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Ganesha is literally Everywhere !
Ganesh Chaturthi – a 1.5 millennia ancient depiction from the Khotanese Saka ( Scythian ) settlement of Endere, in the Taklamakan Desert of Western China.
Ganesh has Buddhists form known has Vinayaka.Taklaman area was important centre of Buddhism in this era.
While that’s not untrue – the situation of religion in the Khotanese (and, for that matter, broader (post-) ‘Scythian’) sphere is complex, and also features Hindu and Iranic religious elements. Often just lumped in all together by some academics as ‘Buddhist’
Ganesha is India’s most ‘exported’ Hindu God
- Indonesia: Indonesia is an 88% Muslim-majority country, but it it is dominated by Hindu culture. From 1998-2000, the country issued a 20,000-rupiah note with an emblem of Ganesha.
- Thailand: The elephant headed God is known in Thai as Phra Phikanet. Thailand is a Buddhist nation but statues and shrines to Hindu Gods are a common sight in the kingdom. Thai Buddhists routinely pay their respects to Shiva and Ganesha at festivals dedicated to these Gods.
- Myanmar: Ganesha is known as ‘Maha-pienne’ and is still worshipped. In southern Myanmar several images in a role of the Remover of Obstacles are found while in the northern part Ganesha is worshiped as a guardian deity.
- Japan: Vinayaksa, Kaku-zen-cho and Kangi-ten (God of Bliss), as He is known in Japan, was introduced in the 9th century by the Buddhist monk Kobo. The deity is prayed to for strong conjugal bonds, affection and happiness. There are 250 temples of Lord Ganesha in the country.
- Sri Lanka: Ganesha was and still is a popular God in this country. At Polonnaruva (70% Sinhala, 1% Hindu) a very attractive four-armed image is seen holding an axe, noose and a modaka.
- Tibet: One of the most revered Gods in Tibetan Buddhism, Ganesha was introduced by the Indian monks Atisa Dipankara Srijna and Gayadhara in the 11th century AD. In Tibetan Buddhism, Ganesha is the Deity of Wealth and in Tantric Form he is represented as the fierce Maha Rakhta.
- Cambodia: The Cambodians adopted Ganesha as Prah Kenes and worshiped Him as a primary deity from the 7th c onward and had temples dedicated to him. At Angkor Vat, the world’s biggest Hindu temple, He is seen on the arched gates of several shrines.
- Vietnam: In Vietnam (Champa), where Shiva worship was popular, there is a statute of a seated Ganesha holding a paintbrush in his uplifted hand indicating him as a scribe to Vyasa. He is bare to the waist, wearing necklace and the sacred thread.
- China: Ganesha appeared in North China in the 6th century where he is shown seated in vajrasana, holding a lotus in the right hand and either a modaka or jewel in the left. He was Kuan-shi t’ienor Ho Tei, the large-bellied ‘God of Happiness’. The worship ended in the 9th c.
- Borneo: In Borneo, in a cave at Kombeng, a four armed Ganesha is seen among other Gods. Two of His attributes – axe and rosary – can be identified. He has a straight trunk, protuberance between the eyebrows and a Jatamukuta.
- Mongolia: Ganesha was called Totkhar-our Khaghan.
- Central Asia: In Khotan (Chinese Turkestan) there is a painting of Ganesha clad in a tiger skin and tight fitting trousers. He is 4-armed, holding a radish in one arm. He wears a coronet and not a crown. Painted Ganeshas can be seen in rock cut temples of Bezaklik and Khaklik.
- Latin America: Don’t be surprised when you spot images of Lord Ganesha and various Hindu Gods at the Guatemala Museum. Or if you realise that Ganesha idols were found from a quaint temple of Mexico City’s Diego Riviera.
- The state of Vera Cruz in Mexico and Venezuela’s Quiragua also revealed the bearings of Lord Ganesha. Excavations and manuscripts from Central America prove without a doubt – Lord Ganesha was worshipped in the Aztec culture.
- Lord Ganesha is shown wearing the loose garments of the Aztec Civilization. Statutes of Ganesha (as well as Shiva and Hanuman) have also been excavated at Uxmal, Campeche, Gautemala, Honduras, Peru and El Salvador, areas of the Mayan civilisation.
- Aztec Ganesha: There are no elephants in Latin America yet they drew this.
RAREST Painting ever found of famous united Maratha Ganesha Chaturthi Celebrations at Gwalior👑
Due to low number of populace, the entire Maratha Empire Shindeshahi sector of Gwalior-Ujjain used to celebrate Chaturthi together!
It was THIS that inspired Tilak.
A clearer, closer look at the Golden-Black Armoured Maratha Lords behind Bhagwan Shri Gajanana Murti.
