Stories on Lord Ganesha

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Vakradhunda Vinayagar

 

When Basmasuran was killed by Siva & Vishnu (Vishnu in the form of Mohini),

Duraasadan, Basmasuran's son was angry and upset. He did tapas & got boons from

Siva that he should never die and that all the devas should be under his

control, etc.

 

 

As usual Siva gave him the varam & there was total chaos for some

time. All the Devas ran into hiding & even Brahma & Vishnu ran out of their

Brahma Logam & Vaikundam. All of them rushed to Kasi which was ruled by

Viswanathar. On hearing of this Duraasadan came to Kasi. All the Gods and

Devas rushed away to Kedaram, because the time was not yet right to kill

Duraasadan. Soon, on the prayers of the Devas, an avataram of Lord Ganesha

came out of Uma Devi's face. (with five faces, 10 hands, Jada magudam with

moon). Uma Devi named him Vakradhundar and gave him her Simha Vahanam (lion).

There ensued a heavy fight between Vakradhundar & Duraasadan. Finally Ganesha

took a huge form (Viswa roopam) & placed his feet on Duraasandan's head. Since

Ganesha is the form of Gnanam, all evil thoughts & the effects of his evil deeds

rushed out of Duraasadan. Lord Ganesha gave him the job of destroying all evil

in Kasi. He remains under Vakradhundar's feet doing his duty.

 

 

 

Vinayagar wrote the Bharatham

Sage Vyasa was meditating in the Himalayas. Lord Brahma appeared before him

and asked him to write the Mahabharatham for the benefit of all. Sage Vyasa said

that he could not compose the verse and write it down too and therefore asked

for the help of someone wise, who would write down as he sang. Brahma asked

sage Vyasa to pray to Lord Ganesha to help him. Ganesha told Vyasa that he had

enormous work to do and hence he would write it down, only if Vyasa was quick in

singing it. For his turn, Sage Vyasa requested that Ganesha should understand

the meaning of the verse and only then put it down in writing.

Click on image to view enlarged version Vyasa started singing.

Whenever he felt Ganesha was writing too fast for him, he would come with a

difficult verse, thus by the time Ganesha could decipher the meaning, he would

have composed several more verses in his mind. In this way, Vyasa completed

the Bharatham in 60 lakhs granthams. This comprises the Kandapuranam,

Ramayanam, Savithri Puranam, Nala Puranam and so on. Lord Ganesha wrote on

Mount Meru using his tusk. Of these 60 lakh granthams, 30 lakhs are supposed to

be in the Deva Logam, 15 lakhs in Yatcha Logam and 14 lakhs in Asura Logam.

Only the remaining 1 lakh granthams is assumed to be on the earth. Sage Vyasa

is supposed to have sung 8,800 granthams, which were difficult for Ganesha to

decipher. He has himself stated that Ganesha, Sage Vyasa himself and his Sugan

are probably the only ones who know the meaning of those 8,800 granthams.

The Mahabharatham is considered the fifth Veda.

 

 

Story of Gajamugasuran

 

There was an asura called Gajamugasuran. He did deep penance and worshipped

Lord Siva, who granted him several boons, by which he became extremely powerful.

He put the Devas and rishis to great trouble. He forced the Devas to do 1008

Thoeppukaranams in the morning, 1008 in the afternoon and 1008 in the evening.

(Thoepukaranam means to sit down and stand up holding one's ears with crossed

hands, left ear with right hand & right ear with left hand). The Devas

prayed to Lord Siva to rescue them from this evil asura. Lord Siva sent Lord

Vinayaga to overcome Gajamugasuran. Vinayagar went with several weapons such as

bow & arrow, sword, axe, etc. However, since Gajamugasuran had been granted the

boon that he be destroyed by no weapon, none of these weapons used by Lord

Vinayaga were effective. Vinayagar broke off his right tusk and used it to kill

Gajamugasuran. Gajamugasuran still rushed at Vinayaga in the form of a mooshikam

(small mouse). Vinayagar crushed the ego and vanity of

Gajamugasuran and sat on the mooshikam. The humbled Gajamugasuran bowed before

Vinayagar, who accepted the mooshikam as his vahana. Lord Vinayaka is the

source of everlasting wisdom. He crushed ego and vanity and reduced it to the

size of a mooshikam and used it as his vahana. Lord Vinayagar can be pleased by

doing Thoepukaranam.

