Theresa Thompson enjoys two displays based on the god Ganesha

The elephant-headed god Ganesha is one of the most popular Hindu deities.

This genial bringer of good fortune and remover of obstacles, invoked at the beginning of any undertaking or journey, is now the subject of two independent displays in Oxford.

One, Homage to Ganesha, is at the Ashmolean Museum – a free display of 30 diverse representations of the much-loved figure – and the other is a special loan from the British Museum of an ancient statue of the god to the Museum of Oxford, the showpiece of its 40th anniversary exhibition 40 Years, 40 Objects.

The large 800-year-old schist sculpture of Ganesha, which originated in Eastern India and once adorned a temple, is on a two-year tour of seven regional museums, including Oxford, Birmingham, Bradford, and Brent.

Antonia Harland-Lang, from the Museum of Oxford, said: “To welcome the ancient statue of Ganesha to Oxford, the Museum worked with members of the Oxford Hindu Temple and Community Centre Project to create a display to accompany the stunning object.

“Members of the group contributed a rich array of Ganesha statues and other items from the shrines in their own homes.”

Typically, the plump figure of Ganesha is shown sitting cross-legged on his lotus throne, holding a dish of sweetmeats in one of his four arms, while his rat ‘vahana’ or vehicle crouches beneath. This is how we find him in the ancient stone statue on view at the Town Hall, and in most of the colourful pictures and small bronze or soapstone sculptures at the Ashmolean.

In one picture, however, unusually, he rides his rat.

In another, a highly decorative work, he is surrounded by female attendants fanning and feeding him. Sometimes, we see him as a jolly dancing figure having a good time; sometimes he holds the axe used to cut through obstacles, or the elephant goad or ankus; and in other images, he is with his parents Shiva and Parvati (in one he’s guarded by two rather British-looking lions!).

“He’s a very engaging figure, and greatly revered,” said Andrew Topsfield, keeper of Eastern art at the Ashmolean.

“We intended to show different versions of Ganesha, and both the classical and folk pictorial traditions.

“We also include some of the popular eye-catching prints that began to be mass-produced at the end of the 19th century and became universal in 20th century India in bazaar shops, teashops, and household shrines.”

“There is also an interesting simple stone relief plaque – it is early, a gift by Archbishop Laud to the Bodleian Library originally, and now in the Ashmolean collection.

“Visitors can see other Ganesha statues while they’re in the museum,” Topsfield said, taking me round the corner into the permanent India galleries.

Here, we found finely worked small bronzes, along with the brightly painted soapstone Ganesha, familiar perhaps to many readers from its use outside the museum on a banner to welcome visitors.

Where and when
The Ganesha statue is at the Museum of Oxford until January 12; Homage to Ganesha is at the Ashmolean until January 24