Ganesh

(“Lord of [Shiva’s] Host”) Elephantheaded god who leads Shiva’s horde of
divine followers; another name for
Ganesh is Ganapati. Ganesh is usually
portrayed as short and fat, with a bowl of
sweets and his animal vehicle, the rat,
close by. Among the items most often
portrayed in his hands are a lotus
(padma) and his own broken tusk. He
also often holds a noose and an
elephant goad (ankusha), which symbolize his power to restrain or move
obstructing forces.
Although Ganesh is worshiped as a
primary deity by a small sectarian community, the Ganpatyas, most Hindus
worship him as a subsidiary deity along
with their principal divinities. Ganesh’s
importance in Hindu life, however, is far
greater than his relatively minor place in
the pantheon. Hindus consider Ganesh
236
Gandhi Jayanti
A sculpture of the god Ganesh from the village of
Khajuraho. As “Lord of Obstacles,” Ganesh has the
power to remove or bestow difficulties.
as “Lord of Obstacles” (Vighneshvar),
who has the power both to remove and
to bestow difficulties, depending on
whether or not a person has pleased
him. Hindus invoke Ganesh at the start
of any important undertaking—whether
it is performing a religious ritual, starting a business, performing a marriage,
building a home, or even taking a school
examination—so that through his grace,
potential obstacles may be removed or
avoided and the undertaking will proceed smoothly and successfully. This
power over obstacles is symbolized both
by his elephant head and his animal
vehicle, the rat. The elephant’s strength
allows it to break down any impediments, while the rat is able to slip
through the smallest cracks to gain
access to locked places. Ganesh’s aniconic image is the threshold, the transitional strip dividing and separating
different spaces, which further symbolizes his power to control transitions
from one state to another.
Ganesh is considered to be the son
of the god Shiva and his wife Parvati,
but he is born in an unusual manner.
One day when Parvati is bathing
(snana), she forms a child from the dirt
from her body, animates him, and
directs him to permit no one to enter
her bathing place. When Shiva comes
to the door Ganesh bars his way, and in
the ensuing battle Shiva cuts off
Ganesh’s head. Parvati is so upset that
Shiva promises to replace the missing
head with the head of the first animal
he encounters, which happens to be an
elephant. Upon reviving Ganesh, Shiva
appoints him as the leader of his troop
of followers. As a further boon, Shiva
tells Ganesh that he will be worshiped
before any other deity.
Ganesh’s elephant head has a broken
tusk, and there are differing myths
recounting how this happened. In one
story it comes from an altercation with
the Parashuram avatar, who tries to
enter Shiva’s chambers while Ganesh is
guarding the door. According to another
account, the injury is self-inflicted. In a
fit of rage at the moon, Ganesh breaks
off his tusk and throws it at the moon.
According to tradition, Ganesh uses
this tusk as a pen to write down the
text of the epic Mahabharata as it is
dictated by the sage Vyasa. For further
information on Ganesh and his cult,
see Paul Courtright, Ganesa, 1985;
other information can be found in
works on Hindu mythology.