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.
