Indian Gods Statues

Indian gods’ statues can be easily procured online, but for those of you who do not belong to India or are not Hindus, this can be quite a task considering the fact that there are over a thousand prominent deities worshipped in the religion. A few well-known gods and goddesses are Lord Krishna, Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesh, Lord Rama, Lord Vishnu, Lord Hanuman, Goddess Lakshmi, Goddess Saraswati, Lord Nataraj, and Goddess Durga. Reading up on these gods can give you a much better idea of what they stand for and their significance in this ancient religion. While, you will find that many statues or pictures of the same deity differ from one another in many ways, there are always some similarities that a trained eye can point out. For example, Lord Krishna will always have a peacock feather in his crown.

The peacock feather has more than seven colours within it and it is believed that all these colours signify the lord being the universe itself. The black stands for night, blue for the skies in daylight, gold for the sun, and so on. While, this may be fascinating there is an interesting story of how lord Krishna came to wear peacock feathers on his head. The mythical tale goes something like this.

When one day Krishna woke first from a rest in the forest with his cowherd friends, he decided to wake everyone and call the cows grazing at a distance by playing his flute. Since, the lord was a great flute player, the second his lips touched the wooden instrument, a melodious sound that had a soothing deep rhythm came rushing out of its end. The beautiful music enchanted the peacocks living in and around the hills, and they began to dance and rejoice in the sound of the lord’s melody. The king of the peacocks then came to the lord and thanked him for the divine gesture by touching his feet. Lord Krishna was so pleased with the sight of dancing peacocks and their gratefulness that he too started dancing amongst them. The spectacle was extremely splendid when seen from the top of the Govardhan hills, the heaven and even the netherland. This went on for many days and when all grew tired and eventually stopped, the peacock king came to the lord and said, “You have created a festival of bliss for which we remain eternally indebted. I request you to accept our only opulence, our plumage as a gift. Wear them on your crown as decoration" and dropped many feathers. The lord lovingly accepted the humble offering and wore a few on his crown and continued wearing them since then.

There are many other stories about Lord Krishna and other gods and goddesses. If you are looking for Indian gods’ statues, it may helpful to go through a few to help you decide which statue you want to buy.

Religious Idols

These days there are many of us who have Indian friends and colleagues that we wish to gift something special to, but have no idea what will be appreciated. Knowing of their religious standing or practices is not enough to go out and buy a religious gift, at least for a Hindu. After all, there are more than a 100 million gods that are worshipped in the religion. You might be better off casually asking the recipient what his favorite religious idols are. Chances are you will come across names like Ganpati or Ganesh, Krishna, Saraswati, Shiva, Vishnu, Rama Sita, Natraj, Lakshami, Kali, Bal Gopal, and Balaji. An ideal gift would be to find a beautiful statue and present it on the special occasion. Most religious Hindus love being gifted gods’ idols and statues, to keep in their prayer room or at focus places within the house for decorative purposes.

All the gods and goddesses in Hinduism have legends and stories about them that have been passed down from generation to generation. In fact, if you search the internet, you can find quite a few interesting stories about each of the names mentioned above. One of the most common stories told is about Lord Vishnu and the mighty demon King Bali that made all the gods in heaven apprehensive of the universe’s future. The story goes something like this:

There was once a Demon King named Bali. The king was said to be a true devotee of Lord Vishnu and spent many hours a day in prayer. The Lord was once so pleased with his devotion that he had made him invincible in the battle field as a reward. The King had realized the boon he had been given and started taking undue advantage of this by defeating all gods in battle. All the gods in heaven worried about his growing strength and wondered how he could be distracted or controlled. At last Lord Vishnu came to the rescue, by disguising himself as a common human being in the form of a dwarf Vamana. King Bali was always known as a generous king and prided himself for being so. Hence, when the dwarf asked the mighty king for space which could be covered in three steps, he gladly agreed to oblige against the warning given by his Guru Sukracharya. Soon Vamana grew so large that in one foot he touched the entire Earth, another foot touched the heavens and then King Bali did not have a third foot to provide so he bowed his head to Vamana who then put his third foot on King Bali’s head. However, being worshipped by Mahabali and his ancestor Prahláda, he conceded to them the sovereignty of Patala (netherworld).

Such stories make the various Hindu religious idols all the more appealing. Plus, once you take a look around at the many varieties of statues available in the market, you will be tempted to pick up an idol or two for your own home.

