This piece depicts the elephant-headed Hindu god, Ganesh. Ganesh may well be the most beloved member of the Hindu pantheon; he is generally honored first in any Hindu worship ceremony or ritual. This deity is considered the embodiment of auspiciousness, the lord of beginnings, and the remover of obstacles. In this work Chelian employs a "scratching" technique, which hints at the tension between the hidden and the revealed nature of Hindu divinities. Ganesh's image is rendered in the same colors as the background in this piece, and his form emerges from the interplay between strokes and scrapings of the paint. This painting is part of a small series that includes both classical and folk themes from Hindu mythology and performative traditions.
Several Hindu myths explain how this god acquired his elephant head. In one version the young Ganesh is instructed by his mother Parvati to guard the entrance to her rooms while she bathes. When Ganesh's father Lord Shiva returns from an extended period away from home meditating in the Himalaya mountains and approaches Parvati's door, the young son, who does not recognize his father, bars the great god's entry. Angered by this insolence, Shiva severs the boy’s head. Parvati emerges and demands that Shiva take the head of the first living creature he encounters and attach it to Ganesh. Lord Shiva comes upon an elephant, and affixes its head to his son's body.
Artist Biography
Chelian is an accomplished artist who has exhibited at both the state and national level within India, as well as internationally. He has conducted 21 one-man shows and particip more »
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