- The 18-inch statue was found a night before a festival celebrating the birth of the elephant-headed god
- Two of his four arms are broken, teeth in one hand and dumplings in the other.
- Archaeologists date the idol to the 12th century, when South India was ruled by the Chola dynasty.
- In Hinduism, Lord Ganesha is considered the god of wisdom and luck and the remover of obstacles.
A 12th-century statue representing the Hindu god Ganesha has been accidentally discovered in southeastern India.
In Motupalli village of Prakasam district, a farmer stumbled upon a stone idol while plowing his land.
In Hinduism, Lord Ganesha is represented as an elephant-headed figure with four arms.
He is considered the god of knowledge, the patron of science and the arts, and the remover of obstacles.
Standing about 18 inches tall, the idol displays Ganesha sitting cross-legged, known as the ‘Padmasana’ pose, on a lotus pedestal.
The idol has two broken hands – in one hand he holds his broken tooth and in the other a sweet Indian dumpling called modak.
The discovery of the idol was announced during the 10-day Ganesh Chaturthi festival, when Hindus celebrate the birth of the god Ganesha.
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A 13-inch stone statue of Ganesha, the remover of Hindu obstacles, was discovered in Andhra Pradesh on the eve of a festival celebrating the birth of the elephant-headed god.
Farmer Siripudi Venkateswaralu discovered the idol on September 9 while plowing his field at Motupalli, a village in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh. Hindu informed of.
Found on the eve of a festival dedicated to Ganesha, the 800-year-old idol attracted hordes of locals and visitors alike.
This year Ganesh Chaturthi, which runs from 10 to 19 September, is celebrated with fasting, offerings and worship.
Afterwards, modaks are distributed and public banquets and martial arts exhibitions are held.
Ganesha is usually presented with four arms, an ax in his upper right hand, a noose in his upper left hand and sweet dumplings in his lower left. His broken tooth is often shown on his lower right side, although sometimes his hand is extended to the viewer in a posture of wisdom.
On the tenth day, the idols of Ganesha are taken in a public procession and immersed in a nearby river or sea.
According to archaeologist E. Shivanagi Reddy, the idol found at Motupalla is 42 inches long, 30 inches wide and 18 inches tall and does not have the distinctive crown or crown of Ganesha.
Reddy dated the icon to the 12th century, when Andhra Pradesh was ruled by the Chola dynasty, based on its style and inscriptions from the ruins of the nearby Kodanda Ramaswamy temple.
The Chola dynasty was a Tamil kingdom that ruled southern India until the 13th century.
Lasting from 10 to 19 September, Ganesh Chaturthi celebrates the birth of Ganesha with fasting and prayer, followed by feasts, martial arts exhibitions and a public procession.
On the tenth day of Ganesh Chaturthi, the idols of the elephant-headed deity are immersed in a nearby river or sea.
In a Hindu statue, Ganesha is usually depicted with the head of an elephant and a rigid human body with four arms.
Each appendage holds an object with ritual significance: an ax in its upper right hand, and its broken tooth, or ‘tooth’, in its lower right. (In one story, Ganesha’s tooth was broken by an ax thrown by a warrior who was trying to attack his father, Shiva.)
He has a noose in his upper left hand and sweets in his lower left hand.
The idol was taken to the temple by the Motupalli Heritage Society, though its final form is unknown.
In August, archaeologist E. Sivanagi Reddy (centre) found a 14th-century Tamil inscription at the Kodanda Ramaswamy Temple, where the idol was discovered.
In August Reddy was part of a team of archaeologists who found a Tamil inscription in a temple dedicated to Emperor Prataparudra of the Kakatiya dynasty, who had replaced the Cholas.
The inscription dates back to the early 14th century and registers the land as a gift ‘for the merit of the king’. Deccan Chronicle informed of.
Prataparudra was the last Kakatiya ruler: he died during the 1323 invasion, which annexed the kingdom to the Islamic Delhi Sultanate.
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