The Wedding Procession of Shri Shankar-ji [Shiva]

The wedding procession of an Indian groom can be a lively affair, but none as spirited as that of the god Shiva—escorted and celebrated by his semidivine followers: the often unruly, sometimes grotesque ganas, who were known for their dancing and music playing.

A revered text describes the scene: “In the marriage procession of Shiva, Nandi and other leaders of the Ganas went surrounded by hundreds and twenties of crores [ten millions] of Ganas . . . who . . . joined the procession with joy and enthusiasm. . . . O sage, some of them belonged to this terrestrial world, some came through nether worlds, some came through the sky.” (Shastri, Shiva-Purana, 640–41)

Here the artist Indira Devi, from the economically impoverished yet artistically rich region of Madhubani in northeastern India, allows her imagination to burst forth in the rendering of the outlandish ganas and their wild antics.

A clip of the same scene from the 1974 movie Har Har Mahadev can be seen nearby.