Festival of Ganesh artefacts at Lucknow Zoo

Lucknow: On the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi, the state museum in the Lucknow Zoo, has set up a 10-day festival beginning on Tuesday.

The exhibition will display various artefacts related to Lord Ganesh.

On display will, be a dancing Lord Ganesha with a third eye on the forehead. This 9th century sculpture was excavated from Kampila in Farrukhabad and is part of the archaeology gallery in the state museum based in Lucknow Zoo.

Made of sandstone, it shows Lord Ganesha with eight hands holding several objects, including a mace and laddoo. “The tusk of Lord Ganesha is twisted towards the left and the body can clearly be seen in a dancing posture,” said director, department of UP archaeology, Renu Dwivedi.

There are several such artefacts on Lord Ganesha which people can see by paying a visit to the museum during the Lord Ganesha festival.

Another such artefact is a bronze Ganesha-Laxmi sculpture of 17-18th cent. AD, found from Nepal.

“Goddess Laxmi can be seen sitting on Lord Ganesha’s right thigh. The sculpture also has an owl and a mouse, the vehicles of goddess Laxmi and Lord Ganesha respectively. While Goddess Laxmi can be seen wearing lower attire and stole, she is shown wearing jewellery and a crown. On the other hand, Lord Ganesha is holding Vaijantimala, lotus and laddoo. He is wearing a high crown and other jewelleries,” said assistant director and in charge of decorative arts gallery Minakshi Khemka.

There are some prominent artefacts in the reserve collection as well.