ganesha

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CreationsIn the eyes of the

beholderhttp://www.newindpress.com/sunday/sundayitems.asp?id=SEC20020928044317&eTitle=Columns&rLink=0Nanditha

KrishnaGanesh Chaturthi has come and gone, and we have seen Indian creativity at

its contemporary best. In a celebration that has assumed larger-than-life

proportions, Ganesha has come out in all sizes, shapes, scenarios and colours.

The popularity and public celebration was due to the personal effort of

Lokamanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak who, in 1893, utilized the festival to speak out

against British rule in India.He brought the deity out of the home and made him

the focus of a community celebration and a socio-religious movement that was to

shake the foundations of the British Empire, uniting Maharashtrians of all

castes and hues. There it stayed till, in recent years, it has become a

community festival all over India, with large community Ganeshas that have

kindled the imagination of its creators and sponsors. In recent times the

community worship of Ganesha has spread all over the country,particularly in

the southern states where Ganesha is a popular deity.Ganapati, the chief of the

ganas, is mentioned in the Rig Veda, but the word was an epithet of Indra.

Ganeshas origins are obscure. The earliest appearance of an elephant-headed

figure, holding a sword and a snake in one hand and a quill in another, was at

Luristan in Western Iran around 1000 BC. Was this the scribe of the

Mahabharata? Ganesha was a popular deity in pre-Islamic Afghanistan, at Sakar

Dhar and Gardez and many other places. Says an inscription from Gardez, ''a

beautiful and renowned Maha Vinayaka was consecrated by the renowned Shahi

king, the illustrious Shahi Khingala''. The elephant - the worlds largest

mammal - huge and powerful yet gentle, is associated with wisdom, memory

andlongevity. He is the ultimate protector, the preventer of mishaps. No wonder

he was deified.For a long time, the Ganesha image in India did not graduate from

the standing and seated figures, holding the elephant goad, sugar cane, a tusk

or pen or 'modak' (sweet). The enormous elephant on a tiny mouse was a study in

contrast. And then came the Puranas, where the Ganesha lore exploded with myriad

legends. His origins, exploits and associations were renewed till a whole epic

was created around the God.

As usual, contradictions began. Was he a bachelor, as per the southern

tradition, or did he have two wives - Siddhi and Buddhi - as per Maharashtrian

tradition? Or was he a Tantric, with the association of Shakti? In the

Chalukyan cave temple at Badami appeared the first dancing Ganesha, carried

away by the magnificence of his father Shivas tandava. It is also in the

Chalukyan temple at Aihole that Ganeshas association with the Saptamatrikas is

first seen, an association that has lastedtill today in village shrines all

over central and southern India. In fact, the early Chalukyas of Central India

probably promoted the worship of Ganesha. The later Cholas of Thanjavur took

the dancing Ganesha to great heights, but it was in Orissa that the Nritta

Ganapati reached artistic perfection. The happy dancing Ganesha becomes a

violent Tantric figure in Nepal, where the mouse vehicle is replaced by Shaktis

lion as Ganeshas vehicle.Ganesha took a different form abroad. A popular figure

in Mahayana Buddhism, his sculptures are found in Tibet and Nepal where, says a

local legend, Ashokas daughter Charumati built a temple in his honour. The

five-headed Heramba Ganesha and the snake-hooded form are very popular forms

here. Ganesha images are found in China and Japan, where he is often referred

to as the spirit king of the elephants. His Japanese forms are the esoteric

Kangi-ten and the three-headedKaku-zen-cho, who are often seated on a mountain.

He is worshipped as Maha-pienne in Burma, while he is the guardian of river

crossings in Java. Cambodia, Java and Bali saw a proliferation of Ganesha

images. It was in Maharashtra that the worship of Ganesha reached its heights.

