Gardez Ganesha

The Gardez Ganesha is a statue of the Hindu god Ganesha, discovered in Gardez, near Kabul in Afghanistan. It is considered “a typical product of the Indo-Afghan school”. It was dedicated by a king named Khingal.

D.C. Sircar has dated the statue to the 6th-7th century CE, and more precisely 7th century CE based on the palaeography of the inscription on its base. Some authors have attributed the statue to the transitional period between Kushan art to Gupta art, to the 5th or even 4th-century CE. The statue of Ganesha from Gardez is now attributed to the period of Turk Shahis in the 7-8th century CE, rather than to their successors the Hindu Shahis (9th-10th century) as formerly suggested. The datation is essentially based on stylistic analysis, as the displays great iconographical and stylistic similarities with the works of the Buddhist monastery of Fondukistan, which is also dated to the same period.

The statue of Ganesha is also considered contemporary to the famous Hindu statue of Surya in tunic and boots discovered in Khair Khaneh near Kabul, also attributed to the Turk Shahis in the 7-8th century CE. Archaeologically, the construction of the Khair Khaneh temple itself is now dated to 608-630 CE, at the beginning of the Turk Shahis period. Brahmanism seems to have flourished to some extent under the Turk Shahis, who were primarily supporters of Buddhism, with various works of art also attributed to their period of the 7-8th century CE.

After its discovery in Gardez, the statue was transferred to the Hindu temple of Dargah Pir Rattan Nath in Kabul, near the Pamir Cinema.