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Dancing Red Ganapati, 16th century

Pigments on cloth

The dynamic elephant-headed deity Ganapati dominates this painting. The red of his body and flaming body halo contrasts with the blue stylized rocks that frame them. Red still remains the dominant color, including in the border of the painting, which, as is typical of this style, bears a floral pattern. Both the surface of the halo and the dark area outside the rocks are filled with scrolling vine patterns. Nepalese painting styles were used in areas bordering Nepal and within the Ngor branch of the Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism long after they had fallen out of popularity elsewhere.

At the center of this work is the twelve-armed, red, dancing Ganapati, a form of the elephant-headed god known only in Buddhism. Immediately above him, the “spirit subduer” Bhutadamara tramples a white elephant-headed deity. In visualization practice religious devotees imagine themselves as Bhutadamara and then as Ganapati in a mountain cave of blue rock, hence this composition. The two teachers in the upper corners wear the rounded hats typical of the Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism. This painting of Ganapati is from a set featuring the Three Red Deities, a group of protectors popular with this school, and the other two paintings in this set are preserved in other collections.