One of the most worshipped gods in the country, Lord Ganesha is well represented in various forms in the UNESCO world heritage site of Ellora Caves in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district. Ellora, which is home to artworks dating back to the 5th to 10th centuries, showcases the one of most important gods in Hinduism either dancing among yakshas (nature spirits) or imitating his father Shiva’s dancing form Nataraja.

Located 30 km from Aurangabad city, Ellora is a complex of 34 caves comprising artworks from Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Ganesha cannot be seen as an independent deity in the early carvings in the caves and is represented as a part of a group of deities. “In the early caves, we find Ganesha around Shiva’s dancing form Nataraja imitating him. This underlines his position as a yaksha and Shiv gana amongst other ganas. This was the representation of Ganesha in the 6th century,” Indologist Saili Palande-Datar told PTI.