Ganesh is a popular god in the Hindu religion. Ganesh means, “Lord of the Ganas” ganas being a part of Shiva’s divine army. Ganesh is the son of the goddess Parvati and god Shiva. He is believed to bring success and great fortune to his worshippers. The tenth century, Indian sculpture, Ganesh and Siddhi, is a little under two feet tall and the width is a little under a foot. Buff sandstone was used to create this sculpture. This piece of art symbolizes the story of Ganesh’s (a Hindu god) birth and rebirth, which is an important tale in the Hindu religion.
At first glance, the viewer’s eye is drawn to the elephant head (Ganesh) that appears to have the body of a human who is sitting on a throne. His legs are almost crossed towards the bottom because he is holding someone up. Ganesh’s trunk is curled up behind one of his tusks. On his head, Ganesh wears a crown and beads or what look like pearls around his neck and ankles. He is shown having a big belly as well as four arms all holding different items, which are meant to symbolize his different attributes. In one of his right hands, he is holding an ax, which is common for Ganesh. The ax meant to symbolize the removal of any obstacle that is in the way of a worshipper obtaining their goals. In his other right hand, he is holding his broken off tusk, that is meant to represent self-sacrifice. In his left hand, he is holding a lotus flower, which symbolizes peace. In his other left arm, he is balancing Siddhi, his wife.
Siddhi, in the Hindu religion, is represented as a spiritual power. She is sparsely covered and is wearing the same items as Ganesh, a crown and beads. Her breasts are exposed and very noticeable. Her posture is very closed in she is crouched together which seems purposely to show the power of her now elephant-headed husband, Ganesh. Siddhi holds a basket of laddus fruit, which is used to represent living a wise life. Underneath them is a cowering rat, which is one of the greediest animals. The rat is used as an example to show that following Ganesh he has the strength to take care of any obstacles that would get in the way.
There does not appear to be any type of color on this sculpture. The texture of every element seen is very smooth. The main element that attracts the viewer’s eyes goes almost in a specific order. The flow of the sculpture seems to correspond with the importance of the intent of why this piece was created. Ganesh and Siddhi are very large in comparison to the other pieces in this sculpture. The hieratic scale is used with Ganesh, the viewers’ attention is taken to him first. Then Siddhi is noticed due to her exposed body. Attention shortly goes back to the elephant-headed human who is holding many items, then back to Siddhi who is holding something as well. The other little elements are then noticed, such as the raised dais that they are sitting on, the pieces that are on them, and then the rat at the bottom. Each element involved in this sculpture plays an important part in the Hindu religion of a tale about Ganesh. This sculpture of Ganesh and Siddhi is more than a piece of art, this sculpture is telling a story.
The medium of this sculpture is buff sandstone. Sandstone can be many different colors. Ganesh and Siddhi is buff sandstone which is usually tan. This sculpture started off as just a piece of stone and then carved into Ganesh and Siddhi.
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed of minerals, quartz, and feldspar. These two minerals play an important part because they are very resistant to earth’s weathering processes; therefore, many of these ancient sculptures like Ganesh and Siddhi have stayed in excellent condition for nearly one thousand years. Whether or not these ancient civilizations were aware that their treasures would last through the ages is unknown, these were more than likely just the resources they had available to them.
Depending on the amount of quartz versus feldspar affects how the artist works with the stone. A stone composed of mostly quartz, it will have a harder surface texture and require stronger tools. By contrast, sandstone heavy in feldspar has a softer composition. Sandstone, like limestone, has a distinct grain that allows for easy flake removal. Carving sandstone is equivalent to using sandpaper on your tools, however, and it tends to dull them quickly.
The creator of this specific sculpture is unknown, and the exact location of this sculpture is unknown, as well. Since sandstone is found near a river bank this leaves two possibilities; one is that it was transported from an unknown location and the other option being that the creator’s civilization of this sculpture lived near a river.
Although a Hindu god, Ganesh also became popular to the Buddhists in China and Japan. In the Hindu religion, Ganesh was and still is the most important and most worshipped deity. The tale of how Ganesh got his elephant head is the reason for this. Parvati, Ganesh’s mother created him using earth’s natural resources. When Shiva (Ganesh’s father) came home he was outraged when Ganesh told him he was Parvati’s son. This led to Shiva chopping the boy’s head off. Once Parvati found out Shiva had done this to their son, she ordered him to find Ganesh a new head, which happened to be an elephant. Ganesh was and still is believed to have the ability to remove all obstacles in one’s life if one worships him.
This ability was given to Ganesh from his father Shiva as an act of repentance for cutting off his head. This Ganesh and Siddhi sculpture was a religious object that was worshipped mostly by the Hindu. In Ancient India this sculpture was, “probably worshipped for the protection of farmlands against wild elephants and the menace of rats.” This could be one of the many possible explanations of the rat that is crouched beneath Ganesh. There is not a way to know for sure what this sculpture meant to the people that created it. From the historical evidence the civilization that created this sculpture believed worshipping Ganesh would improve or benefit their lives in some way.
