Symbols of Reverence — Ritual & Devotion : Artwork 10

Ganesha seated on a full-bloom lotus throne, the four arms holding the canonical attributes — the broken tusk upper right, the modaka sweet upper left, the lotus lower right, the abhaya gesture lower left — all within an arch-topped frame referencing the prabhavali, the flaming aureole that marks the boundary between sacred space and the ordinary world. The jali geometric lattice panels within the body of the figure reference the perforated stone screens of Mughal architecture, turning the god's torso into a window through which light and pattern pass simultaneously. Ganesha as Vighnaharta — the remover of obstacles — is the first deity invoked before any new undertaking in Hindu practice.