Legends & Lord Ganesha

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Legends & Lord Ganesha

 

 

Thursday, 28 August , 2003, 16:25

 

How did Ganesha get his elephant-head? Why does he have a broken

tusk? Insightful stories and legends spun around one of the most

beloved deities in the Hindu pantheon of gods.

The Birth of Ganesha: According to one puranic story, the Devas

approached Shiva for help against demons. Shiva consented to aid them

and out of his mind appeared a glorious, glowing figure of a child

with the head of a powerful elephant and a trident in one hand.

 

The gods were overjoyed to see the mind-born son of Shiva who would

henceforth protect them. Seeing this beautiful child, Parvati placed

him on her lap and vowed that no endeavour, human or divine, would be

successful without a prayer to the young one. Shiva then made him the

leader of the ganas or celestial hordes, calling him Ganpati.

 

In another purana the same story is modified. According to it,

Shiva's maanasika putra was a dazzling human boy. Parvati, annoyed

that the child was born without her intervention, willed that the

head should be turned to that of an elephant. However, when she saw

the elephant-headed child she felt great love for him, and stated

that no endeavour, human or divine, would succeed without a prayer to

Ganpati, whom Shiva had made the head of the ganas.

 

How Ganesha got The elephant head

 

A more popular legend deals with the birth of Ganesha to Parvati.

Once while Parvati was going for her bath, she rubbed off the dust

and oil from her body and out of it created the figure of a young

boy. She infused life into the figure and told him he was her son and

should guard the entrance when she went down to bathe.

 

Soon after, Shiva came to see Parvati but the young boy blocked his

way and would not let him in. Shiva, unaware that this lad was his

son, became furious and in great anger fought with the boy whose head

got severed from his body in the ensuing battle. Parvati, returning

from her bath, saw her headless son and threatened, as Shakti, to

destroy the heavens and the earth, so great was her sorrow.

 

The gods and Shiva pacified her and the latter sent out his ganas, or

hordes, to bring the head of the first living being with his head

towards the north (the auspicious direction associated with wisdom).

 

They did so and the first living creature they found sleeping with

its head to the north was an elephant. They brought the head of this

animal and Shiva placed it on the trunk of Parvati's son and breathed

life into him. Parvati was overjoyed and embraced her son, the

elephant-headed boy whom Shiva named Ganesha, the lord of his ganas.

Ganesha and the Fruit of Wisdom: Shiva and Parvati were playing with

their two sons, Ganesha and Kartikeya (or Murugan, as he is known to

the Tamils). They had been given a fruit by the gods and both the

sons wanted it. The divine couple explained to the sons that this

fruit had in it the nectar of Supreme Knowledge and Immortality, and

since both wanted it, the one who circled the world three times and

came back first would get it as a prize.

 

Kartikeya got on to his vehicle, the peacock, and flew into space,

stopping at all sacred spots on the way and offering his prayers.

Ganesha knew that, with his corpulent form weighing him down, his

vehicle, the mouse, would go even slower than usual and he could

never beat Kartikeya.

 

But his wisdom taught him a solution. He walked around his parents,

Shiva and Parvati, three times, with great devotion. When his parents

asked him why he was not circling the globe, he answered - "My

parents, Shiva and Parvati are the whole world. Within them is the

entire universe. I need go no further."

 

Naturally he won the fruit. This incident highlights the importance

of intelligence, of which Ganesha is a repository, as against

strength or speed or physical achievements. The same story is altered

in another purana according to which Shiva and Parvati asked both

their sons to race round the world thrice.

 

The one to win would be married first. Ganesha won by

circumambulating his parents three times, who then married him to the

daughters of Vishwaroopa, Siddhi (Achievement or Success) and Buddhi

(Wisdom). In most parts of India Vinayaka is considered a celibate

but in some parts of the country he is considered married to these

beautiful girls, a symbolic marriage to emphasise the importance of

wisdom and success in removing obstacles. Why Ganesha has a broken

tusk?

 

There are several legends as to how Ganesha broke one of his tusks,

giving him the name, Ekadanta, the one with a single tusk. The first

pertains to his battle with Parashurama.

 

Parashurama was one of the incarnations of Vishnu, born on earth to

teach a lesson to the ruling classes, the Kshatriyas, who had become

very arrogant and were riding rough-shod over the ordinary people. As

a human on earth, he meditated on Shiva and obtained the divine axe,

parashu, with whose help he waged wars against all the erring princes

and cleared the world of their evil.

 

Deeply indebted to Shiva, he then came to Mount Kailas to pay

obeisance to his mentor. Ganesha who was guarding the entrance to his

father's chambers would not let him in, saying he had to wait till he

obtained Shiva's permission. Parashurama felt that he, a devotee,

needed no permission.

 

When Ganesha refused to give in, Parashurama, hot-tempered at all

times, struck Ganesha's tusk with his axe and broke it. Shiva and

Parvati appeared before him and chastised Parashurama, who then

worshipped Ganesha and obtained his forgiveness and blessings.

 

Ganesha's vehicle, the mouse

 

Gajamukha, a demon, did severe penance on the advice of

Shukraachaarya, the guru of the asuras or demons, and obtained

invincible powers from Shiva. He used these powers to harass the gods

who then rushed to Ganesha for help.

 

Ganesha battled with the demon but realized that, thanks to the

powers given by Shiva, the evil one could not be killed. Ganesha then

broke his right tusk and threw it at Gajamukha cursing him to change

into a mouse. He then got on to the back of the mouse, and made it

his vehicle, thereby keeping it under his control.

