The Story Behind The Hindu God Who Has An Elephant's Head On A Human Body: Ganesha

Introduction

Lord Ganesha also known as Ganpati or Vinayaka is the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. He is identified by his elephant head with only one tusk.Lord Ganesha has four arms holding a Lotus,axe,tusk and a sweet(Modak) in each of his hands.

The birth of Lord Ganesha

The origin of his body is related to a legend - Parvati is said to have created Ganesha in human form to act as her door gaurd. As per her mother's order he didn't let anyone enter her chamber. Lord Shiva came to Parvati's chamber but Ganesha refused to let Shiva go inside which angered the Lord. Enraged Shiva cut off the child's head. Then in order to placate the distressed Parvati,Shiva replaced the head with that of a first living thing he could find- an elephant. 

Lord Ganesha is known as the remover of obstacles and the god of intellect and wisdom.

Some facts about lord Ganesha:

1 ) Lord Ganesha wrote the Mahabharata which was narrated by Maharishi Vyasa to him

It is mentioned in the Mahabharata that Krishna dvaipayana (Vedavyasa) had composed Mahabharata in his mind after meditating in a cave in the Himalayas. But to make this knowledge accessible to the common person,it was necessary to write it without any mistakes. On the suggestion of Brahma, Vedavyasa goes to Ganesha.

 He placed the condition that Maharishi Vyasa shouldn't stop in between or else he wouldn't write the Mahabharata and Maharishi Vyasa then placed a condition that Lord Ganesha would have to understand each shloka and then write.

 

2) He is Pratham Pujya the one who is worshipped before any ritual(a boon given by lord Shiva)

 After Lord Shiva bought Ganesha back to life, Maa Parvati became very happy. She gave him a blessing that he will receive worship before all the gods. Shiva also said that Ganesha will be worshipped before all of god's if not the fruit of the ritual will be waste.

3) He is Ganapati(the leader of all ganas)

Ganapati is a title which means 'Leader of the Ganas'. The first Ganapati was Lord Shiva, then it was Lord Kartikeya and last it is Lord Ganesha.

Ganas are the powerful begins that reside in and around the Mount Kailasha and hence coming under the dominion of Lord Shiva. They are also known as Bhoot Gana, due to their spirit like nature. They are known to be very dangerous and fearsome.

4) Lord Ganesha's wives name

Lord Ganesha once meditated on the banks of Ganges when Tulsi saw him. She desired to marry him. She asked him to be hers but he politely said that he wanted to meditate and dedicate his life to his parents and wanted to be away from family life. Tulsi was wrathful and cursed him that he would have to marry one day. Lord Ganesha was also angry and he cursed her that she would be the wife of one demon and then one plant. However he said that she would be considered sacred within all rituals.

5) Lord Ganesha's two sons 

Lord Ganesha was married to two beautiful daughters of Prajapati visvarupa named goddes Shidhi and goddess Buddhi. From his wife goddess Siddhi lord Ganesha has son named Kshema and from his another wife goddess Buddhi he has son named Labha. 

6 ) Why is Lord Ganesha called Ekdanta?

Ever wondered why lord Ganesha only has one tusk (teeth)? Well there are many legends about how Ganesha lost his one tusk. But the most famous one is that Parshurama cut off his one tusk in anger. Many people thinks that this is the truth because Parshurama was well known for his anger and short tempered behaviour. But it is not possible because Lord Shiva was Parshurama's guru(teacher) so there is no way that he would do something so disrespectful to the son of his guru.

So how did Ganesha lost his tusk? The answer lies in the above fact number one. Lord Ganesha wrote the Mahabharata but he has placed a condition to Vedavyasa that he should tell the Mahabharata in one go and should not stop in between. Mahabharata was so long that Ganesha ran out of wheater(bird's wheater were used as pen in ancient times) to write so he broke his tusk and started writing with his tusk.

7) There are 32 different forms of Lord Ganesha

All 32 forms of lord Ganesha has different features and attributes. They are namely-

1) Bala Ganapati
2)Taruna Ganapati
3)Bhakti Ganpati

4)Vira

5) Shakti

6)Dvija

7)Siddhi

8)Ucchhishta Ganapati

9)Vighna Ganapati

10)Kshipra Ganapati

11)Heramba Ganapati

12)Lakshmi Ganapati

13)Maha Ganapati

14)Vijaya Ganapati

15) Nritya Ganapati

16)Urdhva Ganapati

17)Ekakshara Ganapati

18)Vrada Ganapati

19)Tryakshara Ganapati

20)Kshipra Prasad Ganapati

21)Haridra Ganapati

22)Ekdanta Ganapati

23)Sristi Ganapati

24)Uddanda Ganapati

25)Rinamochana Ganapati

26)Dhundi Ganapati

27)Dvimukha Ganapati

28)Trimukha Ganapati

29)Sinha Ganapati

30)Yoga Ganapati

31)Durga Ganapati

32)Sankatahara Ganapati

8) His vehicle is the mouse Krauncha also called Mooshak

Lord Ganesha mainly ride on a mouse named Krauncha. Some legends says that Ganesha's mouse represents the waving nature of human mind.

9) Lord Ganesha is called Ameya which means the one without any dirt

Ameya is a Sanskrit word which means 'the one without any dirt'. Another meanings of ameya are Boundless and magnanimous.

10) Muladhara chakra and Ganesha

He holds the muladhara chakra of a human body is also known as Ganesha because it is the foundation of the human body and all the other chakras depend on it. Muladhara chakra is also called Root chakra.

Even 100 years will come short if someone tried to explain all of his stories.

Is Ganesha only worshipped in India?

Here's a thing a god will be worshipped wherever his followers he is not bound by any particular place.

A lot of Ganesha's statutes and stories are found in different foreign countries.Some of the countries where the traces of Ganesha can be found and is worshipped widely are-

Indonesia

Despite having thet majority of Muslim in country the image of lord Ganesha is in the currency of Indonesia.  Many Hindu temples can be found in Indonesia. A Ganesha temple is located in Bali. 

Japan

Ganesha is known as Kangiten in Japan and is worshipped from very long time. It is believed that the hindu form of Ganesh traveled to China and was incorporated into Buddhism. From  there it made its way to Japan. Unlike it's hindu form japanese people doesn't reveals kangiten's pictures saying he is too sacred to be seen.