Cast Brass Image of Ganesh & his Vahana, Nepal, 19th century

Cast Brass Image of Ganesh & his Vahana

This fine image of Ganesh cast in brass is typical of the style adopted among the Newar people in the Kathmandu Valley, who sometimes refer to the god as ‘Binayak’.

It shows Ganesh, Shiva’s elephant-headed son, standing with one foot on a lotus flower pedestal and the other atop the deity’s rat

vahana or celestial mode of transport.

Ganesh, in this instance, is depicted as particularly lithe and svelte – an unusual depiciton compared to the more portly image with a bulging belly. He has four arms each of which holds an attribute including one which is delivering a large spherical

laddu sweet to his trunk.

This image would have been part of a larger shrine. It is mounted on a custom-made black wooden stand.