This statue depicts the Hindu god Ganesha. As the remover of obstacles and lord of obstacles, Ganesha is easily recognized by his elephant head. The statue shows him seated in a relaxed pose, representing his concern for worldly affairs but focus on spiritual matters. His multiple arms hold traditional symbols of his qualities like protection, sweetness, and prodding righteousness. The broken tusk and large belly carry symbolic meanings. Overall the statue visually conveys the significance and iconography of Ganesha as an important deity in Hinduism.

1. Brandy Stark, PhD
Jan. 24, 2013
Stuart Society, Museum of Fine Arts

2. Features: Elephant-headed god;
Hinduism
Name: gana (followers of Shiva)
isha (lord); Shiva appoints him Lord
of his ganas (followers).
Religious meaning: Remover of
obstacles; physical embodiment of
the AUM (OM); Wisdom; start of new
ventures (marriage, building a house,
etc.) and thus the first to receive
prayers
Unique: Universal across India

3.  Bestows wisdom, courage, and confidence to start
a new enterprise:
Om Shri Ganeshaya
Nama (Om SHREE GANESH AI-YA- NAM-AH)

4.  Wishing for an undisturbed bath, Paravati posted Shiva’s bull,
Nandi , as her guard. When Shiva came home and wished to
enter, Nandi, loyal to his master, simply stepped aside. Paravati
was angry that she had no one as loyal to her as Nandi to Shiva.
She scraped some of the tumeric paste (some say dirt) from her
own body and from it sculpted a boy. She gave him the gift of life
through her breath and declared him her son.
 For the next bath Ganesha was posted to guard the home. Shiva
came home and discovered a strange boy guarding the house.
When the boy would not let him pass Shiva sent first his army
against him, then battled the boy himself. In his divine fury,
Shiva severed Ganesha’s head killing him. Paravati came out and
discovering his death was both angry and devastated. The only
things that would placate here (and stop her from destroying
creation) were that Ganesha be brought back to life, and that he
be forever worshipped before all the other gods.
 Remorseful, Shiva agreed to these conditions. Brahman (or, in
some stories, the followers of Shiva) was sent out with orders to
bring back the head of the first creature he came across, which
turned out to be the elephant. Shiva placed the new head on the
body, breathed new life to the child, and Shiva declared Ganesha
to be his own son with Paravati.

5.  Several events reported of the
Ganesha statue drinking milk
offerings.
 Sept. 21, 1995: Starting in New Delhi;
spread through India, to Europe,
Canada and the US.
 August 20 – 21, 2006: Temple in Uttar
Pradesh; spread throughout India.
Happened after reports of sea water
turning sweet in Mumbai (hysteria).
 Sept. 22, 2010: Trinidad Express
reported a Genesh statue drink milk at
a Princes Town, Trinidad, temple during
the festival for Ganesh.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qn
-vtROySo

6.  Body of a man and the
head of an elephant
 One tusk (other broken)
 Large belly
 On his chest/across his
left shoulder: sacred
thread (often in the form
of a snake)
 4 – 14 hands (divinity)
 His vehicle/companion is
the rat (mouse or shrew)

7.  Head: Elephant head:
auspiciousness, strength and
intellectual prowess.
 Contrast: Elephant largest and
strongest animal, yet vegetarian,
affectionate, loyal; is swayed if love and
kindness are extended to him. --
Ganesha, by extension, is loving,
forgiving, moved by the affection of his
devotees.
 Elephant can destroy a whole forest and
is a one-man army when provoked --
Ganesha can be ruthless when fighting
evil
 Note: Small mouth (talk less); small
eyes (concentration)

8.  Ears: Like a winnowing fan, sift
the bad from the good
 Hear everything, retain only that
which is good
 Ganesh listens to all requests made
by the devotees, be they humble or
powerful
 Trunk: symbol of
his discrimination; moves
everything from uprooting a tree
to plucking blades of grass.
 The biggest and smallest of tasks
are within the range of this
trunk which is symbolic of
Ganesha's intellect and his powers
of discrimination; flexibility

9.  Tusks: Broken tusk: Keep the good, discard the bad;
multiple legends
 While gaurding Shiva’s quarters, a favorite disciple of Shiva’s,
Parashurama, wished to see the god. Misunderstanding led
to battle. Parashurama threw an ax, given to him by Shiva,
at Ganesh who recognized it as his fathers. In a symbol of
humility; Ganesh accepted the blow and lost the tusk.
 Ganesha was asked to write down Mahabharata, dictated to
him by the sage Vyasa. As this was an immense undertaking,
Ganesha knew no normal writing instrument would work.
He broke off one of his own tusks and made a pen out of it.
No sacrifice is too big for the pursuit of knowledge and
religious truth.

