A SLICE OF INDIAN MYTHOLOGY - ABOUT GANESHA

In Hindu Religion, Lord Ganesha, the worthy son of Goddess Parvati and God Shiva, is worshiped at the first place followed by other Gods and Goddesses. He was given a boon by Goddesses Luxmi, the giver of wealth, to be worshiped ahead of others. The story of creation of Ganesha is very interesting and fascinating one.

As per Indian Mythology and Hindu faith, the stress has been given to the recitation of the name of Lord Ganesha before starting any good work or before any good occasion. Hindus even prefer to write the name of Ganesha at the very top of Wedding cards, some even put some picture of HIM on that. Before starting the distribution of these cards, the first one is offered at the feet of Lord Ganesha.

We are telling here in short the three stories of Ganesha.

The Story of Ganesha (1)

We start here with the story related to the creation of Ganesha.

A long time ago when Lord Shiva, was away fighting for the gods, the lady of the house, goddess Parvati was alone at home. On one occasion, she needed someone to guard the house when she was going for a bath. Unable to think of an alternative, she used her powers to create a figure. She named that figure Ganesha and treated HIM like her son. She instructed Ganesha to keep strict vigil on the entrance to the house and not to allow anyone into the house. Ganesha agreed and stayed on the vigil with this idea in mind that he will strictly not allow anybody in.

In the meantime Lord Shiva returned happy after a glorious victory for the gods, only to be stopped at the entrance by Ganesha. Ganesha, acting on Parvati's orders and instructions, did not allow Shiva to enter the house. Lord Shiva told him that HE is Parvati’s husband and Ganesha’s father, but Ganesha could not allow anybody in without the instructions of mother Parvati. Lord Shiva was enraged beyond control and in a fit of rage slashed the head of Ganesh. In the meantime mother Parvati came out from her bath and was aghast at the scene. She was very angry at her lordship for what had happened and explained him the situation. But mother Parvati was inconsolable.

Lord Shiva wanted to make it up to Parvati very badly and agreed to put life back into Ganesha by putting the head of the first sleeping living creature that came in sight which was sleeping with its head to the north and must be sleeping with his mother, but both of them their heads in the opposite directions. He sent his soldiers to go in search of the creature. The first creature which came in sight was an elephant. So Lord Shiva re-created his son with the head of the elephant. This is the reason we see Lord Ganesha in an elephant like trunk.

Story of Ganesha (2)

It was Ganesha's birthday and he had been invited for dinner at a devotee's house. Ganesha had a very heavy meal and was returning home on his mouse, when a snake crossed their path. Seeing this, the mouse got very frightened and ran away, in the process felling Ganesha. Ganesha fell and his stomach, which was very full, burst open. Seeing this, the moon burst out laughing. Ganesha felt very humiliated, so he killed the snake and tied it around his stomach. He then gave chase to the moon that ran for his life. The moon managed to evade Ganesha and hid in his palace. Ganesha soon came there and stood guard outside, telling the moon, "Where will you go now? You have to come out sooner or later and then I'll take my revenge".

Now as the Sun had set, it was the turn of Moon to take over the charge of the sky and spread the light for the humanity. It became very dark, as the moon refused to come out. This resulted in chaos on earth. The gods went and pled with Ganesha to free the moon. Ganesha finally relented and let the moon come out, but cursed him saying, " You hid in your house like a thief. Therefore, anybody who sees you on my birthday, will be implicated as a thief". This is the reason why we are not supposed to look at the moon on the auspices of Ganesh Chaturthi.

Story of Ganesha (3)

On an occasion, Shiva and Parvati had been given a fruit by the gods and both the sons Ganesha and Kartikeya wanted it. Some legends claim the dispute was about who was elder of the two. Anyway the parents then suggested that the one who circled the world three times and came back first would get it as a prize. Kartikeya got on the peacock, his vahana (vehicle), and flew around the world stopping at all sacred spots on the way and offering his prayers. But at every major stop, he would find Ganesha ahead of him and was perplexed.

Ganesha understood that his vehicle, the mouse, would not be able to compete with Kartikeya's peacock and he could never beat Kartikeya.

But he thought for a while and came up with 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 that his parents are the whole world for him. HE told them that he need go no further to travel the whole world.

Kartikeya on returning back learned of this, and accepted the superiority of Ganesha, and bowed to him.