Dancing Ganesh
Khajaraho School. 11th Century AD.
An eight armed statue of Lord Ganesh is a rare one. Here we have an eight armed dancing Ganesh. When the Westerners came to India they were shocked by these "octopus "like images. To them, these were "heathen " idols. They missed the entire basis of Indian art: art is at the service of religion. What it depicts is not the material reality of the world around us, but the metaphysical concepts of our religion. Gods are symbolic of their qualities. Hence, their depiction is a portrayal of a concept and not of empirical reality. To fully understand this art one would have to know religion, mythology, philosophy, and even dance--as the postures and gestures are based on Indian classical dances. Such art takes you into a different realm
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