10.  Hands:
 First: abhaya pose of protection
and refuge
 Second holds sweet food:
sweetness of the realized inner
self
 Third: Holds an elephant goad:
prod man to path of
righteousness and truth; strikes
and repels obstacles
 Forth: Holds a noose: Conveys
that worldly attachments and
desires are an unhealthy bond
 (Also: Ax: cutting unhealthy
desires or bonds; lotus: reaching
spiritual clarity)

11.  Belly: Bounty of
nature
 Ganesha swallows
the sorrows of the
Universe and protects
the world
 Prosperity

12.  Rat (Mouse):
 Vehicle (transports the god)
 Seems impossible, but nothing is
impossible for god;
 Symbol for intellect, goes into places we
would not have thought possible
 Wandering mind, able to be led to
undesirable things and to corruption
 The rat/mouse paying subservience to Lord
Ganesha: intellect (or desire) has been tamed
and appropriately focused
 Size difference: God is big, rat/mouse is
small; even the smallest things have a larger
impact, everything starts small and becomes
big

13.  In South India Ganesha is
represented as single and
celibate
 Devoted to Paravati, his mother
--the most beautiful and perfect
woman in the universe
 When asked about marriage, he
challenged them to find a
woman as beautiful as her
 None could find an equal and so
the legend goes, the search is
still on...

14.  North India:
Shown married to the two
daughters of Brahma (the Lord of
Creation), Buddhi (wisdom) and
Siddhi (achievement). Sometimes
linked to Riddhi (prosperity).
 Yoga paths (religious philosophies):
Buddhi and Siddhi represent the
female and male currents in the
human body.

15.  Ganesh may also be
connected to Sarasvati
(goddess of
culture/arts/knowledge)
and Lakshmi (goddess
of luck and prosperity).

16.  “Ease posture" (most common): Ganesh is
sitting on a throne, left leg is bent back,
while the right leg remains hanging or
resting on the ground (reverse posture is
also known). Sometimes shown in slightly
augmented “royal ease posture” (sitting on
lotus with mouse, arm resting on throne)
 The leg on the ground represents concerned
by the worldly affairs
 Bent back leg alludes to meditation, reminds
the perfect concentration on the Supreme
Reality. Although living in the world, He is
totally concentrated on the Atman present
within Him.

17.  Depending on the stance, it can
represent a rigid attitude (called the
“no-bent body”)
 Some show more movements (double
or triple bends); inspired by the
dancing art (also a form of devotion)
 Dance puts body in odd contortions;
pleasure and pain
 Can also connect consorts to the gods
 When He is standing, Ganesh may also
have only one foot on the ground, the
second one being laid on His mount,
the rat, often very big

18.  After his creation, Ganesh is reported to
immediately dance in front of the gods.
 Shiva’s gana enjoy dance and music; he does the
same; he copies his father as Shiva Nataraja.
 Comparison to Shiva as producing movement in
the universe (the aspect of the world’s existence
and non-existence)
 Interrupted dance (common): Right leg raised, the
left leg, laid on the ground, is bent (reverse of legs
possible).
 Angry: Crowned with a halo of flames, one leg
stretched out
 Tantric: left foot on the mouse and the right foot
on the lion; dual male and female energies

19.  Photo from: http://www.johnlund.com/Artcl8-Ganesha.htm

21. Features?
Symbolism?
Interpretation?
 GANESHA, THE
ELEPHANT-
HEADED GOD
 Chola period, 9th c.
 Dakoehler Gallery,
Museum of Fine Arts