Ganapathi
Ganapathi - Remover of Obstacles
[Some Anecdotes]
Compiled by P. R. Ramachander
Ganapathi who is also referred to as Ganapathi, Ganesa (Chief of Shiva’s army),
Vigneswara (Lord who removes obstacles), Gaja Mukha (Elephant faced God), Eka
Dantha (God with one tusk), Lambodhara (God with a big Paunch) etc., is one of
the very important Gods of the Hindu pantheon. He is endearingly called Pillayar
(our son) in Tamil Nadu.
He is the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi. He is considered as married to
two wives, Sidhi (occult powers) and Budhi (wisdom), in the Northern part of
India and considered as a chronic bachelor in South India. There are some
temples in South India like Chidambaram where he is shown along with his two
wives. He is considered as the elder son of Shiva and Parvathi in South India
and is considered as younger son in North India.
He has a very peculiar appearance, with his elephant head, an extraordinarily
big paunch, over which he ties a snake, a broken trunk and with his steed being
a very small insignificant mouse.
Through out India, he is worshipped before venturing to do any new job,
including poojas, fire sacrifices, celebrations and even day to activities so
that he would help us to complete the job undertaken successfully. He is also
considered as the God of Knowledge and learning in many places of India. Coconut
and Modakas are very dear to him.
Ganapathi's Origin
There are many stories regarding his birth. The most popular one is as follows:
One day when Lord Shiva was away, Goddess Parvathi wanted to take bath in the
river. To guard against any unwelcome intrusion, she took a little turmeric
paste from her body and created a young boy. She gave him clear instructions not
to allow any body inside. Unfortunately at this time Lord Shiva returned. The
new boy refused him admission, though lord Shiva told him that he is the husband
of Parvathi. Lord Shiva became very angry and cut off the head of this new boy
and threw it away using his trident. At this time, Goddess Parvathi came back
and became very sad, that the boy created by her was killed. Lord Shiva wanted
to console Parvathi. So he sent his army to bring the first head that that they
see on their way. The first head that they saw was the head of dying elephant.
Shiva fixed that head on the boy’s trunk and brought him back to life. He also
adopted him as his elder son and made him chief of his army.
There are many other stories on how Ganapathi was born. The one in Uthara
Ramayana says that once Shiva and Parvathi took the form of elephant and were
wandering in the forest. A son was born to them and that is Ganapathi.
Yet another story tells that Goddess Parvathi wanted a son badly and did Tapas
to Lord Vishnu. He blessed her and a son was born to her. Goddess Parvathi
invited all Gods to come and see her baby. When Lord Sani (Planet Saturn) came
and had a look at the baby, the baby’s head was burnt. Lord Vishnu traveled
throughout the world and brought back a head of an elephant which was fixed to
the baby. All Gods present there blessed the baby, that unless he is worshipped
first, they would not accept any worship.
Yet another story is that of Gajamukhasura. Gajamukhasura did great penance
toward Lord Shiva. When he came before, he requested Lord Shiva to live in his
belly. When Lord Shiva did not return, Goddess Parvathi sought the help of Lord
Vishnu. Lord Vishnu dressed himself as a flutist and took along with him Nandi,
the steed of Lord Shiva, Nandi was made to dance funny dances, in front of
Gajamukhasura to the soulful music provided by Lord Vishnu (This type of bull
dancing to the tune of music is still prevalent in South India). Gajamukhasura
was pleased and gave a boon to Lord Vishnu, without knowing him who he is. Lord
Vishnu requested him to release Lord Shiva. When Lord Shiva came out of his
belly the asura died. While dying he requested Lord Shiva, that his head should
be remembered after he is dead. After his death, Lord Shiva fixed the asura’s
head on his elder son.
Another story tells that Shiva in a fit of rage killed Adithya, the son of sage
Kashyapa. When Kashyapa became very angry, Lord Shiva replaced the head of
Kashyapa’s son by the head of Indra’s elephant. The sage was infuriated and
cursed that Lord Shiva’s son also will undergo the same fate as his own son.
Still another tale states that on one occasion, Parvati’s used bath-water was
thrown into the Ganges, and this water was drunk by the elephant-headed Goddess
Malini, who gave birth to a baby with four arms and five elephant heads. The
river goddess Ganga claimed him as her son, but Shiva declared him to be
Parvati's son, reduced his five heads to one and enthroned him as the controller
of obstacles (Vignesha).
Ganapathi lost his one tusk
The most popular story as to how Ganapathi lost his tusk is as follows. Veda
Vyasa decided to compose the huge epic Mahabharata. He needed some body to write
down his composition, as soon as he composes it. Ganapathi, being the God of
knowledge, was requested to do this job. Ganapathi agreed on one condition. Veda
Vyasa should dictate all he wants to write at one stretch and without break.
Vyasa agreed but he put a condition that Lord Ganapathi should write a verse
only after understanding it. After agreeing to this Ganapathi broke one of his
tusks and used it as a pen. Veda Vyasa composed extremely difficult to
understand verses, whenever he wanted time to think. This was the reason why
Ganapathi become the one tusked God.
Padma Purana ascribes a completely different reason for this. It seems once Lord
Parasurama went to Kailasa to see Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva was at that time
asleep. Lord Ganapathi, who was guarding the room of Lord Shiva, did not allow
Parasurama inside. A war ensued between Ganapathi and Parasurama and in this war
Ganapathi lost one of his tusks because of the axe of Parasurama which had been
gifted to him by Lord Shiva.
