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A NOTE ON GANESANI OR VAIHAYAKI
-Ir - - - Ganesani, also known as vainsyaki, vighn&vari,
/ - dane6varIt ~ a ~ a p a t i h ~ d a ~ i , Gajban; and ~ r i - ~ i ~ ~ i ~ I in
various Hindu, Jaina and Buddhist literary works and
epigraphs, is the kakti or the female form of ~anpsa or
vinayaka, the elephant headed god, equally <lorshipped by tne
followers of different ancient Indian religious sects.
Though the origin and early development of the concept of
Gan&ini. is not yet clearly known, she appears in the art by
the early period itself. H.D. Bhattacharya feels that "even
I - a kakti of Ganda [~anisani] was subsequently conceived when
Gan&a became a popular deity"'.
- J
In the sculptures whereever Ganesa is seen with his
wife or female form of kakti, she is not elephant headed but
2 of a simple female form . Here it must be noted that the - - forms such as ~ar%h;l, ~arasimhz, Hayagrivi, vinayakT etc.,
had basically evolved under the Tantric formulations and
were considered independent goddesses, while the identity of
the regular consort-goddesses of the major Brahmanical gods - was a different matter [ e . g . , ~araha has Prthivi the earth
6
goddess, Brahma has ~arasvati, ~umara has Kaumari,vish?u has - or ~~ish?avi, vinayaka has Siddhi and Buddhi, all
3 these having human faced normal goddess-forms . In the - following lines the salient features of vainayaki, who
should not confused with the consort of ~inayaka for the
above said reasons, is given.
ANTIQUITY
In the ~uranas :- The elephant-headed goddess referred to as
~ajinani occupies the first place in the list given in the
45th chapter of th2 ~asikhinda of the Skanda purana4. The
Matsya ~urana refers to the names of two goddesses and of
them one is vainayaki5. But none of these names occur in the
6 list of the yogins aentioned in the ~ g n i ~urina . -
The D&-aahasraxka, which mentions one thousand names - I - - of the Goddess also refers to three names of Ganesani viz.,
- vinayaki, ~ambcdari and ~an~kvari'.
In the Silparatna D. Bhattacharya has published a
literary description of the kakti-~a~a~ati. According to - I 7
this account the female form of ~a~eL.3 i.e., Ganesanl or -
~ainayaki, is altogether different from hakti. Ganapati or
the composite image of ~an&a and his kakti wherein like
~rdhanarihvara, the left half of the body has the 8
characteristic features of a female .
In Jainism :- Jains also worshipped vainzyaki as one of .the
yoginis as avider,ceC by a Jaina manuscript [No. 3961
Preserved in the Harnsa ~ijaya collection of Jaina mandir at
I - Baroda. The manuscript mentions the names of ~angsvari alony
with ~ah>yoginx ~iddhiyogini and many other yogin:s9.
In ~uddhism :- The elephant headed goddess is described in -
Buddhism as ~anapatih~da~a. ~m?t>nanda has given the
following description of the D~V: in his ~harmakG&as&~raha.
- - - Ganapatih~daya ekamukha, dvibhuja , Varada-abhaya
nrty&ana. i .e., ~anapatihrda~a is one faced, two armed
exhibits in her two hands the varada [gift bestowing] and
10 abhaya [fear not] and shows the dancing attitude .
The Elephant Faced Goddess vainiyaki in Indian Art :- There -
are several sculptures of the goddess vainiiyaki. A detailed
iconographic analysis of all the representations so far
known to us of this goddess is likely to shed further light
on this obscure divinity. The identity of the goddess in
sculptural representations is readily revealed from her
essential elephant-headed aspect. However, from the texts
the following characteristic traits of her icon can be
gathered.
- I - Ga?esani's elephant-head is similar to the model of
Gapapati. This is to be an invariable peculiarity of her
image, like the original Gan&a mentioned in the texts by
the epithets such as ~astimukha, Gajamukha, ~ajGnana,
Gajsvaktra or names derived from those of ~a?i:a such as / - -
vsiniyakT, ~ & b d a r z , ~anhsani and Vighpksi .
~arly IUIges :- Probably the earliest representatlvn of the
elephant-headed female divinity can be noticed in a
terracotta plaque, found during excavation at Rair in the
former state of Saipur in ~ajasthanl', assignable to a
period between 1st century B.C and 1st century A.D. The
plaque shows a standing female figure with elephant head and
her proboscis curled to the right. There seems to be an
elongated object in the right hand of the figure.
