Interesting Facts and Legends Related to Lord Ganesha

When you come down to India, you will find Lord Ganesha or Lord Ganpati in almost all states across India. You will see small and large temples dedicated to Lord Ganesha and hundreds of believers and followers visiting the temple to offer prayers and asking for forgiveness and strength and wisdom to fulfill their dreams. While Indians pray to many more Gods, Lord Ganesha remains the most popular of all. During Ganesh Chaturthi, individuals and societies and communities bring in the idol of Lord Ganesha and worship it for ten days and then immerse it in the water. This time I am diverting from my usual topics and focusing on why Lord Ganesha is so immensely popular throughout India. I will also add some tales related to Lord Ganesha that probably my international visitors have never heard before.

Birth and Rebirth

Every life on earth starts with a birth. The story of birth of Lord Ganesha is as interesting as the God Himself. Lord Ganesha is the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. The legend goes like this – Once, while Goddess Parvati wanted to take a bath she found that there were no attendants around to guard her and stop anyone from accidentally entering the house. Utilizing Her powers she creates a statue of a boy out of the paste which she had prepared to cleanse her body. She infused life to that statue and this is how Lord Ganesha was born. Till now, Ganesh was just a regular boy with a human face and not the elephant-headed God that you see in the pictures. Parvati ordered his son Ganesh not to allow anybody enter the house. Ganesha obeys her mother standing right at the door ensuring no one enters the house. This is when Lord Shiva walks in and finds this strange boy standing at the door.

Ganesha immediately warns Lord Shiva to stop and return which sort of displeases Lord Shiva who was gone for years for war and had returned home. Lord Shiva was known for his quick-temper and excellent sword skills. He was not happy with how the boy warned him and asked him to return. After all it was Lord Shiva’s home and this boy was actually denying the access to his own home. Lord Shiva warned the boy again and demanded that he let him enter or suffer the consequences, but Ganesha was obedient and brave. He didn’t move. Feeling insulted, Lord Shiva drew his sword and sent Ganesha’s head flying off far into the distance. Inside the bathing area, Parvati heard the commotion and she decided to check the scene. She was terribly distraught at the scene seeing her son’s beheaded body. She screamed at Lord Shiva, “You have killed our son!” Lord Shiva felt pain and was filled with remorse when he realized that he accidentally beheaded his own son. He promised Parvati to bring back life to his son. He hurled his trishul (a traditional trident weapon) and commanded the weapon to bring Him the head of the first living creature that came across. It happened to be an elephant. The elephant head was attached to the body of Ganesh and he was brought back to life.  While Ganesha lost his head, he gained respect and love of Lord Shiva for the bravery and obedience. Lord Ganesha becomes the second son of Lord Shiva and Parvati along with Kartikeya as his brother.

The Lord of Intelligence and Wisdom

Lord Ganesha is considered the God of prosperity, wisdom and good fortune. This is why Hindus pray to Lord Ganesha before starting any new project or buying a new home. It is believed that Lord Ganesha will offer them the intelligence and wisdom and keep them on the right track and bring prosperity and success.

Here is one legend that symbolizes just that.

As per Hindu scriptures, Narad Muni gives a special gifted-fruit to Lord Shiva and Parvati saying that they should give it to their favorite son. For a long time, both Shiva and Parvati discussed about who should get the fruit, Ganesha or Kartikeya as they loved both their children equally. Finally they decided to test and let the winner take the fruit. Lord Shiva and Parvati called Ganesha and Kartikeya and asked them to race around the world three times. The one who comes first is the winner and will get this gifted-fruit. Kartikeya was quite certain that he would win because he had a peacock as his vehicle so he would just fly around the world and win the race while Ganesha’s vehicle was a mouse. A mouse is no match to his fast peacock Kartikeya thought and so he flew off wasting no time. Ganesha stood there for a while and then he started circling his parents. He made three rounds and stopped. Lord Shiva and Parvati asked him, “Ganesha why are you circling us and why are you not going for the race?” Lord Ganesha answered, “You, my parents are my world and my universe and so circling around you is as good as circling the world.” This answer immediately impressed Lord Shiva and Parvati and they decided to give the fruit to Lord Ganesha. When Kartikeya returned he accepted the wisdom and intelligence of his brother Ganesha and he let him win the gifted-fruit.

History of Ganesh Chaturthi Festival

Ganesh Chaturthi marks the day when Lord Ganesha was born. Hindus have been celebrating this day for many centuries, but it was not like the 10-day festival that we see these days across India. This style of festival came up in 1893 and was first started by Lokmanya Tilak, an Indian freedom fighter and social reformer who transformed the traditional home festival into a community event. At that time, India was under the British rule and Britishers would not allow Indians to form groups on a social level or publicly fearing uprising, scheming and formation of rebel groups. This was the time when Lokmanya Tilak decided to bring in the concept of Ganesh Chaturthi that allowed people to come together on a social scale and which British officers would not deny considering that there is religious sentiment attached to it. It also brought many high and low class people on the same level breaking class and caste barriers. Eventually, this concept grew across the nation and many communities and societies decided to bring in idols that they could worship and bring in more people to unite and celebrate as One.