Arabic Ganesha Chaturthi

Everybody LOVES Ganesha! The most recognizable (across the globe) of all Hindu Deities because of his elephant head. Beloved by all faiths, remover of obstacles, lord of wisdom and luck❤️ 🙏🏽

(Plus he’s cute, chubby, happy, loves music, dance, sweets) But appearances can be deceiving! ❤️

The supreme LORD. First deity ALL Hindu (regardless of school/thought/practice etc) prayers begin with.🙏🏽🕉

Physical attributes have deep spiritual significance. Elephant head represents intelligence (🐘never forgets, the divine will never forget his devotee), huge belly (entire creation resides ), large ears (listen to your problems), blessing hands with sweets to reward one for goodness.🙏🏽

Sits on a mouse (represents human ego, restless mind) as God ever present/all pervasive/mighty sits on it to remind us to stay focused! 

Ganesha Chaturthi is his birthday. 

1892 - Lokmanya Tilak (father of the Indian Independence Movement), saw how much everyone (regardless of background) LOVED Ganesha, popularized the festival as public, organized the masses against the British on the streets of Mumbai and Pune. Hindus and Muslims both took part in the fight for freedom! Bollywood (Mumbai) film stars both Hindu & Muslim celebrate the festival to this day! 🕉☪️

I have many Muslim/non Hindu friends who love Ganesha. Musicians who travel with a small statue, Arabs girls who find him adorable, Yoga practitioners etc.  His image is found across the world (Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, archeological evidence even shows ancient South America!)🌏

His image is on Indonesian currency (a predominately Muslim nation) ☪️

LOVE for Ganesha inspired my design says “Ohm Ganeshaya Namaha” in Arabic.

Rust color for “clay”- folks make images of Ganesha, dissolve it in the sea (absolving their sins) ushering in new beginnings! 🙏🏽

“Ohm” 🕉means : all encompassing, ultimate reality, unifies the universe, Ganesha’s head represent  this shape, I wrote it in Tamil on the forehead.

Ganapati Bappa Morya! 🙏🏽