Ganesa Beyond The Indian Frontiers

Introduction of Ganesa Beyond The Indian Frontiers
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Introduction of Ganesa Beyond The Indian Frontiers

Combodia:

First and foremost, he is never shown as pot-bellied and bulky. He is usually shown sitting cross-legged and with two hands. The trunk is almost straight and curled down at the end; sometime it is upturned also. Another noteworthy feature is that the pre-Khmer images of Ganesa, as a rule, are not shown with head-dress of any sort. However, towards 8th ,century we find Ganesa wearing an ornate karanda-mukuta. They are usually bare to the waist and are shown wearing a naga-yajnopavita.

One of the most remarkable images of Ganesa is in a private collection at Speak Thmar Kendal. It depicts the god sitting in a cross legged posture. He has two hands and wears a tall conical headgear. Curiously enough, he has four hands. It may be especially mentioned that four-headed forms .of Ganesa are extremely rare and the only parallel that can be cited is from Ghatiala (Rajasthan) in India where four Ganesa images are carved on the top of a column in cardinal directions.

[casting of herbs to the ocean of milk]
Bronze statue of Ganesa(Nepal)

An interesting stone image of the god was discovered at Thurol Phak Kim Kanda. This is by far the simplest form of Ganesa in which he 1S shown sitting cross-legged and does not wear any jewellery, not even the sacred thread. The right hand holds probably the broken tusk while the left one has a bowl of sweets. On the forehead is the third eye, a characteristic of Siva. This is a pre-Khmer image datable to the pre-eighth century.

A fine stone of the Khmer period (10th-12th centuries) is now preserved in the Musee Guimet, Paris. It shows the god sitting cross-legged and wearing a very elaborately jewelled mukura. He also wears a naga-yajnopavita and has snakes for armlets (sarpa-keyura). Of the four hands, the two at the back are broken, the other two at the front are shown resting in the lap and the attributes in the hands are, therefore, not clear. Though slightly bulky and of ponderous proportions, the statue is well modelled and is a fine specimen of the period to which it belongs.

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