One more Ganapati. This is special as well.

A Ganga Jamuna (GJ) Valampuri Ganapati.

Ganga and Jamuna are two of the sacred rivers in India. Here, it refers to images made with two distinct metals. In the case of copper and brass. Brass is ‘laid’ on copper to give this distinct feature. 

GJ images are mainly from North Karnataka or from Madurai. The art of making GJ bronzes is now limited to a small number of artists. GJ images are rare.

Valampuri, a Tamil word, refers to Ganapati’s trunk turned to the right. This is considered to be highly auspicious and is a rarer form of Ganapati. It is said casting of Valampuri is guided by more stringent conditions, timing, place, and purity…Failure in following the conditions is supposed to bring ‘bad luck’ to the artisan. Hence, the relative rarity of these images.

This image is 8.3 cm tall, and it is from South India.