DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.75620#0104
68 GANESA IN CHINA
creations like at Ajanta, but give the impression of having been copied from memory
from Hindu paintings which unfortunately are lost to us.
Above and on both sides of the Buddhist statues, which are of the Wei dynasty,
are the frescos which, especially in Cave N, No. 120, portray only Hindu deities:
Surya on his horse-drawn chariot, Candra on a chariot drawn by swans, the
Navagrahas in a frieze; while below is the god of Love, Kama, beside whom, on a
slightly lower level, is Ganesa seated in Maharajalila pose.
If we carefully study this representation of Ganesa, it is surprising to find details
of iconography, which apparently indicate a later period than Wei; and it seems
essential that we should note these points when describing the remarkable repre-
sentation of Vinayaka at Tun-huang.
We have referred above to a painting of Ganesa on a panel found in Chinese
Turkestan at Endere, which is said to be of the eighth century. If we compare this
representation of Vinayaka with that of Tun-huang, it will be found that there is a
resemblance between the two which seems inexplicable. For instance, let us study
the upper part of the head of the Tun-huang Ganesa and compare it with that of his
representation at Endere. The head is presented three-quarters as was usual in
Chinese Turkestan. The outline of the left eye, the contour of the bridge of the nose
from which the trunk develops, the difficult drawing of the right eye, are so similar
that one has the impression that if they were not drawn by the same hand, they
were executed by artists of the same school. The left arm of Ganesa at Tun-huang
holds the long narrow white tusk at the breast exactly as does the Ganesa at Endere
the long narrow white radish. The turban head-dress seems to proclaim an Iranian
influence. The turban is drawn towards the front with the knots above the forehead
not only as on the Endere Ganesa but also as on the painting of the well-known
Iranian Vajrapani, found in Chinese Turkestan, at Dandan-Uilig. The Ganesa at
Tun-huang does not wear the Persian tight-fitting trousers of the Vinayaka at
Endere but has on the Central Asian trousers of many folds. His trunk, although
turning to the right while that of the Ganesa of Endere turns to the left, has the
same presentation, that is, it hangs straight for half its length and then turns side-
ways and upwards parallel with itself to a level with the shoulder. In the Tun-
huang Ganesa, it seems about to take a cake from the uplifted right hand on a line
with the shoulder. This pose of the trunk as well as that of the left hand at the breast
is unusual and up to the present time has not been found elsewhere.
Although the fresco of Ganesa at Tun-huang and the stone sculpture at Kung-
hsien were apparently executed at the same epoch, they were assuredly not inspired
from the same source.
Undoubtedly the earliest dated sculpture of an elephant-faced deity known to us
either in China or in India is the bas-relief in the Buddhist grotto-temple of Kung-
hsien1 which, according to the inscription, was executed in A.D. 531. This Vinayaka
form of Ganesa is represented seated cross-legged with a lotus in his uplifted right
hand and a cintamani in his left which is posed on his lap. According to the Chinese
characters ^j„^ he is the 'Spirit King of Elephants'; and is figured in
1 v. Ars Asiatica, vol. ii, p. 15.
creations like at Ajanta, but give the impression of having been copied from memory
from Hindu paintings which unfortunately are lost to us.
Above and on both sides of the Buddhist statues, which are of the Wei dynasty,
are the frescos which, especially in Cave N, No. 120, portray only Hindu deities:
Surya on his horse-drawn chariot, Candra on a chariot drawn by swans, the
Navagrahas in a frieze; while below is the god of Love, Kama, beside whom, on a
slightly lower level, is Ganesa seated in Maharajalila pose.
If we carefully study this representation of Ganesa, it is surprising to find details
of iconography, which apparently indicate a later period than Wei; and it seems
essential that we should note these points when describing the remarkable repre-
sentation of Vinayaka at Tun-huang.
We have referred above to a painting of Ganesa on a panel found in Chinese
Turkestan at Endere, which is said to be of the eighth century. If we compare this
representation of Vinayaka with that of Tun-huang, it will be found that there is a
resemblance between the two which seems inexplicable. For instance, let us study
the upper part of the head of the Tun-huang Ganesa and compare it with that of his
representation at Endere. The head is presented three-quarters as was usual in
Chinese Turkestan. The outline of the left eye, the contour of the bridge of the nose
from which the trunk develops, the difficult drawing of the right eye, are so similar
that one has the impression that if they were not drawn by the same hand, they
were executed by artists of the same school. The left arm of Ganesa at Tun-huang
holds the long narrow white tusk at the breast exactly as does the Ganesa at Endere
the long narrow white radish. The turban head-dress seems to proclaim an Iranian
influence. The turban is drawn towards the front with the knots above the forehead
not only as on the Endere Ganesa but also as on the painting of the well-known
Iranian Vajrapani, found in Chinese Turkestan, at Dandan-Uilig. The Ganesa at
Tun-huang does not wear the Persian tight-fitting trousers of the Vinayaka at
Endere but has on the Central Asian trousers of many folds. His trunk, although
turning to the right while that of the Ganesa of Endere turns to the left, has the
same presentation, that is, it hangs straight for half its length and then turns side-
ways and upwards parallel with itself to a level with the shoulder. In the Tun-
huang Ganesa, it seems about to take a cake from the uplifted right hand on a line
with the shoulder. This pose of the trunk as well as that of the left hand at the breast
is unusual and up to the present time has not been found elsewhere.
Although the fresco of Ganesa at Tun-huang and the stone sculpture at Kung-
hsien were apparently executed at the same epoch, they were assuredly not inspired
from the same source.
Undoubtedly the earliest dated sculpture of an elephant-faced deity known to us
either in China or in India is the bas-relief in the Buddhist grotto-temple of Kung-
hsien1 which, according to the inscription, was executed in A.D. 531. This Vinayaka
form of Ganesa is represented seated cross-legged with a lotus in his uplifted right
hand and a cintamani in his left which is posed on his lap. According to the Chinese
characters ^j„^ he is the 'Spirit King of Elephants'; and is figured in
1 v. Ars Asiatica, vol. ii, p. 15.