Ganesha - Reviving the series - 8

Lord Ganesha has been the subject for fascination of many over the time. Be it any period, any region or even religion his distinct form – elephant head and pot belly has attracted innumerable stories. Compared to other gods who are usually seen as handsome and well built, Lord Ganesha has always been a representation of accumulation. He has been associated with wisdom and knowledge – the two features that grant him fluidity even in moments of distress.

There are so many stories linked to Lord Ganesha displaying his prowess over others – even Lord Shiva and Vishnu. There are stories in the Ganpatya texts and Ganapati Purana that are full of Ganesha’s playfulness and supremacy over others. One such story goes like this –

Once Ganesha passed by the Kshirasagar – the abode of Lord Vishnu. Being a kid, he was fascinated by the ocean of milk. He decided to drink it and used his trunk to suck it all. Such was the force that he drank everything including Lakshmi, Sheshnag, Brahma and Vishnu himself. And then later just like a kid he spat out everything. Everyone was violently thrown to the ground when Ganesha spit the milk. Vishnu realizing his lost conch, approached Shiva to propitiate it for him from Ganesha. Shiva advised Vishnu to build a shrine for Ganesha in Kanchipuram to please him and get his conch back.

In yet another story, Ganesha follows the orders of his father – Shiva to persuade the ruler of Kashi – Divodasa to move out and make place for Shiva and Parvati. In many of the story versions, Ganesha utilizes the different ways to either curse or spread illusion amongst the people of Kashi. The people of Kashi and the ruler became so fearful of Ganesha that they vacated the city for Shiva and Parvati.

There is another story wherein Ganesha plays an important role in stopping Ravana from carrying the Shiva linga to Lanka. Ganesha conspired with Varuna, the god of water to force Ravana to hand over the idol to a little boy(Ganesha himself). The boy knowingly established the linga at a place causing Ravana’s wrath of fury. Ravana upon his return noticed the idol situated in ground, tried his best to pull it it out, thus giving it a longer shape that of a cow’s ear. This jyotirling is today known as Mahabaleshwar. Ravan in his fury tried to hit Ganesha, an attempt which caused a slight dent on the deity, which is still observable on the jyotirlinga today.

Ganesha is known to be an awesome scribe. He is known to be the fastest writer ever. When Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa approached Brahama with his wish to pen down the epic of Mahabharata and requested for a scribe, Brahma directed him to Ganesha. Lord Ganesha was pleased with Vyasa’s idea and prayers. However, he agreed on the condition that Vyasa must recite the verses without a pause. Vyasa having understood the trickery in this ask of Ganesha and realizing the speed of Ganesha as a scribe, agreed to bargain with an condition that Ganesha would write the verse only when he understood the meaning fully. To slow down Vyasa introduced couplets that have as many as 108 or more meanings. These couplets can still be found in the epic. The duo – Ganesha and Vyasa took over three years to complete the epic with over 100,000 verses.

It is also said that while reciting the Mahabharata, Vyasa realized that the epic needs to be broken down into various sections and possibly led to creation of the puranas. Yet while pulling his thoughts together he often lost track of them. Vyasa remembered Brahma for help who pointed out that vyasa had missed to recognize Ganesha at the start of every section. Thus, Vyasa started every section with “Om Shri Ganeshay Namah”. And leter created the Ganesha Purana.

In one more story, Ganesha was once having fun playing his mridagam. In his fun, he was loud and thus disturbed Shiva’s meditation. Shiva – known to be angry and happy in no time, was angry at Ganesha and broke his mridangam with the trident. Did it stop Ganesha? Ask yourself – NO. Ganesha thus invented the world’s first split tabla!

Ganesha’s stories are infinite and have been around forever. They will increase with time and people. Every mind deciphers them to their ability and spreads what’s important to them. This is probably the first and foremost reason for the ever-increasing popularity of our beloved Ganesh. Love him like a kid or pray to him as a mighty god or even invoke him to remove all obstacles – Ganesha is to be found everywhere.