Lord Ganesha becoming favorite of museums in America

Magh Krushna Trutiya

Lord Ganesha appears to be becoming the favorite of museums in America and the West. 

USA: Many prestigious museums already own sculptures and other artifacts of Lord Ganesha. Internationally renowned Portland Art Museum recently acquired an 11th century Lord Ganesha sculpture for around US$69,000.  

Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed has welcomed this interest about Lord Ganesha in America and the West but he urged the museum officials to display Lord Ganesha statues with due reverence.  

Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that community was glad over museums acquiring Lord Ganesha sculptures and other artifacts but just wanted the museum officials to be more careful while arranging their display as Lord Ganesha was worshipped as god of wisdom and remover of obstacles and invoked before the beginning of any major undertaking.  

Various renowned museums in USA which have acquired Lord Ganesha statues and other artifacts include Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California; Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, California; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia; Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California; Museum of Art and Archaeology in University of Missouri-Columbia, Missouri; Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio; Mingei International Museum in San Diego, California; American Museum of Natural History, New York; Philadelphia Museum of Art in Pennsylvania; Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland; etc. Some museums even have more than one sculpture.  

Other prestigious world museums, which possess Lord Ganesha statues, include British Museum in London, United Kingdom; Musée Guimet in Paris, France; Museum für Asiatische Kunst in Berlin, Germany; Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Netherlands; Te Papa Museum in Wellington, New Zealand; Beijing World Art Museum, China; National Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia; etc. Thailand reportedly has a private Ganesha Museum.   

The stone stele of Lord Ganesha acquired by Portland Art Museum, made in northeastern India showing him in seated in rajalilasana, is scheduled to be unveiled on February 14. When asked by Zed about the reasons of focus on Lord Ganesha, Dr. Maribeth Graybill, Curator of Asian Art of the Museum, said, "because of him very universal and accessible".  

Rajan Zed urged all major museums of the world to organize exhibitions of Hindu art, sculptures, and architecture to make aware the present and future generations about their richness.  

Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksha (liberation) is its ultimate goal.

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