3" Small Brass Panchanaga Kirtimukha Wall Hanging With Seated Ganesha On Top

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The otherworldly brass Kirtimukha whose bulging eyes and tongue lolling out of a mouth full of fangs catch our attention has its origin story narrated in the Shiva Maha Purana. Kiritimukha was originally a demon born from Shiva’s wrath that, troubled by his insatiable hunger and directed by Shiva, began devouring himself until all he had for a body was his face or Mukha as presented in this brass Kirtimukha with Ganesha wall hanging. Moved by his glorious devotion, Lord Shiva gave him the name- Kirtimukha (Kirti-glory, Mukha- face) and established him at the entrance of all the holy shrines as a protector of the deity and a reminder of the virtue of self-surrender. In the ancient Hindu temples, the presence of the Kirtimukha on the top of the entrance is a tradition and without the Kirtimukha, it is believed that no temple structure is complete.

Seated on the top of the brass Kirtimukha is Vighnesha, the lord of obstacles, whose presence completes any Hindu ritual. In this sense, both the Kirtimukha motif and Sri Ganesha are two of the most important symbols in Hinduism, whose appearance in the sacred space is vital. Flanking him is the Adi-Shehsa, who after a long-drawn battle with Ganesha, submitted himself to the great Lord. Ganesha himself is the manifestation of the primordial wisdom, one that is achievable only by annihilating one’s ego- a task that can be done either by following the example of Shesha who challenged the divinity initially only to be pacified later or by looking at the mesmeric annihilation of the self as done by the lion-faced demon who became Kirtimukha. Whatever your path may be, the great divine is pleased only by the offering of human pride, which opens the gate to a journey towards transcendental knowledge.