BTHE ONLY STANDING IMAGINATION
We did not have to wait until the standing Ganesha statue (symbol BTC 5, old symbol 5.1) was recognized as a national treasure before this statue was put into a closed warehouse for storage. Since the 1980s, aware of the special importance of the work, experts have made a version for display to ensure security.
The standing Ganesha statue version is on display at the Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture
Mr. Tran Thanh Ha, Deputy Director of the Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture, said that the museum currently has a total of 9 national treasures and of those, 2 treasures are stored in the warehouse including the statue of Bodhisattva Tara and the statue of Ganesha. “To ensure safety, the two statues are placed in a special warehouse for preservation and are only opened on special occasions,” Mr. Ha said.
Ganesha statue is made of sandstone; Dimensions are 95 cm high, 48 cm long, 34 cm wide, dating from about the 7th century. The statue was excavated by the French Institute of Far Eastern Antiquities (EFEO) at E5 My Son tower in 1903 and brought to the museum in 1918. The Ganesha statue is shown in the shape of a human body and an elephant head, carved in an upright position, looking forward. Two parallel feet stand on a square base, under the base there is a pointed peg to attach to the altar. The statue has 4 arms, but currently only the main left hand and the secondary right hand remain, the remaining 2 arms are broken. The main left hand holds the shallow bowl, the spout is dipped into the bowl, the right hand holds the rosary.
Lord Ganesha is one of the famous gods worshiped in Hindu temples. In mythology, Ganesha is widely revered as a god with the ability to remove obstacles. Hindus often make some offerings before the Ganesha statue every time they start a trip or start important work. In Vietnam, the god Ganesha is present in two cultures influenced by Hinduism, Champa culture and Oc Eo culture (Phu Nam), under beautiful sculptures.
To date, Ganesha is considered the only statue shown in standing form found in Champa sculpture. Other discovered Ganesha statues are often shown in a cross-legged sitting position, such as the sitting Ganesha statue discovered at B3 tower, My Son (1903) or the Ganesha statues discovered at Truong Xa (Quang Tri) and Cam Ranh. Le (Da Nang)… In addition, some decorative details on the statue’s body are also expressed in a very unique and typical way, unlike any other Ganesha statue seen so far in Champa culture. of Vietnam.
HWHO TIME GOES OUT
Researcher Tran Ky Phuong recalls that when he was the keeper of the Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture (1978 – 1998), due to assessing the value of the Ganesha statue, the museum invited a sculptor to make 2 versions to display. The original statue was put into storage to ensure it would not be stolen. According to Mr. Phuong, the Ganesha statue is a relatively intact round statue, made of green-gray sandstone. This is a very beautiful early-dating statue, typical of the way Ganesha is represented standing in Cham sculpture.
Explaining further that the museum continues to display the Ganesha version, Mr. Tran Thanh Ha said that with a weight of about 120 kg, the statue needs to be protected safely. “Other treasures that are large and weigh from a few quintals to several tons can be viewed by visitors. Particularly, the bronze statue of Tara and the statue of Ganesha are only open when welcoming heads of state, serving foreign affairs or other events. other special events,” Mr. Ha said.
According to the Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture, the statue is an artifact with typical value in Champa culture and art, and is an important testament to inscriptions recording the early appearance of Hinduism introduced into the country. Champa kingdom in general and Champa culture in particular in the 7th – 8th centuries.
In research Ganesha – From mythology to sculptureauthor Nguyen Hoang Huong Duyen (Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture) commented that this is a large-sized, iconographically unique work with full symbolic objects (although now lost), and is a vivid testament to the very early introduction of the Ganesha image into Southeast Asia in general and Champa in particular.
According to this author, due to the importance of the statue in Champa culture and religion and its uniqueness and rarity in terms of iconography, the statue has been chosen to be displayed in many international exhibitions such as the Vietnamese art treasure: Champa sculpture at the Guimet Museum, France (2005 – 2006), exhibition Lost kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist sculpture in early Southeast Asia at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA (2014).
“Above all, this masterpiece is worthy of being a national treasure of Vietnam, attracting the attention of many tourists when visiting the Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture,” author Nguyen Hoang Huong Duyen emphasized. (to be continued)
Should display “real things”
Commenting that looking at the artifacts and only seeing the versions is like “eating rice and hitting a grain”, researcher Tran Ky Phuong said that with the current development of surveillance and security technology, the Museum of Cham Sculpture Da Nang should put two treasures, the statues of Bodhisattva Tara and Ganesha, on display for the public to enjoy.
“As for the Tara Bodhisattva statue, with its historic return in 2023 when the Bodhisattva’s two hand objects, the lotus and the snail, return after many years of storage in Quang Nam, the museum can display all of them. artifacts next to a fully illustrated drawing of the statue. If you are not sure, you can put the treasures in a thick glass cage to prevent theft,” Mr. Phuong suggested.