Several ancient literary works have references to the
12 goddesses having heads of animals and birds . The ~ushina art of Mathura also presents numerous
examples of ~atrika [divine mother] figures with animal and
bird heads, but not a single matrika figure of this period
having elephant's head, has been found yet from Mathura or
any other part of the country13. Similarly a fragmentary / - ~atavahana sculpture of circa 2nd century A.D., from
~maravati aaJ exhibited in the Government museum at Madras
shows a garland-bearing dwarf like Yaksha and Yakshi couple
with heads and ears of an elephant but strangely without the
14 trunks . -
Probably the solitary axample of vainayaki, which can
be assigned to the early Gupta periodr is the standing image
of the goddesses, preserved in the government museum at
Mathura. The imager like many early sculptures of the
c o n s o r t o f ~ a n i d a , i s a l s o on ly two-armed and has a b u l g i n g
b e l l y . She h o l d s a lo tus-bud w i t h s t a l k i n h e r l e f t baud and
n e a r s a t i g e r ' s s k i n , a s i n t h e ~ h u r n a r a l ~ example and t h u s
r e v e a l i n g h e r i d e n t i t y a s v a i n ~ ~ a k i .
Images o f t h e E a r l y Medieval P e r i o d :- A l i c e G e t t y i n h e r
monumental work on ~ a ? e s / a r e f e r s t o t h e v a i n a y a k i image -
housed i n t h e Chaunsatha-yogini temple a t Bheraghat a s t h e
1 6 o n l y f e m i n i n e form o f ~ a n d a known t o t h e a u t h o r i n I n d i a . But r e c e n t d i s c o v e r i e s have b r o u g h t t o l i g h t some more
i n t e r e s t i n g n c u l p t u r z s of vainayak: be long ing t o t h e e a r l y
m e d i e v a l p e r i o d , AsIna, ~ t h z n a k a and N f i t t a poses w i t h o t h e r
v a r i a t i c n s b e i n g t h e i c o n o g r a p h i c d e t a i l s .
The s i x t y - f o u r y o g i n i names g iven i n t h e =asikh&*da
have llrr r~lerltioned by t h e e p i t h e t ~ a j a n a n ; ? [ e l e p h a n t f a c e d ]
a n d s h e i s i n d e e d reckoned f i r s t i n t h e l i s t . From t h e
s e v e r a l J a i r r a l i s t s of y o g i n i s it i s c o n c e i v a b l e t h a t t h e - / 7
name Ganesva rz was a l s o of common occurence f o r d e n o t i n g t h e
sanie g r d d r s s ~ i n ' a ~ a i r l l ~ . she is worshipped t o p r o t e c t
t h e d e v o t e e on s i d e s by h e r f a v o u r i n g hand t h a t b e a r s a
I / parasu. The p a r a s u o r b a t t l e - a x e , however a p p e a r s t o have
been ur lders tood a s h e r c h a r a c t e r i s t i c a t t r i b u t e , s i m i l a r t o
that of G a p p a t i and i k is u s u a l l y found h e l d i n one of h e r
hands i n most of t h e s c u l p t u r e s of t h i s goddess known 30
consort of ~ a n ~ s a , is also only two-armed and h&s a bulging
belly. She holds a lotus-bu8 with stalk in her left hand and
wears a tiger's skin, as in the ~humara'' example and thus
revealing her identity as vainayak?.
Images of the Early Medieval Period :- lice Setty in her
monumental work on ~ a n d a refers to the ~ainiyak? image -
housed in the Chaunsatha-yogini temple at Bheraghat as the
16 only feminine form of an^& ki~own to the author in India . But recent discoveries have brought to light some more
intsresting aculpturts of vain~yaki belonging to the early - -
lnedieval period, ~sina, ~thznaka and Nritta poses with other
variaticns beiny the iconographic details.
The sixty-four yogini names given in the ~asikh~nda
have lier rirel~tionad by the epithet ~ajanana [elephant faced]
and she is indeed reckoned first in the list. From the
several Jairla lists of yoginis it is conceivable that the - I -
nanle Ganesvari was also of common occurence for denoting the
Sane yogini gcbdsss ~i~~ai;;'~. She is worshipped to protect
the devotee on sides by her favouring hand that bears a I /
parasu. The parasu or battle-axe, however appears to have
been ur~derstood as her characteristic attribute, similar to
that of Ganapati and it is uaually found held in one of her
hands in most of the sculptures of this goddess known 'so
far.