Elephant Statues

Elephant statues are a common sight in many households across different countries of the world. One of the reasons for this may be that there are plenty of similar beliefs associated with the presence of such statues at home or in the workplace. In a majority of cultures it is believed that elephant statues that have the animal’s trunk pointing upwards bring good luck to the home or place where it is kept. Elephants in general have been considered to be mystical and legendary. Considered as a symbol of wisdom, prosperity and power, these sacred and majestic creatures have had their dominance in many Eastern tales and ancient stories.

Today people place elephant statues in their houses as decorative pieces. Beautiful and attractive, elephant statues are loved by children and elders alike. A part of this fondness lies in the many stories one has heard growing up. An old Indian fable, which was later popularized by the celebrated American poet John Godfrey Saxe is one such story many of us have heard. The story is called Six Blind Men and an Elephant.

Once there were six blind Indian men who went to see an elephant. And while each of them was blind, they wanted to touch the elephant and figure out what kind of creature it is. The first man happened to touch the elephant’s side and thought it to be a wall. The second touched only his tusk and concluded that the animal is just like a spear. The third blind man felt the elephant’s trunk and claimed that it was just like a snake, while the fourth man touched the knee and confirmed that the elephant was exactly like a tree. The fifth happened to touch the creature’s ear and concluded that it was like a fan, and the last blind man touched its swinging tail and felt it to be just like a rope. And since each one of them had felt and come to a conclusion, started arguing about their opinion of the animal being accurate, but while they all were partly right they were all wrong.

Another old Indian tale teaches children the evils of being too proud. There was once an elephant swimming in the water. The elephant was very proud of his enormous size and status in the jungle. Seeing his feet dangle beneath the water, an alligator caught his limb and started pulling him into the depths. The elephant then realized that his size was of no use and started to pray to the almighty to help him escape. God then appeared and set him free of the alligator’s clasp.

Such colourful tales and all the other myths and beliefs associated with elephant statues, make them very popular with people even today.

Ganesh Statues

Ganesh Statues are a fairly common sight all around the world. The Elephant God, as he is known in the western countries has fascinated people across the globe with his obvious elephant face, large tummy and tiny mouse. This Hindu god is invoked at the beginning of all traditional rituals and is worshipped in thirty two different forms recognized in the Agamic scriptures.

The 32 names of Ganesh are Baala Ganesh, Dharuna Ganesh, Bhakti Ganesh, Veera Ganesh, Shakti Ganesh, Dwija Ganesh, Siddhi Ganesh, Ucchishta Ganesh, Vigna Ganesh, Kshipra Ganesh, Heramba Ganesh, Lakshmi Ganesh, Makara Ganesh, Vijaya Ganesh, Nritta Ganesh, Urdhva Ganesh, Vara Ganesh, Ekakshara Ganesh, Dhryakshara Ganesh, Kshipraprasaada Ganesh, Haridra Ganesh, Ekadhanta Ganesh, Srishti Ganesh, Utthanda Ganapati, Ranamochana Ganesh, Dundi Ganapati, Dwimukha Ganesh, Trimukha Ganesh, Simha Ganapati, Yoga Ganapati, Durga Ganesh, and Sankatahara Ganapati.

Lord Ganesh also has quite a few names that he is called by such as Ganapati, Ganesha, Ekadantaa, Chaturbhuj, Amit, Kapila, Krti, and so on. His hundred and eight names are symbolic of his various characteristics, blessings, legends attached to his godliness and praises by his worshippers.

Ganesh is known as the eldest son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. There is a fascinating story about this in the Ganesh Khanda of the Brahma Vivarta Puraan. The story goes something like this. Lord Shiva and Goddess Paravti were gifted the magical Wisdom Fruit which held the nectar of immortality and supreme knowledge and they wanted to bestow it on one of their sons which were Lord Ganesh and Lord Kartikeya (Subramanya). Unable to decide Lord Shiva thought for a bit and suggested that they have a race. He said that whoever went around the whole world three times and came back first to the starting point first would be the winner and get the magical fruit. Upon hearing this Lord Kartikeya flew away on his peacock hastily to take a round of the world, quite confident because his brother was slower and fatter; while Lord Ganesh simply walked around Shiva and Parvati and encircled them three times and asked for the prize of his success. Lord Shiva told him that he had not gone around the world, but Ganesha lovingly replied saying, “No, but I have gone around my parents. My parents represent the entire manifested universe!” And upon hearing this Lord Shiva decided Ganesh to be the winner and the tales of his wisdom and intellect abound to this day.

There are many stories of this Hindu god. In fact each name and form of Lord Ganesh has a story behind it. Different Ganesh statues too represent some or the other form of the lord. Reading up on some stories might be a good way to get an insight into such Hindu gods.

