Dancing Ganesh

 Dancing Ganesh, the Lord of Obstacles

Bangladesh, Dinajpur District

11th-12th century

Los Angeles Museum of Art



Starting off my year-long photography project, I figured it would be auspicious to showcase Ganesh, the Lord of Obstacles. I have two reasons for this. First, it stays to the theme set last time, when I featured a few photos of Shiva Nataraja for the New Year, thereby establishing a Hindu spin to the calendar change. Second, since I'm trying to get this blog back into steady production and high quality, it seems only appropriate to honor a being who legend claims can remove difficulties from my path or, alternatively, set obstacles before me that will help me grow as a thinker and writer.

Moreover, although I did not intend for this to be an “Art” blog, featuring artworks has been an essential part of Paideia since I began, nearly two years ago. So, it seems fitting that the first of 365 photo posts features a lovely work from my local museum. Yeah, we'll see plenty of the normal fare, landscapes and still life, scenes from my daily travels.

But, for today, we have Ganesh. And you can't beat a dancing elephant for an interesting way to start a project. ;-)

Nataraja Dances at Year's End

Shiva as Lord of the Dance (Nataraja) on view at the Norton Simon Museum


I figured that Paideia would celebrate the New Year with images of Shiva Nataraja, of which the Los Angeles area is fortunate enough to have a few awesome sculptures, some that date to about a thousand years ago. Why Nataraja? Because he symbolizes the destruction of the old era and the initiation of the new.

So let us take inspiration from the image, letting go of those thoughts or habits that brought us down in 2011. Let's enter into 2012 with a fresh approach to life, a renewed sense of purpose and value, a desire to cultivate virtue. Let the New Year be an opportunity to change your life for the better.

That may be a high hope, necessarily vague, but it is an attitude that I hope will lead me well in treading the path of a fulfilling life.

Shiva as the Lord of the Dance on view at LACMA

Happy New Year!!! May 2012 bring you prosperity and joy!!!

Mahadevi on My Mind

Vishnu flanked by Sridevi (left) and Bhudevi (right)

Ever since our Friday Flowers celebrated the Hindu goddess Kali, I've been wanting to go see some classic Indian sculpture. Perhaps the finest collection of such work in the Los Angeles area is at the Norton Simon Museum. So a quick trip to Pasadena was in order.

The collection is very extensive and impressive. Therefore, I'm limiting this post to focusing on my favorite goddess statues. The Norton Simon website has brief audio tour lectures for some of these statues. I'll provide the links after at image.



Vishnu embracing Lakshmi


Here's the link to the Norton Simon page with the audio information. ;-)

Friday Flowers: Hibiscus

Pink Hibiscus

Poem to Kali

(By Ramprasad Sen)

The most exalted experience of bliss
in any realm of being
is directly knowing the universal Mother,
the supremely blissful one.
Ecstatic lovers of Kali the Sublime
are not pilgrims to sacred shrines,
for they hear all existence
singing the glory of the Goddess.

I could have gone many different ways with a Hibiscus-related poem, but I went with a good old bhakti poem to the Hindu goddess Kali. Why not a poet from the American South or a cozy tea-related bit of verse? Because I just realized that those flowers associated with Bengalese images of Kali are hibiscus. Yeow! That's something that I should have known!!!

Years of serious study in myth, religion, symbolism, and iconography. . . Well, you learn something new every day. ;-)