K.D. Bajpai discovered an excellent group of eighteen -
~6gini sculptures at ~ohri in Banda district of Uttar
Pradesh. Arnong theset there is also dn image of vainiyak:
seated with her right leg doubled and the left pendant and
resting on the ground. The image is of utmost iconographic
interest, because the goddess instead of holding her usual
attributes, viz., an axe and a lotus etc., carries a vajra
in her left hand and sitting on an elephant, which as known
from sevezal other sculptures, are the attribute and the -
mount respectively of ~ndrani. This sculpture belonging to
18 the ~ratihara period i9th century A.D.] . -
Several fragmentary panels once enshrined in a yoyini
temple at Rikhian in banda district were discovered by the
archaeological survey of India in the years 1909-1910. Among
these is an irtldyt! OF Che elephant headed vainSyak? seated at
ease between the lion-headed ~iirasimhi the boar-headed -
varahi carrying their usual attributes. The four armed -
Vainayaki, wears a crown, a single-beaded graivcyaka and a
sari secured with a girdle at the waist. She holds clock-
wise-a battle-axe, a cobra, a lotus and a staff1' belonging
to the Pratihara period [loth century].
- A unique inlage of ~ainayaki shows her dancing in
- - alidha-pose. She holds a battle-axe and a bowl of sweetmeats
in her upperhands, the lower left probably carries her
damaged tooth, while the left hand is held in dancing
- I gesture as also shown in several images of N~itta-Ganesa
20 from the Khajuraho region . -
The yogini figure of vainiyaki i,s remarkable for
several iconographic points which are not to be seen in
other images of the Goddess. She is dancing in the catura
pose with her legs bent to the inside in dance movements on
toes. It is rather a rare dance pose even in the images of
2 1 Siva not to say of ~a?&a and goddesses . -
A very interesting example of ~ainayaki discovered at
Giriyak in ~ i h a r * ~ is now housed in the Indian Museum,
Calcutta. The Goddess who is not represented as a pot-
bellied figure in the instance, is seated cross-legged on a
lotus seat mounted on a decorated base. She is four armed
and holds in her rear hands a vase and a battle-axe, while
the front hands carry probably a staff or a radish and a
conch. The jatamakuta is very tastefully carved.
Images of the Late Medieval Period :- Images of vainayaki
though rare, are not altogether unknown to the late medieval
south India and the Deccan. An excellent sculpture of the
goddess is found on a pillar of the temple of
~thanurn~la~~sv&i at Suchindram. This sculpture is very
interesting to note that kiritamakufa is tastef u l l ~ carved
She wears bhu javalayas, bihuvalayas. ~raiveyakas,
kankanas , k'eyuras and pcrn6ruka. She has four hands, upper
right and left hands are holding ankusa and pasa
respectively. Lower right is in abhaya while the lower left
in Varada pose. The ~uchindram temple, which is dedicated to
the Hindu trinity [i.e., Brahma, Vishnu and hiva] is located
about three miles south of Nagarcoil on the way to
2 3 ~anyakumari . The famous temple of Nataraja at chidanbaram in
Tamilnadu has an image of 'vainiyak'i, which is very
interesting from the iconographic point of view. The upper
part of her body is quite similar to the elephant headed
vain~yak; figures but strangely enough her lower part is
that of a vyala having powerful claws. A number of ~yalas
like the ~a javyala , sukavyala, ~imhav~ila, sarpavyila, 2 4
kardulavyila, ~hall;kav~ala etc., are known in Indian art .
But nowhere a figure combining the female form of the
elephant-headed god, ~inayaka and a vyila is shown as in the
present sculpture, in the plastic arts of northern India.
Her high karandamakuta, fan shaped ears, prominent breasts
and the following tail at the back are some other worth
noticing details. The Goddess, like many of the images of - I
Ganesa. holds a flower in her right hand and sweetballs
[modakas] in her proboscis and also the extended left hand.
The image which belongs to the Vijayanagara
225
period [16th century A.D.] is still worshipped by the local
people. Another wooden sculpture of ~ainayaki, ance adorning
a ratha [temple car1 belonging to ~andayudhapani temple,
2 5 Palani, is now deposited in the government museum, Madras . This image is datable to the late ~ a ~ a k a period, i.e., 18th
century A.D.
In Karnataka the image of vainayakT presently exhibited
in the Chitrapur math museum, Shirali, North Kanara, shows
her as sea5cd cross-legged on a double lotus seat mounted on
a rectangular base. The four armed goddess holds an axe and
a noose in her upper hands while her lower hands are in
abhaya and varada poses. She wears karandamakuta and other
ornaments. This rare icon is the product of the Vijayanagara
period [Circa 16th century A.D.].
