made.