Black and grey line tattoo of the seated Ganesha figure across a woman's upper back, with her hair in a bun and red fabric over one shoulder.

Seated Ganesha tattoo on upper back

Traditional · Back · Black and grey · Photo

A seated, four-armed Ganesha figure with an ornate crown and trunk is shown in fine black linework across the upper back. The detailed ornament on the crown, jewellery and draped cloth is drawn with clean, even lines, with light grey shading on the body. The photo is taken from behind, so the wearer's face is not visible, and the warm-toned background of red fabric and sparkling textile frames the design.

Traditional Back Ganesha Deity Elephant Crown

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

The snow shut the pass on Tuesday, so the mules are still in the lower stable and I have had time to scrub the shrine twice. Bhola the carter says the god will not mind the dust on his crown, but I do. You left before the first frost and took the small brass Ganesha from the niche by the door, the one with the bent trunk, and I have not forgiven you yet, though the niche still feels like it is waiting for something.

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Ganesha clears the road, Pitaji used to say, so you pray to him before a journey, before a loan, before you sign anything with a merchant. The big stone figure at the top of the pass sits with his legs folded and his four hands full: a sweet in one, an axe in another, a noose, and the last lifted as if to tell the wind to wait. Every carter who crosses ties a red thread to the ring of the stone's wrist, and every spring the old threads are cut down and burned. I have cut more of them than I can count.

Your letter says the city office wants a man who can read figures, and that you will be paid enough to send money home. I believe you. I only ask that you tie a thread at the first bend below the fork, where the road splits and the careless take the wrong branch. Do it for the god, not for me. He does not hurry. He has all the time the mountain has.

The lamp is low now. I have wrapped the brass niche in a scrap of saffron cloth so the damp will not spot it. Write when you reach the plains and tell me whether the rivers there are as wide as Bhola says. If they are, I will need the stone to be patient with me a while longer.