An excellent bronze image of ~ainsyaki from Kerala is
preserved in the staatl museum fur ~olkerkunde, Munchen 2 6
[West Germany]. Here also the goddess is seated cross-legged
on a lotus mounted on a block pedestal. Her right hand is in
abhaya-mudra and the left in varada. The beautiful head-
dress of the Goddess is decked with flowers and she is
profusely adorned with the various ornaments of the period.
Her trunk, running down vertically and curled at the end,
holds a sweet-ball in the typical manner as also shown in
the contemporary images of ~a?&a from Kerala. Her rounded
and full breasts, big belly and Strong youthful physical
form are the characteristic features of the late ~eralese
art and suggest the date of the image to the late chka
period [Circa 17th century A.D.]. Surprisingly in Andhra
Pradesh no sculpture of vainiyaki is noticed.
It can thus be ?resumed that Vainayaki was worshipped
as one of the sixty four yoginis and also as an independent
goddess. ~ainayaki, being the female energy of Vinayaka,
gradually occupied an important place in the Hindu
mythology. The popularity of the goddess seems to have
increased in the early medieval period and she was
invariably given an important place in the temples of
~haunsatha-yoginis. At the same time, the multiplicity in
forms and attributes can also be noted with interest which
must have been introduced with the rising popularity of
tantric rituals and practices.
REFERENCES
1. Sharma~ B.N. I Iconography of Vainayaki, p. 23. -
2. he earliest of such forms of ~a&a with his human
faced consort is of the Gupta period from Rhumara. In
medieval iconography there are many such sculptures.
see Alice Getty, ~an&a : A Monograph on the Elephant
Faced God, P1. 3a, 4a and b.
3 . Agrawala , P .K . , Goddess viniiyaki, the Female ~anika,
P. 18.
4. ~kanda~urana, ~asikhanda Ch. 45. PP. 34-41. ~uoted by
Sharma, B.N. ,n.l.
Agrawala, V.S., ~atsyapurina : A Study. PP. 276-77.
Banarjea, J . N . 1 Puranic and Tantric Religion. PP.128-29.
Sharma, B.N., n. 1, P. 24.
Sircar, D. C. , "~rdhan~rl-~ana~ati? JAIH, IV, Calcutta.
PP. 181-86.
Bhattacharya, E.C., The Jaina Iconography, P. 137.
Bhattacharya, B., The Indian Buddhist Iconography, P.
343.
Sharma, B.N., n. 1, P. 26, Fig. 1.
Joshi, N.P., Catalogue of the ~rahmanical sculptures in
the State Museum, Lucknow, Pt-It PP. 55-65 and Figs.
Agrawala, P.K., n. 3 , P- Z1-
14* COomarswam~t A.K. , Yaksas, Part I. P1 23 Fig. 1; Sarnm,
I * K * 1 "A unique nshnisha [coping stone] f rorr! maravati"
in JmSt XXXVt 1 9 7 5 - 7 6 . PP. 280-281, Pis. 4 2 [ B ] ,
43[A].
15 * Sharamamurthy , C . , Royal Conquests and C~ltaral
Migrations in South India and the Deccau. p l . VIII . 16. Alice Getty, n. 2, P , 30, pl. 40.
17. Agrawala, P.K., n. P. 13.
18. Sharma, B.N., n. 1, P. 29, Fig. 7 .
19. Ibid.# P. 30, Fig. 10.
20. Ibid., P. 31, Pl. 13A.
f 21. Agrawala, V.S., ~iva-~ahidbva, The Great God. p l . XVIII
22 . Sharma, B.N., n. 1, PP. 35-36.
23. Ibid., PP. 36-37, Fig. 39.
24. Ibid., P. 37, Fig. 24 .
25. Ibid., PP. 37-38, Fig. 2 5 -
26. Ibid., PP. 38-39.
APPENDIX - B
GANESA BEYOND INDIA
The worship of Gan<;a spread to other Asian countries
quite early. The Buddhists included this deity in their own / pantheon and thus ~anesa travelled to distant lands along
with ~uddhism. In South-East-Asia he was worshipped as a
~ i n d u god whereas in the Far-East, he was adorned as a
~uddhist deity. The following account clearly shows that the
pot-bellied and elephant-headed god was worshipped almost
all over Asia and as such he is perhaps the only ~indu deity
whose worship was so widely distributed in terms of space
and time1. The worship of this god along with other deities
can also be seen in Afghanistan, Nepal, Tibet, hota an,
Mongolia, krilahka, Burma [~yanmar 1, Thailand, ~ambodia,
2 champa, ~ i v a , Borneo, China and Japan .