 

Story of Agasthyar - Cauvery

During the wedding of Siva with Parvathi in the Mount Kailas, the entire

population, Devas and Rishis had gathered & hence the Northern land dipped down,

unable to bear the weight. Lord Siva asked Sage Agasthiar to go to the

Podhigai ranges in the Southern land in order to balance the weight. (Agasthiar

was very short in stature but his might was so great). Agasthiar was sad that he

could not stay & witness the Lord's wedding.

Click on image to view enlarged versionSiva granted that he would still be

able to see the wedding from the South. From within his matted locks, he took

river Cauvery & filled it in Agasthiar's kamandalam, bidding Cauvery to flow

wherever Agasthiar pointed. Agasthiar reached the south & travelled to various

Siva Sthalams. Surapaduman was an asura, who had immense power. Indra had

run away in fear from his Indralogam, reached Sirgazhi in the southern regios of

India & prayed to Lord Siva. He created a beautiful garden & worshipped Lord

Siva with the flowers from his garden. But soon, Lord Varuna in fear of

Surapaduman did not shower rains & Indran's garden & in fact the whole land

suffered from lack of water. Sage Narada, told Indran of the river Cauvery that

Lord Siva had once filled in Agasthiar's kamandalam. Indran prayed to Lord

Ganesha for his help. Ganesha took the form of a crow & sat on Agasthiar's

kamandalam & toppled it. Agasthiar lifted his hands to shoo off the

crow. River Cauvery, took it as a signal for her & began to flow. The crow

took the form of a small boy. Agasthiar started chasing the boy trying to strike

him on his head with his knuckles. Ganesha took his original form. Agasthiar was

saddened that he had tried to strike Lord Ganesha. He started striking his

forehead with his knuckles. Ganesha stopped him & granted that everybody who

worshipped him in this manner would be blessed with wisdom.

 

Story of Ravana & Aathma Lingam

Ravana, the king of Lanka was an asura, but he was an ardent devotee of Lord

Siva. He reached mount Kailas & prayed to Lord Siva, that his Lanka should never

be destroyed. Lord Siva gave him an Aathma Lingam, with the condition that he

should go back on foot to Lanka & that he should not put down the Lingam at any

point. If he were to put the Lingam down, the Lingam would remain firmly at that

spot. The Devas were worried that the Aathma Lingam would add to the might of

Ravana & that he could never be destroyed if he succeeded in taking the Aathma

Lingam to Lanka.

Click on image to view enlarged versionThey prayed to Lord Ganesha for

help. Lord Ganesha caused Ravana's stomach to be filled with water. Ravana grew

desperate to answer nature's call. Ganesha appeared before Ravana as a small

boy. Ravana handed over the Aathma Lingam to the boy. Ganesha declared that he

could not wait for long & when he grew tired, he would call out Ravana's name

thrice & if he did not come & take the Lingam, he would place it on the ground &

go away. Ravana agreed. Soon Ganesha called out Ravana's name thrice, and

since Ravana could not come and take the Lingam, he placed it on the ground. The

enraged Ravana tried to remove the Lingam from the ground. But, in spite of

using his twenty hands, he could not budge the Lingam. Though the Lingam could

not be moved, the pressure from Ravana's hands had changed its shape like the

ear of a cow & hence the place came to be called Kokarnam (Ko-cow, karnam-ear).

The lingam came to be called Mahabaleswarar since it

could not even be shifted by the mighty Ravana (maha-great, balam-power,

Eswarar-Lord Siva). Ravana started chasing the boy to hit him on his head.

Lord Ganesha showed his true form & blessed him. The Ganesha statue in the

temple has a hollow on the head, where Ravana is supposed to have strcuk him

(Kuttu - to hit with folded fists). Lord Ganesha can be pleased by doing kuttu

(gently tapping both temples with folded fists).

 

 

 

 

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