Untitled (Ganesha)

Elephant-headed, human-bodied, Ganesha’s form allows painters to take liberties with his representation, of which this is one instance by M. Reddeppa Naidu. The painter, who was included in J. Swaminathan’s Group 1890, shows the god’s benign form resting over what could be boulders or hills with a tracery of vegetation marking his importance in the cycle of the world. An incantation below it venerates him with various names by which he is propitiated, making this large painting as much a work of secular as of sacred art.