Hindu Deities Statues

All Hindu deities’ statues represent one or more particular aspects of the Supreme Being. And while Hindus worship many gods and goddesses, they believe that all these are forms of that one Supreme God. For this reason, it can be said that Hinduism is not just Polytheism, but a Monotheistic Polytheism. One of the celebrated goddesses in Hinduism is goddess Lakshmi. Believed to be the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, fertility, luxury and beauty, the deity promises material and spiritual fulfillment to her worshippers. Some of the many names of this goddess are Padma, Padmahasta, Bhargavi, Sridevi, Bhumi Devi, Chanchala, Indira, Ramaa Devi, Shri, Vaishnavi, Mahalaxmi, Jalaja, Aishwarya, Roma, and Padmamaladhara Devi.

This wife of Vishnu is associated with blessing the worshippers with eight types of wealth. These are Adi Lakshmi, Dhanya Lakshmi (granary wealth), Dhairya Lakshmi (wealth of courage), Gaja Lakshmi (elephant as the symbol of wealth), Santana Lakshmi (wealth of progeny), Vijaya Lakshmi (wealth of victory), Vidya Lakshmi (wealth of knowledge) and Dhana Lakshmi (monetary wealth). Statues of the goddess are depicted in a female form with four arms. She is mostly dressed in red hues with golden borders and gold jewelry. Carrying gold coins and lotuses in her hand, she is also standing on a large lotus or sitting on an owl (Ulooka) or celestial turtle. There are two elephants standing next to the goddess’s figure.

The two elephants stand for the name and fame associated with wealth, while the colour red is symbolic of activity and hard work. The four arms represent the four directions and the presence of god. The donned gold linings on the sari and jewelry denote prosperity, and the lotus the goddess stands on is symbolic of not being too attached to materialistic things like monetary wealth, just like the lotus flower that calmly floats on the surface of water but does not get wet. The deity Lakshmi’s hands too signify a great deal. The hands towards the front are symbolic of the physical world and the work that needs to be put in, in order to achieve the goals in life. The other two hands indicate the spiritual activity one must not forget to do in order to live a complete life.

Hindu Deities statues like Lakshmi idols are prayed to and kept in most homes. The goddess is especially worshipped during the festival of lights, Diwali. This daughter of the Sea is said to be the power and Maya of Lord Vishnu, who is the preserver of the world. This is the reason that some idols of Vishnu have two forms of Lakshmi. These are Sridevi, which is the goddess of wealth and knowledge, and Bhudevi, which is the mother form of the goddess.

Indian God Statues

In the holy book of Hinduism called the Bhagavad Gita, it is written that ‘even those who worship other gods, ancestral deities, elemental powers, if they do so with complete faith, then their faith is justified, for the Divine accepts every form conceived by the worshipper’. It is a pleasant fact that if you are out looking for Indian God Statues, you may come across a whole wide range of them on the Internet. Some of the popular ones are those of Hindu deities like Lord Ganesh, Lord Krishna, Goddess Saraswati, Goddess Durga, and saints such as Saibaba, Mahavir, Swami Samartha, etc.

Despite the fact that such statues are available at different locations throughout the country, and finding a statue of your choice is not too hard a task, a majority of people are turning to Internet shopping and online hunts for the perfect Indian gods’ statues. There are quite a few advantages of going online instead of personally taking a trip to the marketplace and finding a sculpture or artisan or shop that sells such products. Plus, there is always a limited choice when it comes to just one or two stores. Online shopping on the other hand is a whole different ball game. Not only does this method save you time and effort, but also gives you the freedom to shop on your own time, any hour of day or night. Plus with so many dealers of statues online, you can be sure of getting a wealth of variety regarding choice in materials, designs, gods, styles, work, carvings, etc., providing complete value for money.

Seeing that Hindu gods and goddesses statues can come in a plenty of diverse forms, it is crucial for you to know exactly what you are looking for. First of all you must decide on the god you want to purchase. Here, let us assume that you want to buy a statue of Lord Krishna. The next step would be to search for companies that make and sell Krishna statues. Once you have shortlisted a few companies that fit your criteria for standard and quality, you can go through the pictures of different statues to find one that you like. To make this process even simpler you can even decide on a particular form or aspect of the selected god as well. For example, choose whether you want to buy a Krishna statue that has him in his warrior – poet form, as a mischievous child, as a young man, or with Radha.

No matter what form or god you desire to own, you can be sure that the best place to look for Indian gods statues is on the Internet, thanks to reputable and reliable statue dealers.