Ganesha, also spelled Ganesh, and also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in the Ganapatya sect. His depictions are found throughout India. Hindu denominations worship him regardless of affiliations. Devotion to Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to Jains and Buddhists and beyond India.
Basohli miniature, c. 1730. National Museum, New Delhi
A 13th-century statue of Ganesha, Hoysala-style, Karnataka
A typical four-armed form. Miniature of Nurpur school (circa 1810)
6th-century Ganesha Statue in Badami caves temples, depicting Ganesha with two arms
Deva means "shiny", "exalted", "heavenly being", "divine being", "anything of excellence", and is also one of the Sanskrit terms used to indicate a deity in Hinduism. Deva is a masculine term; the feminine equivalent is Devi. The word is a cognate with Latin deus ("god") and Greek Zeus.
In the earliest Vedic literature, Devas are benevolent supernatural beings; above, a gilt-copper statue of Indra, "Chief of the Gods", from 16th-century Nepal.
Shiva/Rudra has been a major Deva in Hinduism since the Vedic times. Above is a meditating statue of him in the Himalayas with Hindus offering prayers.
The 12 Devas protecting Buddha, by Tani Bunchō. The Hindu Devas were adopted by Japanese Buddhists in the first millennium as Jūni-ten
Vishnu (above) is one of the Vedic Devas. The third Valli of the Katha Upanishad discusses ethical duties of man through the parable of the chariot as a means to realize the state of Vishnu, one with Self-knowledge.