However, it may be noted that Vanden Eierghe3 discovered
an interesting plate on which a picture of the elephant-
faced god is carved. It was discovered in Luristan in
Western Iran. According to him this belongs to a period
between 1200-100 B.C. In this plate the elephant-faced god
is depicted as a young warrior holding a double-edged sword
in his left hand and in right hand the tail of the snake-a
naga, perhaps a keshanaga, the head of which is placed in
front of his feet. A trisila is seen on the right side.
I - K - sarma4 describes this sculpture. The head is skiown in
the centre Perhaps symbolizing the Sun. Overhead of Surya is -
an amalaka-shaped object and above it a padma. ~t the
extreme right another hand is shown holding sword similar to
that of the elephant-headed god. The dress of the god is
interesting and recalls in some respects the typical Kushana
dress, long coat with tight trousers and boot. The serpent
in the hand symbolises the Sarpadanda. It is interesting to
note that in tantric description of ~a~;&a, the god is
described as holding an axe and a snake in his hands.
1. Afghanistan:- In Afghanistan two ~thsnaka images of
- I Ganesa came to light recently which are ascribed to the
Gupta period. However, they appear to be rather doubtful
specimens. Among these, one was found at Gardez which is 70
miles from Kabul. This sculpture was a typical product of
the Indo-Afghan school. "It is made of inferior marble and
is about 60 crns. high and 35 crns. broad bearing on its
pedestal an inscription in two linestg5 which reads : "This
image of ~ahavinayaka was installed by Parama-Bhattaraka
Shahi Khinigila on the 13th day of the bright half of
Jyestha month in the year 8". Dr. D.C. sircarhpines that
he may as well be regarded as some ruler of ~apisa or ~abul.
It wears simhacharma as his nether garment. No other statue
of +-his type has been found in Indian territory so far. It
depicts the god in the ;lidha pose. his hands, legs and the
chest are muscular suggesting a strong elle en is tic
influence. The proboscis, and the four hands are broken. Its
kanthahsra is noteworthy. He wears n%ga-ya jGopavita,
7 ardhoruka and Lirastraka .
Another interesting marble image of ~an~:t i.s found at
~akardhar, ten miles of north of Kabul. This is also
standing representation of ~an&a with four arms. The upper
left arm is broken. The two lower arms are seen resting on
the heads of the attendant ganas who are looking up at - / -
Ganesa with devotion. He wears nags-yajnopavita and
ardhoruka. This image resembles the early-Gupta sculptures
belonging to 4th century A.D. It is interesting that the
8 Hindus cf Kabul still worship this image .
2. Nepal:- It is very difficult to explain the exact date of
the introdueticn of Ganesa into Nepal. According to one
legend ~harumati, a daughter of ~boka, built a temple of - /
Ganesa in Ne~al. This is only the legendary origin and there - /
is no evidence to Ganesa's worship in Nepal at such an early
date. According to Nepalese tradition, a mystic mantra in
praise of ~ a ~ d a , called the ~ a ~ a ~ a t i - h ~ d a ~ a , was disclosed
to ~nanda by Buddha at Rajagrha.
- I
~eramba was the most prominent form of Ganesa in
9 Nepal . Usually he is shown with his viihana lion, has five
heads, ten hands and on his lap is his 'sakti. An image of
/ ~eramba-~anesa was found at Rhatgaon which is dated
1695 A.D. It has a rat, instead of lion, for vahana. There
are some temples of ~ a ? d a in Nepal. Among them, one is near
zimpi-~andu and another, of ~iddi-vinayaka, is at Shankn.
- In the Nepalese harvest festivals ~arvati is
- / represented as a Young girl, accompanied by two boys, Gnnesa
and ~ahkkala. In this connection it may be noted that ~ a ~ i d a
is associated wtth harvest festivals in Western India also
10 particularly in Konkan . - /
3. Tibet:- Ganesa did not gain much popularity in Tibet
because ~ a h a ~ a n a Buddhism was widespread in that land. - I
However, a few inages of Ganesa have been found in western
Tibet. It is interesting to note that Ganesla's image was
placed above the main entrance into the Tibetan temples I
including the Buddhist. The Siva temple at Virmand has over
its door an image of Gan&a. In another ~ahzyana Buddhist /
temple at ~ a b o ~anesa is carved on the wooden doors along I
with the divinities of the Buddhist pantheon. A Ganesa
figure is also painted on the wall above the doors of the 11
principal ectranez of a temple at ~hakhang .
