Guest guest Posted May 16, 2001 Report Share Posted May 16, 2001 For years I have wondered about the historical reasons for the universality of Ganesh. I am more of a myth maker than an historian, so I hav no idea if my cnjectures are valid. I thought I would post them here & see if anyone has corrections or additions to my little musings. The way I figure it, Hinduism was once a whole bunch of seperate religions which sometimes ignored one another & sometimes competed where their spheres of influence overlapped. Travellers spread stories & myths. The seperate religions began to intermingle. Egypt was similar in dim past. Egypt had central government & the Pharoh (gog-king incarnate) as a unifying force. Many seperate gods became hyphanated composit gods like Amon-Ra. In India, a different approach was taken. No central god-king. Instead, the god everyone loves -- Ganesh. Correct me if I am mis-remembering here, but isn't one of Ganesh's titles the "uniter of attributes"? So now we have Ganesh's image in temples of all the other gods & godeesses. We have GGanesh being addresses at all sectarian rites. Ganesh is (I believe) responsible for preventing many major religious wars & much bloodshed. The process continues today beyond the Hindu religion. Here in New Orleans, I know several Catholics who keep a small statu of Ganesh in their pocket or on their desk at work. Mardi Gra celebration down here honors Ganesh along with just about every other myth & deity imaginable. I am not sure what the rules about attachments are on this e-list, but I am attaching a pic of one the the cups thrown from floats here at Mardi Gras. Gashesh is pictured on the cup surrounded by many different power symbols & the caption is "Crescendos of Creation". Alobar Attachment: (application/octet-stream) Ganesh cup.JPG [not stored] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 16, 2001 Report Share Posted May 16, 2001 > The way I figure it, Hinduism was once a whole bunch of seperate religions which sometimes ignored one another & sometimes competed where their spheres of influence overlapped. Travellers spread stories & myths. The seperate religions began to intermingle. > > Egypt was similar in dim past. Egypt had central government & the Pharoh (gog-king incarnate) as a unifying force. Many seperate gods became hyphanated composit gods like Amon-Ra. In India, a different approach was taken. No central god-king. Instead, the god everyone loves -- Ganesh. Correct me if I am mis- remembering here, but isn't one of Ganesh's titles the "uniter of attributes"? > > So now we have Ganesh's image in temples of all the other gods & godeesses. We have GGanesh being addresses at all sectarian rites. Ganesh is (I believe) responsible for preventing many major religious wars & much bloodshed. ************ Dear Alobar: I feel this might be a real pattern. For me, as a Christian, who is used to Yeshua (Jesus) as an incarnation of God, I can't help but see a parallel to your theory of Egyptian gods and also Ganesh. Before Yeshua came, the Jews and the Gentiles (non-Jews) were separate. The Jews considerd the Gentiles unholy. When Yeshua came, he taught that God's family was made up of all men, and there was a uniting force in his teachings that brought together all races and nations in his message, not just Israel. Here I am talking about Yeshua himself and not the confusing legacy of Christianity, which does not always reflect his teachings. I think that Ganesh and Yeshua resemble each other in many ways. One of their mutual titles is Ganapati, or Lord of the Multitudes/Lord of Hosts. I can't get that out of my head. Just today I thought of another way they are alike. Ganesh was created by Parvati and Yeshua was born from a virgin. Each of them had an unusual 'fatherless' origin. Also, I see both of these persons as associated with joy. So in those ways I feel that your pattern might be substantiated. It also seems that the older gods were more shadowy and tribal, and that the new gods seem to take on more specific form and pull people together more. I still like what Ananda Yogi said about Unity in Diversity though. Also, a closing note would be that I am not trying to blend Ganesh with Amon-Ra or Yeshua or any other image of God. They are not the same. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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