Ganesha Statue - Antique Khmer Style Post-Bayon Seated Ganesh Statue - 38cm/15"

Ganesha Statue - Antique Khmer Style Post-Bayon Seated Ganesh Statue - 38cm/15"

Measures - (Height) 38cm/15"

An expressively cast, rare and unusual antique Khmer style Ganesha seated on a rectangular plinth, wearing a short sampot and armlets and a rich green patina overall

The enormously popular deity Ganesha sits here with crossed legs. As the remover of obstacles he is still widely worshipped in South and Southeast Asia before the start of new ventures or a journey.

This chubby Ganesha is particularly charming, with wonderfully curvy ears and ornate jewellery.

Nagas with erect heads form both the armlets and the sacred cord placed across his upper body on the left side. He wears a sampot can kpin with a folded edge in front and a big butterfly bow at the back over a pendant panel that falls gracefully over the edge of the base in a late-thirteenth-century style.

He holds the usual attributes, his own broken-off tusk in the right hand and a sweet or Laddus in his left hand.

Laddus is the name for Indian sweetmeats. Whilst some may interpret this as Ganesha simply having a sweet tooth or a (relatable) penchant for candy, it is no surprise that the sweet delicacies carry further meaning. These tasty treats represent the reward for a wisely-led life and the eternal sweetness that comes from a fulfilled experience. Dentists around the world will be delighted to hear that Ganesha is never depicted actually eating the sweetmeats, but this item of the deity does also show his parallels with everyday human life. This relates to Ganesha's status as a Vedic God, which means he does not forget even those who are not his devotees and instead looks out for everyone. This is communicated through his depiction as always looking upwards or at eye-level, as he is surveying all human life and is therefore not solely focussed on those praying to him.

Here Ganesha also holds the remnants of his broken tusk. The breaking of the tusk has several backstories. One instance suggests that it was shattered when Shiva cut the head off the elephant, prior to bestowing it onto Ganesha. Another writes that Ganesha's quill broke and he needed a writing instrument, try telling your boss that next time you try to write up a report with an elephant tusk because your computer crashed. Regardless of its multiple origins, the holding of the tusk represents less of a keepsake, and more of a depiction that our spirituality is more important than our outer bodies, meaning we must overcome the duality of the two as separate entities.

The direction of Ganesha's trunk has symbolic meaning. Here the trunk turns to Ganesha's left. This signifies the direction for success in the world. It is a position associated with grihastas, or householders.

Ganesha, the elephant-headed son of Shiva and Parvati, is a major deity in the Hindu pantheon in India dating back to Vedic times but is not documented in Cambodia until the seventh century.

Ganesha became enormously popular in Cambodia and acquired specific Khmer characteristics that are not apparent in earlier Indian representations of the deity.

Jayavarman VIII, who ruled the Khmer Empire in the second half of the thirteenth century, was a devout Shivaite and violently opposed the pious form of Buddhism practiced by Jayavarman VII.

Many handsome Hindu images, such as the design of the present Ganesha, were created during his reign. 

In his early forms in India, Ganesha was associated with fertility. Later he became 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 deity of intellect and wisdom.

One of the most recognizable of the Asian deities this representation of Ganesha is sure to enlighten your home with endlessly timeless style.

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