4. Khbtan:- ~ a ? ~ $ a was most prominent deity in Khbtan. Stein
in his explorations of a stGpa at Endere found painted
wooden panels and bronze tablets bearing the image of Ga&a
of the some of the representations are of usual Indian forms
whereas some others betray the characteristics peculiar to
chinese Turkistan". For instance in one of the figures
~ a n d a is shown as elephant-headed god seated on a cushion
with soles touching each other1*. Here GaneLa wears single
stringed pearl necklace [ ekavali ] and be jewelled keyuras in
his arms. The ardh%ruka is dark brown in colour and over it
is an apron - like garment of tiger skin. The artributes in
his hands are not very clear.
In the rock-cut temples of Bezaklik, there are several
frescoes in which representations of ~a&a are found. At
Khaklik, about 75 miles from Khotan, two painted
representations of ~a&a have been found. Of these, in one /
painted Ganesa can be clearly seen. Three of his hands are
visible. Each of them holds a bowl of sweets, ahkuka and
radish13. The upper left hand is not clearly shown. The god
is wearing a dhoti-like lower garment [ahtariya] and an -
upper garment [ uttariya] . /
5. Mongolia:- Ganesa reached Mongolia with the introduction
of Buddhism. Buddhism spread in Monsolia through Tibet and
the Tibetan monk Hphags-pa carried ~ahiyana Buddhism into
Mongolia in the 13th century. To the Mongols, ~ahakala was /
only the manifestation of Siva and it was therefore, quite
natural that ~ a n d a should have become popular in Mongolia.
The Nritta forin of the elepahnt-faced god is to be found
among the "five hundred gods of Nar-than". He is shown on
his mount [vahanal rat which holds the jewel c i n t k a n i in
its mouth. Each of four hands hold an axe ~~araLu], radish,
bowl of sweets and a trident [trisula] the last being
14 normally an attribute of Siva . -
6. ~ri1anka:- Among the row of Ganas sculptured on the
I - Kantaka cettinga stiipa near Mihintale in ~rilahka the
elephant headed dwarf [ganal also can be seen. The image has
been taken to represent the proto-~an~$a. The Buddhists
probably, borrowed the idea of the ganas from the epics and
very naturally the elephant-headed gana also came to , b e
represented in Buddhist friezes of the early centuries of
15 the Christian era . - I
Another fine representation of Ganesa is sculptured on
I
a pillar in a Siva temple at Polonnaruva. It is carved in a -
niche crowned by a kirttimukha. The god is seated and has
four hands of which the lower left holds &aka. In another - I
form found at Katoragama, 150 miles from Colombo, Ganesa
occupies an independent position. It is interesting that 16
this god is worshipped even by Christians and Muslims .
7. Burma [Myanmar]:- Buddhism was introduced into Burma in
the later half of the 11th century. However, Hinduism
penetrated into Burma long before Buddhism. This is evident
from Image; of Safva and Vaishnava gods and goddesses found
I in that country- A $ood number of ~anesa images have also
been found in lower Burma.
/
GanGsa being the god who removed obstacles and granted
success, his images were carried by merchants and traders
who went ~ u t of India in order to achieve success in their
pursuit which extended beyond the seas, As Nihar Ranjan
observes. ~ a n d a found popular favour mainly with the
conmlercial section of the population.
There are two interesting images of ~a?~:a in the
Rangoon museum. Both are small in size. Of these one image
shows the god seated ir. ~admzsana and as six armed. The
attributes in his hands are not clearly visible.
- I In one of the temples of Pagan a most remarkable Ganesa
image was found. It is unique and of iconographic interest. I
It depicts ~anesa seated in padmasana. He has four hands of
which upper right holds a parah and the lower right a
rosary, whereas the upper left has a conch and the lower
left. placed in his lap probably has &aka. The most
interesting feature of the sculpture is the figure of croco-
dile on the front of the pedestal carved in low relief.
Similarly, on the right and left of the pedestal are carved
in bas relief a tortoise and fish respectively. These have - / 18 not so far been found associated with Ga?esa any where -
8. Thailand:- Thailand [popularly known as Siam] had
contacts with India from a very early period. The Siamese
art was influenced by ~maravati, Gupta and Pallava arts. It
appears that the southern part of Thailand came first into
contact with India. ~a&a was one of the most popular
deities of this country. Several images cf this god have
been found here.