The Ashta Vinayak - Mayureshwar, hintamani,Mahaganapati, Siddhivinayak,

Vighneshwar, Girijatmak, Balleshwar and Varadvinayak - are all situated in

villages around Pune, the seat of Shivaji, the Peshwas and Maharashtrian

culture, which spread around the Deccan during the Maratha period. According to

the scriptures, there are thirty-two forms of Ganesha. But there are no hard and

fast rules of iconography in his depiction, so the figures are eclectic and

creative. The popular forms, as they appear during the Ganesha festival in

Mumbai, are very up-to-date. When India exploded its nuclear device, Ganesha

was flanked by the bomb! When India went to war, Ganesha appeared with a gun.

When Agni was launched, his weapon was a rocket. I have seen cricketer Ganeshas

and soldier Ganeshas, the family man with his largeextended family of gods and

goddesses and the politician supporting the party of his devotees. The huge

Ganesha images with their large entourage in Mumbai are a fascinating study of

contemporary socio-political developments. And the final procession on the

eleventh day is a way standers delight. They are the ultimate in ''calendar''

art.Many contemporary artists have painted and sculpted their vision of

Ganesha. However, it is not the qualities of the God that have attracted them,

but his figure: the voluminous elephant head and pot belly, the small, sharp

eyes and short legs, the whole presenting a study in contrast, made rich by

embellishment. M Reddeppa Naidu combined his faith and spirituality with

graceful lines and soft colour tones. His ink drawings of the God accentuated

the anatomy of the deity. P S Nandhan used decorative lines to accentuate form

and movement. J Sultan Ali was inspired by tribal art, and produced stocky

figures thatemphasized ''pattern and bold form'', while K Sreenivasulu was

inspired by folk forms and Tanjore painting.Ganesha is a Tanjore painters

delight, embellished with gold and precious stones. If painting saw inspired

lines and movement, sculpture saw changing norms of iconography. B Vithal

created the abstract gold-plated Ganeshas, inspired by the formlessness of the

Ashta Vinayaks. P V Janakiram used form, texture and wire to create variations

of iconographic forms, while artists such as S P Jayakar, K S Gopal, D

Venkatapathy and M Senathipathi used metal repoussé. The number of contemporary

artists who have painted or sculpted Ganesha is infinite. They have adapted

traditional and tantric forms to create uniquely new Ganeshas.But Ganesha also

had an ecological message. The Deccan has always been dependent on rainfall,

which was collected in artificial tanks and wells. Every year, the tanks were

desilted during the summer months. This had a dual advantage, by which the

tanks and wells were maintained, while the landless were given employment

during the non-agricultural period. The clay left on the tank beds and outside

the wells was used to make the Ganeshas, with eyes made of crabs eye seeds.

After the festival, the Ganeshas were immersed in the local lake, river, tank

or well. Being unbaked, the clay would soften and dissolve, becoming one with

the well, tank or river bed. The whole cycle was renewed the following year.

The sugar cane in his hand represents an important agricultural product. With

the combination of the respected elephant figure, the festival was one of

ancient Indias methods of using religion to conserve the ecology. Todays

Ganeshas are baked, made with plaster-of-paris, sometimes even strengthened

with cement and RCC. Even an innocuous material like baked clay is

eco-unfriendly. When these Ganeshas are immersed in water, they do not

dissolve, and we see the ugly and painful sight of Ganeshas hacked to pieces.

Worse, toxic paints are used to decorate them. Thewater is polluted and becomes

a toxic hazard. In many places these are the only sources of drinking water. I

doubt whether Lokamanya Tilak would have approved of this.Ganesha is an

artist's inspiration and delight. The Ganesh mandalis have excelled in

creativity, now they need to go back to the environmental messages of the past.

This year, one of the Ganeshas in Mumbai carried a message of rainwater

harvesting. Good, but inadequate. Organizers of Ganesh mandalis must not make a

beautiful festival into an ecologicalhazard. Ganesha is a celebration of

agriculture, water conservation and India's wildlife. We need to remind

ourselves of this sacred tradition even while we celebrate the Ganesha

festival. Nanditha Krishna is Director, The C P Ramaswami Aiyar

Foundation,ChennaiDiscover your Indian Roots at - http://www.esamskriti.comLong

Live Sanathan / Kshatriya Dharam. Become an Intellectual KshatriyaGenerate

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