DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.75620#0063
INDIA: GANESA IN HINDU SCULPTURES AND PAINTINGS 27
'door-keeper' of a temple at Bhumara. It will be seen below that in the Dakhan
he was entrusted with the guardianship of the entrances to temples at a very early
date; and it was also the custom, but somewhat later, in Nepal and west Tibet, to
place his image over the main entrances to the vihdras as well as to the temples.
Curiously enough, on certain images of Ganesa as late as the tenth or twelfth
centuries,1 hung around the trunk on a level with the tusks, is to be found a small
bell of the size and shape of those on the necklace of the Bhumara statue. From this,
it seems apparent that the above legend, or a similar one, was known and was fairly
popular much later than the Gupta period ; but there is, however, little evidence of
his having been looked upon as a yaksa. His name does not appear on any of the
lists of yaksas, nor is he associated with them in puranic myths. It must be admitted,
however, that his short, thick-set, and corpulent body resembles the yaksa type.
Another Bhumara statue which Coomaraswamy believes to be of the sixth cen-
tury2 is the earliest known representation of Ganesa associated with his sakti whom
he holds on the left hip.3 He is nude and wears few jewels. On his forehead is a
simple jewelled band, while the devi, on the contrary, is crowned with an ornate
head-dress. He is four-armed, holding in the upper right, an axe, and grasping a
broken tusk in his normal right hand. The upper left holds a sceptre and the normal
left arm is around the sakti. His trunk turns to the left, lifting a cake from a bowl of
cakes held by the devi. It is not surprising to find an image of Ganesa of the sixth
century holding the sakti for, as will be seen below, Saktism was in great favour in
India at that time; but the conception of this image, although of great simplicity,
is so complete in every detail, and so masterly in execution, that it is difficult to
believe that it was created tout d'une fois.
In these two Bhumara sculptures, he seems to have been conceived as independent
of any other deity or group of deities ; while in the Dakhan, as well as in the Chalukya
country between the fifth and eighth centuries, he was practically always represented
either in attendance on important gods or accompanying a group of minor deities.
In the Chalukyan temples, Ganesa was represented at the extreme left of the
Saptamatrkas, a group of Seven Divine Mothers4 much in favour with the royal
families of the Chalukyas, who were said to be under their special guardianship.5
Few sculptures, nevertheless, of the Seven Divine Mothers are to be found in the
Chalukyan temples, while in the Kanarese temples, especially in that of Chenna
Kesava at Belur, there are three fine slabs representing the group. The best pre-
served Chalukyan representation of the Saptamatrkas is at Lakkandi in the temple
of Kasivisvesvara, where they are all imaged with four arms holding their respective
attributes, and under each asana is the mount of the deity. Under the throne of
Ganesa is the rat.6
In the Chalukyan rock-cut temples, on the contrary, there are no examples of the
Seven Divine Mothers. Ganesa is figured in attendance on Siva and never indepen-
dently of a Siva shrine.
1 v. Pl. 5 (a) and (b). 5 v. The Chalukyan Arch, in the Kan. Dist.,
2 B.of the B.M.of F.A., vol. xxvi, no. 154, p. 30. Cousens.
3 v. P1. 4(a). 4 v. p. 20. 6 Idem, Pl. LXXII.
'door-keeper' of a temple at Bhumara. It will be seen below that in the Dakhan
he was entrusted with the guardianship of the entrances to temples at a very early
date; and it was also the custom, but somewhat later, in Nepal and west Tibet, to
place his image over the main entrances to the vihdras as well as to the temples.
Curiously enough, on certain images of Ganesa as late as the tenth or twelfth
centuries,1 hung around the trunk on a level with the tusks, is to be found a small
bell of the size and shape of those on the necklace of the Bhumara statue. From this,
it seems apparent that the above legend, or a similar one, was known and was fairly
popular much later than the Gupta period ; but there is, however, little evidence of
his having been looked upon as a yaksa. His name does not appear on any of the
lists of yaksas, nor is he associated with them in puranic myths. It must be admitted,
however, that his short, thick-set, and corpulent body resembles the yaksa type.
Another Bhumara statue which Coomaraswamy believes to be of the sixth cen-
tury2 is the earliest known representation of Ganesa associated with his sakti whom
he holds on the left hip.3 He is nude and wears few jewels. On his forehead is a
simple jewelled band, while the devi, on the contrary, is crowned with an ornate
head-dress. He is four-armed, holding in the upper right, an axe, and grasping a
broken tusk in his normal right hand. The upper left holds a sceptre and the normal
left arm is around the sakti. His trunk turns to the left, lifting a cake from a bowl of
cakes held by the devi. It is not surprising to find an image of Ganesa of the sixth
century holding the sakti for, as will be seen below, Saktism was in great favour in
India at that time; but the conception of this image, although of great simplicity,
is so complete in every detail, and so masterly in execution, that it is difficult to
believe that it was created tout d'une fois.
In these two Bhumara sculptures, he seems to have been conceived as independent
of any other deity or group of deities ; while in the Dakhan, as well as in the Chalukya
country between the fifth and eighth centuries, he was practically always represented
either in attendance on important gods or accompanying a group of minor deities.
In the Chalukyan temples, Ganesa was represented at the extreme left of the
Saptamatrkas, a group of Seven Divine Mothers4 much in favour with the royal
families of the Chalukyas, who were said to be under their special guardianship.5
Few sculptures, nevertheless, of the Seven Divine Mothers are to be found in the
Chalukyan temples, while in the Kanarese temples, especially in that of Chenna
Kesava at Belur, there are three fine slabs representing the group. The best pre-
served Chalukyan representation of the Saptamatrkas is at Lakkandi in the temple
of Kasivisvesvara, where they are all imaged with four arms holding their respective
attributes, and under each asana is the mount of the deity. Under the throne of
Ganesa is the rat.6
In the Chalukyan rock-cut temples, on the contrary, there are no examples of the
Seven Divine Mothers. Ganesa is figured in attendance on Siva and never indepen-
dently of a Siva shrine.
1 v. Pl. 5 (a) and (b). 5 v. The Chalukyan Arch, in the Kan. Dist.,
2 B.of the B.M.of F.A., vol. xxvi, no. 154, p. 30. Cousens.
3 v. P1. 4(a). 4 v. p. 20. 6 Idem, Pl. LXXII.