Gana

Museum Practicum: Objection Blog: The Philadelphia Museum of Art

Oktavia LaBarge, September, 18th, 2013

Title: Gana

Year: c.11th to 12th century

Material: Granitic stone

Creator: Unknown Artist, Made in Tamil Nadu, India, Asia

Collection: East Asian Art: Indian and Himalayan Art

This is a sculpture of a Gana, from the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the East Asian Art collection.  Gana is a follower of the god Shiva in the Hindu religion. This particular Gana probably was placed on the corner of a religious temple, as a symbol of stability for the architecture above and below it. The Gana often acts as a support, both physically in architecture and spiritually as a support to the god Shiva. 

The god Shiva, is often represented much like this one and is one of three gods in Hindu religion.

The God Shiva
Philadelphia Museum of Art
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The three gods, Shiva, Brahma, and Vishnu are responsible for the creation of the world in the Hindu religion.  To learn more about the Hindu god Shiva, visit this website.

The Gana sculpture is very important to the Hindu religion and is a guardian deity and the attendant to Shiva.  The Hindu religion has no actual books or founders and therefore it is considered a way of life. 

Nadu, India

         Hinduism is very prominent in mainly India and Nepal.  This sculpture is from Nadu, India, which can be located by the red dot on the map. 

        The sculpture is a reminder of Hindu religious practices, a fundamental support, and would be important to followers of this religious.  In addition, people who are curious about different religions and religious stories would be interested in the Gana.

The Gana is on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the Indian and Himalayan Art collection.  This sculpture was a gift to the museum from the Jaipaul Family in 1997.  I believe this object is on display to create a comparison between other Ganas that are in the collection.  This object also creates a visual language that allows viewers to fully understand sculptural elements of temples in India and why these components are important to the Hindu religion.  Across from the Gana are multiple sculptures and images of Hindu gods which allows viewers to understand the different gods and deities of the religion. 

The actual sculpture of Gana sits crossed legged with its arms pressed together in prayer.  In Hindu religion the pressing of the palms together is called, anjali, which represents respect.  This may be respect to other gods and deities or perhaps to the followers or viewers.  The label describes how Ganas are often depicted as obese and dwarf-like.  The image to the right is a sculpture of Head of a Celestial or Gana and reveals similar characteristics of the seated figure. 

Head of Celestial or Gana
Philadelphia Museum of Art
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Often Ganas are recognizable by their bulging eyes under curved eyebrows, the nose of the Gana flares, with a wild hat on his head. 

The label that was placed next to the Gana described the purpose of the sculpture, both as a supporter of the god Shiva and as a support to the temple.  The label describes the identifying characteristics of Ganas which allows visitors to be able to find other Ganas and make comparisons between them.  The label seemed to be used as a teaching tool about the basics of what exactly is a Gana and why they were important.

To further enrich ones understanding and exploration of this object,  someone could research more about the Hindu religion and the different gods and deities.  Also, someone interested in this object could create a comparison between this particular Gana and other Ganas in the exhibit.  In addition, one might compare this deity, to a religious character in another culture.  For example, one could compare the Hindu Gana to the Greek maenad, who is a follower of the great god Dionysus. 

White-Ground Pyxis with Maenads
The Walters Museum of Art
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Discussing how both Gana and the maenad are followers of important gods in their religion, however, their depictions and stories reveal many differences.  Someone who may not be interested in this object, may be a follower of a different religion, for example, someone who is devout Catholic. People who believe that Hindu is a false religion may be upset by the Gana and believe it is a fairy tale or mythological creature.  In addition, someone who did not know the background of what this object is would tell a completely different narrative.  Other cultures may believe this is a depiction of a child or something else in their culture. 

To engage viewers with this object, I would ask the audience to compare two Gana sculptures side by side, to find similar characteristics.  In addition, as stated above I would invite the audience to compare different cultural deities and find similarities and differences between these cultures, based on the objects.  It would also be interesting to see what people think the Gana is without telling them the history.  To further engage audience interest, I would invite experts of the religion to tell the story of the Gana.