In the famous ~indu temple at Bangkok, there is an
- interesting bronze statue of ~a*'e:a. He wears nag.
yajiiopavita. He left hand holds a manuscript while in the
right hand in his broken tusk. He is shown with his legs
superposed. This sculpture seems to be the representation of - /
Ganesa as a scribe [lekhaka] for the sage vyasa, who is
traditionally supposed to have dictated the whole of
- ' 19 Mahabharata to Ganesa
9. Cambodia:- Cambodia came into contact with India at an
early period. According to tradition in the early centuries
a brahmin by name Kaundinya went to the coast of ~amb&ia
and established a kingdom there. Cambodia is extremely rich
in artistic remains and there are innumerable images of
Hindu and Buddhist divinities.
I
There are many temples of biva and ~anisa in Cambodia.
An inscription of Angkor ~orei, dated 611 A.D., registers
the grant of slaves to the temple which was dedicated to
several deities cf which one was ~anesa~'.
One temple [loth century] at Prasat 13ak21 was dedicated
to the worship of can;&. G~?G& is depicted in SOW of the
- / scenes in Bung lileglea, loose sculptures of Ganesa are also
found from time to time in ~ambodia. One of the most
- / remarkable images of Ganesa found here is in a private
collection at Speak Thmar Kendal. Here the god is depicted
in sitting posture. He has two hands and wears a tall
conical headgear, n+wya jiiopavita and kGyuras. The tip of
the trunk is broken.
10. Champa- Champa came into contact with India by about the
early centuries of the Christian era itself and the
influence of the ~maravati school is visible on its artistic
creations. As in Cambodia, in Champa too the principal Hindu r
cult was that of Siva. There is epigraphical evidence to
show that temples were erected and dedicated to ~ a n d a . It I
appears that ~anesa was a popular deity during 7th-8th
centuries A.D. In kaiva temple at Mison a most attractive
statue of Ganda was discovered. The god here is in ~thgnaka
posture wearing a d h h [ardhomka] reaching knees. He has
four hands, but two of its back are missing. In the lower
left hand is a bowl of sweets and he is taking them into his - mouth with his trunk. He wears nags-yajzopavita but there is
no crown on his head. The image is dated to about 8th
22 century -
A very interesting representation of ~a&a is found in
the saigon museum. It is unfortunately in a mutilated
condition. Here the god is shown seated and with two hands.
He has three deep set eyes. He also has a small prahhsvalaya
at the back. According to Boisselier this is the only image
of its kind in the whole of South-East-Asia.
11. Java and Bali [Indonesia] :- ~ a v a has been known to
Indians from a very long period. The great epic ~amayana
refers to the islands as ~ava-dvIpa. During the period of
the Guptas [4th and 5th centuries] Hinduism began to spread
in these islands and Saivism became a most predominant
faith. A good number of sculptures of brahmanical gods and
goddesses have been found in Indonesia. In Java, however, no
temple was found dedicated to ~a?&a but his images have 2 3
been found in the temples of kiva . - /
Among the statues of Ganesa in ~ a v a the most primitive
one is discovered in West ~ a v a ~ ~ a n d is now preserved in the
British museum. Some scholars assign this unfinished image
it to a very early date only because it is so primitive.
However, the god is shown seated with two hands without any
attributes and there is no head-gear. The proboscis is
somewhat straight. Another fine representation of ~an~:a is
found on the ~ieng-plateauZ5. It is believed to the most
I ancient representation so far found in ~ava. 1t shows ~an;sa
as sitting- He has four hands of which the proper right is
holding the broken tusk and the left the m;;dakapatra and the
upper twc a paraku and aksharnala. He wears armlets,
bracelets, a necklace and a n~ga-yaj60pav~ta. But there is
no heads-gear .
There is another image of ~a&a which is purely a
~avanese conception. Here the god wears skull ornaments. The
date, in chronogram, is engraved on the pedestal and it
corresponds to 1239 A.D., [early Singhasari period]. The god
has his usual attributes. But interestingly a number of
skulls are seen on the pedestal.
During 8th-9th centuries Saivism was flourishing in
Bali and consequently ~a&a became a popular deity. It is
interesting to note that most of the Balinese sculptures of - /
Ganesa are in standing attitude. Besides, he has usually a I
third eye, a characteristic of Siva. Another remarkable - /
feature of Bali Ganesa is that he can be seen sculptured in
the group of royal pixsonages whose statues were made
posthumously. Probably, they invoked the god to remove 2 6
obstacles in life after death .
