Namaste All,

I am curious to know what is considered the right thing to do with broken or chipped murtis? And not even necessarily statues themselves, but also smaller images of God and that?

Is it considered "bad" to keep a broken or damaged image? For example, I have a small plastic keyring of Sri Ganesha attached to my car keys but I have realised His right hand which is normally gesturing the abhaya mudra is completely gone. If I wish to replacec this, how do I dispose of the old image of Ganesha? It's plastic, so not exactly something I can bury or submerge in a river without harming Mother Bhumi.

Also, in terms of updating a shrine in which images of God are kept, how is this done? Is there a way of "donating" an image or removing it carefully so no disrespect is shown?

Thank you for reading.

Om namah Shivaya