Who doesn’t want good luck? Who wouldn’t want a helping hand? Life is tough, most of us would agree. At least, all of us common folks. Don’t we feel at times, exactly like cartoonist Laxman’s beleaguered, bewildered Common Man? After all, not all of us have the robust good sense and fearlessness of his hefty wife! Well, if R.K. Laxman has the uncanny ability to create telling images of our topsy turvy world with a few strokes of his pen, he has also captured what so many of us do when human agency fails: turn to God, or more specifically, to Lord Ganesha, the Hindu deity of prosperity, protection from obstacles, wisdom and welfare in general. In Dharmendra Bhandari’s recently published coffee table style book, “Lord Ganesha”, on tales and symbology related to this popular elephant-headed deity, illustrations by Laxman take pride of place.
We see the Common Man crouching like Ganesha’s mouse, rushing to garland the lord, stretching upwards with an offering of laddoos, or just standing with arms folded, perhaps asking for a little peace and quiet in the midst of a turbulent existence — with his trademark, slightly lost expression!
The book, published by Bhandari himself, came about as a result of the author’s eclectic interests and his friendship with Laxman and with Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. The cartoonist, says the author, had made sketches of the deity over the years. Once, when the Laxmans were invited by then President Kalam along with Bhandari and his family to Rashtrapati Bhawan, the cartoonist presented one of his sketches to Kalam. Later, the President agreed to inaugurate an exhibition of Laxman’s selected works, and on receiving an off-the-cuff elucidation of the Ganesha sketch from Bhandari, suggested he write a book on the subject.
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Bhandari recounts tales from the Puranas on different aspects of Ganesha lore, connecting them to rituals associated with his worship. He also tells us about how the deity has travelled in various forms beyond India to countries like China, Japan and Indonesia and is incorporated in Buddhism as well.
Most of us grow up with some sort of rituals and customs and don’t always question why these norms are laid down. The author says he too was like that to a large extent. “We worship but we don’t always know why,” he says. Thus, he undertook a lot of research, he says, to write the text, delving into Puranas, visiting temples and asking priests. “Surprisingly, there is no book on Ganesha,” he notes. “There are some by foreign authors but not by Indian authors. So it was a difficult task. It took me one full year.”
While the sketches were being created over a period of 25 years, neither the cartoonist nor Bhandari had thought about compiling a book. Yet, says Bhandari, “Laxman was so well informed about the subject,” and his sketches matched many of the author’s episodes. “It was as if I was destined to write it,” he says.
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Currently working on a biography of Nani Palkivala, the author, who has written several books including “Mosaic of Faith: Places of Worship in India”, always publishes and distributes his own works, but is satisfied that they become “bestsellers”.