This Ganesha is an intriguing one. Can you see why? We will come to it in a while.

Here, the four-armed Ganesha holds a tusk, a battle axe, an elephant goad and a sweet, Clockwise starting from the lower right-hand. His trunk, as always, reaches for the sweet. His sitting pose is Rajalalithasana, allowing ample space for his belly. His head is topped by a crown which looks minuscule compared to his elephant head.

The prabhavali is very thin, and its decoration is minimal. The prabhavali suggests that this vigraha is from Central India.

What is intriguing about this Ganesha? Between his feet, you can see his genitals. Really? When I showed this Vigraha to my collector friends, their reaction was, ‘No, it cannot be. I did some research. Some stone sculptures from the Chandella dynasty depict naked Ganesha. This Vigraha may be an offshoot of that cult.

The Vigraha is about 8 cm tall and may be dated before the fifteenth century. It is from Central India, probably the Eastern part.