12. Bornio:- Hinduism should have penetrated in Borneo 5th
Centcry or even earlier. Accordj.ng to epigraphical evidences
at Kotei certain Hindu rites were performed by Brahmins. A
cave at ~ombeng has several Brahmanical and Buddhist jmages
among which the majority are of kaiva pantheon. Of these a
fine stone statue of ca?da shows him sitting with the usual
attributes in his four hands27. It is a loose sculpture and
appears to have been brought with others from some other
temple. ~ccording to Kotei epigraphs this statue belongs to
the 5th century. This dating, however, is not supported by
stylistic evidence.
1 Another fine example of Ganzsa from Borneo is shows the
deity seated. He has fan-shaped ears and almost straight ,
trunk which appears to be the characteristic of the Ganesa
images of Borneo28. Another important feature is that the
crown looks more like a jatamakuta. The attributes in his
hands are not clear. A very interesting feature of this -
statue is the urns mark. The urna is usually to be seen in
the statue of Buddha in India.
1 3 . China:- Ganesa probably reached China through Central
Asia and Chinese Turkestan. Of , the two early
representations of ~an&a in China one is a fresco in the
rock-cut caves at Tun-huang and the other is a stone image
carved in low relief in the rock-cut temple at Kung-hsien.
The former is depicted along with other Hindu deities such
as the Sun, the Moon and Navagrahas. It can be dated to 6th
century A . D . The stone image at ~ung-hsien can be dated, on
the basis of inscriptional evidence, to 531 A.D. It thus
I becomes the earliest dated image of ~ancsa found in china.
He is shown seated in the true Indian cross legged poz ture.
He has two hands, the right one holding lotus and the left,
the cintimani jewel. The inscription refers t.0 him as the
It30 "spirit king of elephants .
Some more representheions of Ca&a in seated postures
are found in China.
/ 14. Japan:- It appears that ~al!c?sa was unknown in Japan from
9th century A.D onwards. Kolso Daishi, a Buddhist introduced -
Ganesa worship and since then the god became quite prominant - /
and his images in the Ganesa form were made and temples
were dedicated to him. He is shown standing and has two,
four or six arms. In the kaku-Zen-Cho form he was shown with
three heads, each having three eyes and in his four hands he
held a sword, a raddish, a maaka and sceptre. He was
supposed to be seated on a mountain and was referred to as
"king of elepahnts".
- 1 31 In the form Kangi-ten Ganesa was worshipped not
publicly in temples but secretly. It was a secret esoteric
cult, based on the doctrine of yoga.
REFERENCES
Dhavalikar, M.K., "Gan&a Beyond the Indian Trontiers",
in Indias Contribution to World Thought and Culture
Lokesh Chandra, et, al, [eds.], PP. 1-2 .
Ibid., PP. 1-14.
Vanden Rerghe, Barrasiha-ye ~arikhi [Historical studies
of Iran, August-September, 19701. Quoted by Jarnunadas
Akhtar, The problem of Ganapati, P. VI.
Sarma, I .K., " A unTque ~ s h ~ r s h a [coping stone] from
~rnarzvati". J.A.H.R.S. Vol. XXXV-1975-76. P. 283.
Dhavalikar, M.K., n. 1, P. 2.
Epigraphia Indica, XXXV, No. 1, P. 44 ff.
Dhavalikar, M.K., n. 1, P. 2, Fig. 1.
Ibid., P. 3, Fig. 2.
Ibid., P. 4, Fig. 4.
Gupte, B.A., "Harvest festivals in honour of Gauri and
~ a ~ & h " Indian Antiquary, XXXV-1906, PP. 6 0 - 6 4 .
Hanumath Sastri, I., Ganapati, P. 122.
Dhavalikar, M.K., n. 1, P. 5, Fig. 5.
Ibid.. PP. 5-6.
Ibid., P. 6.
Ibid., PP. 6-7.
Ibid., P. 7, Fig. 6.
Nihar-Ranjan RayI Brahmanical Gods in Burma. P. 66.
Dhavalikar, M.K., n. 1, P. 7 .
Tbid., P. R .
Hanumath Sastri, I., n. 11, P. 111.
Dhavalikar, M.K., n. 1, P. 9.
Ibid., PP. 10-11.
Ibid., PP. 11-12.
Alice Getty, ~ a n d a : A Monograph on the Elephant Faced
God. PI. 299.
Dhavalikar, M . K . , n. 1, P. 12.
Ibid., P. 12.
Alice Getty, A., n. 24, P. 64, PI. 32b.
28. Ibid., P1. 32d. -
29. Urna is usually to be seen protruberance between the
eye-brows, an important mark of greatness.
30. Dhavalikar, M.K., n. 1, P. 13, PI- 13.
31. Ibid., P. 14, F i g . 15 .