 

According to another puranic story, Ganesha's rat was really the

Gandharva, Krauncha. Once, in the court of Indira, the king of the

Devas, Krauncha insulted the sage, Vaamedeva. He was then cursed by

the latter and turned into a large rat.

 

The rat, true to its nature, entered the ashram of sage, Paraashara

and caused great havoc to his dwelling as only a rat can. The Rishi

then prayed to Vinayaka to save his simple dwelling. Ganesha

appeared, made the rat his vehicle, and brought him under control.

 

As will be noticed, whatever the puranic story, the purpose of making

the rat his vehicle was to keep the rodent, whose nuisance value is

high, under the control of Ganpati.

 

Ganesha, the scribe for Mahabharata

 

The most interesting story concerning Ganesha is the belief that he

was the scribe who wrote the Mahabharata. Sage Vyasa, the author of

this epic, was advised by Brahma, on whom he meditated, to ask

Ganesha to be the scribe to whom he could dictate the epic in verse

form.

 

Ganapati appeared before Brahma and agreed to write, but on one

condition, and that was that Vyasa would dictate continuously without

pause. Vyasa agreed but he had his own condition, and that was that

Ganesha should understand every word and thought and its implications

before writing it down.

 

Whenever Vyasa found Ganesha had completed writing a verse, he would

dictate a verse with very complex meanings so that Ganesha had to

stop and think it over.

 

This gave Vyasa time to compose a few stanza mentally and dictate

them when Ganesha was ready. Ganesha used his broken tusk to write

the Mahabharata, the longest epic the world has ever known. Is it

surprising then that with Vyasa as the poet, Ganesha as the scribe

and Krishna as the main hero, this epic has few equals in the world.

 

This story also has a lesson for mankind, that the Mahabharata should

not be hurriedly read. It should be understood and digested, heard

patiently and ruminated upon. In fact there is a superstition that

the Mahabharata should never be read, only listened to, one small

part at a time. Only then can one understand the depth of the

meanings underlying the events in the epic.

 

Ganesha and the Moon

 

Once, Ganesha partook of a huge meal of modaka (a sweet greatly

favoured by him) and was riding home on his vehicle, the mouse.

Suddenly the mouse was tripped by a snake. Ganesha fell off his back

and his over-full stomach burst open and out tumbled the modaks.

 

Seeing this comic sight, Chandra, the Moon, burst into laughter.

Ganesha got up, picked up the snake and tied it around his broken

waist-line. (This snake belt can be seen in many sculptures of

Ganesh).

 

He then threw his broken tusk at the Moon and cursed him so that he

would never again shine at night nor appear in the heavens.(In those

times the full moon shone every day in the year).

 

Without the Moon, there was no night, no moonlight and no twilight.

People found they could not sleep in the bright sunlight which now

shone veen at night. The gods found life in the heavens as

intolerable as human beings found the earth without the Moon.

 

The gods rushed to Ganesha and pleaded him. The kind-hearted Ganesha

relented but said that the moon would no longer shine in full glory

every night. He would was and wane from a bright fortnight to a dark

fortnight ending with Full Moon and the New Moon alternatively.

 

Also, it would not be lucky to see the Moon on Ganesh Chaturthi day

(thhe fourth day of the bright fortnight) in the month of Bhaadrapad,

as one who does will be the victim of scandal. The superstition

exists to this day, and people carefully avoid looking at the moon on

Ganesh Chaturthi. The over-superstitious however look downwards on

Chaturthi day or the 4th day of the bright fortnight not only once a

year but every month to be on the safe side.

 

Ganesha and the River KaveriWhile Ganga is the biggest river of north

India, Kaveri is the most important river of south India. Kaveri is

also called Dakshina Ganga or 'Ganga of the south'. Many Indians

lovingly address the Kaveri as 'Kaveri-amma' or 'Kaveri-taai' (mother

Kaveri). Some people call the river Ponni. In Tamil, 'ponni'

means 'gold'.

 

To bring water to the arid areas of South, Sage Agastya with the

blessings of Brahma obtained water in his Kamndalu (the vessel used

to hold water for rituals of worship) from Shiva. He then came down

south wanting to find the ideal spot from which the river could flow,

and reached the Kodagu (Coorg) hills. He called out to a little boy

(Ganesha in disguise), and asked him to hold the vessel carefully

while he searched around for a good spot.

 

Ganesha, in his wisdom, selected the right place for the origin of

the river, and left the Kamandalu on the ground at that spot. A crow

came and sat on the vessel and when Agastya returned and saw it, he

shooed it away. When it flew of, it upset the Kamandalu and the water

gushing forth was the sacred River Kaveri flowing from the spot now

known as Talakaveri. There is a shrine near the kundike and a big

tank in front of it where devotees baths before offering prayers.

 

There are two temples, a Shiva temple and with a rare and ancient

Shiva Linga, and another temple dedicated to Lord Ganesha. This

temple has a holy Ashwantha tree where, according to legend, the

Trimurti's - Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh gave Darshan to sage Agastya.

 

According to a different version of the above legend, Vishnu Maya

became a dwarf and Agastya carried her in a small mud pot to south

India. In south India, God Ganesha turned the pot upside down.

Immediately, Vishnu Maya emerged out of the pot and assumed the form

of the river Kaveri!