There is yet another story connecting moon to the loss of one tusk of Ganapathi.
This is as follows. Once on a Vinayaka Chathurthi, Ganapathi got very large
offering of very tempting Modhaks. He ate all that was offered and being unable
to walk with a heavy belly, mounted on his steed, the mouse. Suddenly a snake
appeared from the forest. The mouse on whom, Ganapathi was riding was terrified
at the sight of a snake and started running away. Naturally Ganapathi fell from
his steed and his belly broke slightly. Not loosing his presence of mind
Ganapathi caught hold of the snake and tied his belly tightly. Chandra, who was
seeing all this laughed at Ganapathi. The short tempered Ganapathi became very
angry, broke one of his tusks and threw it at the moon. The Moon broke in to
pieces. Ganapathi also cursed the moon, that, he would become a dark globe
within 15 days, daily loosing one crescent and whosoever sees him on a
chathurthi day (Fourth day of the waning moon) would be laughed at. Later Lord
Shiva brokered a peace between Ganapathi and the moon. He said Moon will get
reduced to dark as per Ganapathi’s curse and later regain his brilliance in
another 15 days. (Some people ascribe the moon’s downfall due to a curse by
Daksha, when he saw that out of his 27 daughters married to moon, he was showing
partiality to only one girl Rohini).
Ganapathi made a speedier round of the world
Once sage Narada offered a very celestial mango fruit to Lord Shiva. Both his
children Ganapathi and Subrahmanya wanted that fruit. Narada suggested that the
one who travels all round the world first should get this fruit. Both Ganapathi
and Subrahmanya agreed. Immediately Lord Subrahmanya started for his journey on
his steed the peacock. Ganapathi who is very heavy and rides on a slow mouse
circled round Lord Shiva and Parvathi and said that he has gone round the world
because the entire world was within Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi. Lord Shiva
was pleased with this explanation and gave the mango to Ganapathi
Another story says that there was a need for Shiva to appoint a commander and
the above competition was held and Ganapathi won the post as explained in the
last paragraph and was nominated as Ganesa or Ganapathi (Both meaning the Lord
of Shiva’s army) and later Lord Subramanya was appointed as the captain of the
army of devas.
Another story says that when Ganapathi and Subrahmanya reached marriageable age,
Shiva held the above competition and Ganapathi won it as described and his
marriage with Sidhi and Budhi was celebrated first.
Ganapathi blessed the South India with a great river
The marriage of Shiva and Parvathi was to be celebrated on mount Kailasa. All
the people all over the world started traveling towards mount Kailasa. Due to
the heavy burden on the northern side, the world started tilting towards the
north. To correct this Lord Shiva requested sage Agsthya to go and live in the
South of India. Agasthya obeyed the orders of Lord Shiva and reached the south.
The entire south India was extremely dry at that time. Lord Shiva had sent some
sacred waters of Ganga along with Agasthya, which Sage Agasthya was preserving
very carefully in his pot. One day when was asleep, Ganapathi took the form of a
crow and toppled Agasthya’s pot. From the Ganga started spreading in to a river.
This river was called kaveri - She who was spread by a crow.
Another story says that it was not Ganges which was in Agasthya’s pot but his
wife Lopa Mudhra who was in love with South India.
Ganapathi prevented Ravana becoming powerful
Once Ravana by his musical skill pleased Lord Shiva, Blessing him Lord Shiva
gave a Shiva Linga (Athma Linga) and asked Ravana to take it Sri Lanka and
preserve it there. He told Ravana that if that Shiva Linga reaches Sri Lanka, no
body can win over Ravana. But he also told that he should never keep that Shiva
Linga down on earth at any other spot while on his way. When Ravana reached
Gokarna (A place in Karnataka) he wanted very badly to answer natures call,
Ganapathi appeared there as Brahmin boy and agreed to hold the Shiva Linga for
some time. He also told Ravana that if he does not come back by the stipulated
time, he would keep the Shiva Linga there and go away. Lord Ganapathi delayed
the coming back of Ravana and kept the Shiva Linga there and vanished. That
place is called Gokarna. This effectively prevented Ravana to be ever
victorious.
Ganapathi helped his brother marry Valli, a tribal princess
Subramanya first married the Devasena the daughter of Indra. Subrahmanya Later
during his travels in south fell in love with Valli who was a tribal princess.
Though Valli loved Lord Subrahmanya she was scared of him, her being a simple
tribal girl and he being the celestial God. One day while Valli was walking in
the forest, Lord Ganapathi took the form of an elephant and chased Valli.
Subrahmanya in the form of an old man gave her protection and requested the
elephant to go away. Then Lord Subrahmanya showed his real form and both of them
got married.
Ganapathi and Kubhera
Kubhera was the God of wealth and was very proud of his wealth. He had slight
contempt towards Shiva for living in such poor conditions on the top of the
mountain. One day he invited Lord Shiva for a feast in his capital Alakapuri and
also told that he has arranged for so much food that no body can eat it
completely Lord Shiva said that he was very busy and sent his son Ganapathi
instead. Ganapathi not only ate all the food that was prepared but also
everything in sight in Kubhera’s town. Kubhera understood his folly and
requested for forgiveness.