Seated Ganesha, Within A Kirtimukha Prabhavali -

The prabhavali (aureole) of this Ganesha murti is one of a kind. The very sight of it cleanses the onlooker's heart of all its mortal faults and fills it with a world of devotion. This handheld Ganesha is seated on an inverted lotus pedestal, the petals engraved on which are superbly precise. His vahana, a gigantic mouse, clutches precariously at the same. The posture He is sitting in, lalitasana, is commonplace in Indian iconography - note how lifelike are the folds of His ankle-hemmed dhoti as well as the proportions of His feet and hands. His person is replete with shringar - necklaces, anklets, and bracelets - besides the snake holding His full tummy together to prevent it from bursting. In His posterior hands are a divine weapon and a conch; whilst one of the anterior hands lovingly grasps a laddo, His love for which is the stuff of spiritual lore, the other one is raised in blessing as is highly characteristic of Indian iconography. His composure of countenance has all the innocence and wisdom of a heavenly child, because this boy-deity is the son of Shiva Himself, as conveyed by the Shaivite tilak on His skilfully engraved brow.

What sets this apart from your run-of-the-mill handheld Ganesha statues is the prabhavali that frames the composition. It juts out from the padmaroopi asana (lotus seat), and rises into an ornate structure. A series of identical traditional motifs have been engraved on the prabhavali with remarkable precision. A bunch of petalled stems emerge from each point on the circumference, lending to the sculpture a seeming aura of protection and divinity. A superb kirtimukha image is stationed at the zenith of the aureole, a symbol of the beginninglessness and the endlessness of time. Note how the flaying endpieces of the lord's dhoti, together with the foliage that emerges from the base of His asana to meet the projections of the prabhavali, add to the glory of this composition. The tattooed trunk, and a crown that matches His ears in terms of size and the prabhavali in terms of magnificence, complete the picture.