Dancing the Indian Monsoon Away

No. 2 - Dancing Ganesh

Material: Cotton Canvas, framed in traditional brocade

Colours: Watercolours, and 24-carat Gold

Size: 45 x 60 cm

Creation Period:
roughly 300 hrs between August 2010 and January 2011 in Gokarn/India and Germany

Availability: sold

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Thangka No. 2 - "Left to my own devices"

Upon leaving Nepal and my Thangka teacher in July 2010, I was keen to try out my fresh painting skills alone and chose - since we were now in India - a Hindu motif, the Dancing Ganesh.

It is not that uncommon by the way for Hindu deities to be depicted on Thangkas -  or to be more precise, on "Paubhas", the correct name for the even more ancient art form of the Newari tribe of Nepal - from which the nowadays famous Tibetan Thangkas were originally derived. The reason being that the Newaris' religion generously includes not only the pantheon of Tibetan Buddhism, but also the even greater realm of Hindu deities!

To practice what I had learned a few months before, I also chose a similar composition and landscape elements as in my first Thangka, the White Tara. And it all went surprisingly and encouragingly well, until .... The Forces of Nature crossed my path! And I learned that painting on a cotton canvas during fiercest rainy season and practically "on the beach" in Southern India wasn't that brilliant an idea after all. The extreme moisture (rain and sea) worked  the canvas invisibly until suddenly one morning, I discovered a unique pattern of mould stains had appeared!  I was quite depressed at first, but thanks to friends and relatives who encouraged me to just see them as a nice batik background pattern to Ganesh's dress (luckily it was to this part that the stains limited themselves), in the end Ganesh taught me the practical lesson of not just asking for obstacles to be removed in our lives, but learning to master them with our own capabilities.

I finally applied the last strokes to this Thangka in ice-cold Germany a few months later, and my mother stitched a beautiful brocade border for it (see picture below), the colours of the  material  blending perfectly with the colours of the painting. All is well that ends well ...

Now, some information on the religious meaning and symbolism of Ganesh - gathered from various internet sources:

Ganesh

also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka and Pillaiyar, is one of the deities best-known and most widely worshipped in the Hindu pantheon. Although he is known by many other attributes, Ganesh's elephant head makes him particularly easy to identify. He is widely revered as the Remover of Obstacles and more generally as Lord of Beginnings and Lord of Obstacles, patron of arts and sciences, and the deva of intellect and wisdom.

In this painting Ganesh is shown dancing in tandavi or bow-and-arrow posture, with his right leg drawn up and his left foot resting upon the saddlecloth of his vehicle, a long-nosed Asian shrew or chuchundra. Ganesh’s stout and pot-bellied white body is adorned with a floral-patterned loincloth, a long billowing silk scarf, and a headdress. He wears golden ornaments, a five-jeweled crown, and around each of his shins he wears little spherical ‘dancing bells’, which are used in classical Indian dance and in the Newar charya-nritya dance traditions.

Ganesh has three piercing eyes, his forehead is marked with the three horizontal lines of a Shaivite tripundra, and the tip of his right tusk is broken off. With his hands he holds a white radish (mulaka) – his favourite vegetable, and a bowlful of yellow laddus – his favourite Indian sweets.

Last not least, here are two more pictures for you - OM GANAPATAYE NAMAHA!

Dancing Ganesh - detail face

Dancing Ganesh framed in brocade