The story of the birth of this zoomorphic deity, as depicted in the Shiva Purana, goes like this: Once goddess Parvati, while bathing, created a boy out of mud and assigned him the task of guarding the entrance to her bathroom. When Shiva, her husband returned, he was surprised to find a stranger denying him access, and struck off the boy's head in rage. Parvati broke down in utter grief and to soothe her, Shiva sent out his squad (gana) to fetch the head of any sleeping being who was facing the north. The company found a sleeping elephant and brought back its head, which was then attached to the body of the boy. Shiva restored its life and made him the leader (pati) of his troops. Hence his name 'Ganapati'. Shiva also bestowed a boon that people would worship him and invoke his name before undertaking any venture. However, there's another less popular story of his origin, found in the Brahma Vaivarta Purana: Shiva asked Parvati to observe the punyaka vrata for a year to appease Vishnu in order to have a son. When a son was born to her, all the gods and goddesses assembled to rejoice on its birth. Lord Shani, the son of Surya (Sun-God), was also present but he refused to look at the infant. Perturbed at this behaviour, Parvati asked him the reason, and Shani replied that his looking at baby would harm the newborn. However, on Parvati's insistence when Shani eyed the baby, the child's head was severed instantly. All the gods started to bemoan, whereupon Vishnu hurried to the bank of river Pushpabhadra and brought back the head of a young elephant, and joined it to the baby's body, thus reviving it
Thanks Bhaskar! I have always really liked Ganesha and often wondered if there was a story behind it.
When all the devatas and gods were vying for the right to be worshipped first, they decided to have a race. The first one to encircle the entire universe would be the winner. They all prepared hard and the race day arrived, everyone was psyched up. Narada muni kicked off the race and the agile and strong devatas like Indra and Vayu sped away, while short, tubby Lord Ganesha was left huffing and puffing along in their wake. Before long they were well out of sight and Ganesha knew he had no hope of winning. Then he struck upon a plan. He simply went to his parents, Lord Shiva and Parvati, who were sitting in Kailash, aloof from all this clamor and attention-seeking. First he prostrated before them, then, with a smile, he leisurely walked around the two, chanting Om nama shivaya mantra, and Naradamuni appeared there and declared him winner of the race. By going around Shiv and Parvatiji, Ganesha had gone areound the entire world, because akhilam api sarvam shivamayam - everything in the world is indeed of the nature of shiva, the pure.
During the wedding of Siva with Parvathi in the Mount Kailas, the entire population, Devas and Rishis had gathered & hence the Northern land dipped down, unable to bear the weight. Lord Siva asked Sage Agasthiar to go to the Podhigai ranges in the Southern land in order to balance the weight. (Agasthiar was very short in stature but his might was so great). Agasthiar was sad that he could not stay & witness the Lord's wedding. Click on image to view enlarged version Siva granted that he would still be able to see the wedding from the South. From within his matted locks, he took river Cauvery & filled it in Agasthiar's kamandalam, bidding Cauvery to flow wherever Agasthiar pointed. Agasthiar reached the south & travelled to various Siva Sthalams. Surapaduman was an asura, who had immense power. Indra had run away in fear from his Indralogam, reached Sirgazhi in the southern regios of India & prayed to Lord Siva. He created a beautiful garden & worshipped Lord Siva with the flowers from his garden. But soon, Lord Varuna in fear of Surapaduman did not shower rains & Indran's garden & in fact the whole land suffered from lack of water. Sage Narada, told Indran of the river Cauvery that Lord Siva had once filled in Agasthiar's kamandalam. Indran prayed to Lord Ganesha for his help. Ganesha took the form of a crow & sat on Agasthiar's kamandalam & toppled it. Agasthiar lifted his hands to shoo off the crow. River Cauvery, took it as a signal for her & began to flow. The crow took the form of a small boy. Agasthiar started chasing the boy trying to strike him on his head with his knuckles. Ganesha took his original form. Agasthiar was saddened that he had tried to strike Lord Ganesha. He started striking his temples with his knuckles. Ganesha stopped him & granted that everybody who worshipped him in this manner would be blessed with wisdom.
Among the different Devatas, there is one named Kubera, the god of wealth. He was mighty and of course, extremely rich. But great wealth, there is also the accompanying danger of great pride and egoism. Kubera, although a good and charitable man, was also subject to this flaw. He built an enormous golden palace in the clouds, and invited all the gods to come to his housewarming party. He wanted everyone to admire his grandeur and be amazed at the beauty of his palace. Lord Shiva, in Kailasha, received the invitation. But Shivji's nature is that of the renunciant, and had no liking for pomp and parties. Also he could see Kubera's pride swelling like bullfrog's throat. So he decided to send Lord Ganesha, his son, who enjoyed fine dining. So Ganeshji boarded the next plane and went to Kubera's cloud palace. There a great crowd had gathered. All the devatas were there in their best attire, richly dressed and decorated, and with them their wives and families also had come. The halls were sparkling with precious stones and rich cloths. Everywhere the eye reached ther was a glittering grandeur. Into the middle of this spectacular party, Ganesha strolled in, a plump little boy with an elephant's head, dressed in his simple white dhoti, looking totally out of place in the glamorous gathering. Kuberji welcomed Ganesha with all due respect and invited him to sample some of the food at the party. Ganesha went, eagerly, for he had had a long flight and was hungry. The dining hall was chock-full of delicious food. Fragrant rice and curries and sambars and fruit and salads and puddings and desserts of all kinds were arrayed there. Rolling up his sleeves, Ganesha waded in. And he ate and he ate and he ate and he ate. Soon, all the food in the hall was emptied and the servants had to refill all the dishes. And still he ate and he ate and ate. And it was all finished. The servants rushed and panicked nd cooked more food. But Ganesha kept eating and his hunger was still not satisfied. Kubera got scared. There he had a hall full of the finest and most powerful figures in the universe, and all the food was finished off by this one boy! How embarassing!!!! So then, he sent for caterers and take-out chinese food. But even all the chinese take out (and Thai) in the world was not sufficient for Vinayaka. He called for more. Then Kubera got fed up (although Ganesha did not). He decided that this Boy's parents must be called to complain of his gluttonous behavior. So he phoned Lord Shiva and said, "Please come here and take care of your son. He is behaving very rudely and spoiling my party." Lord Shiva came at once. He saw Ganesha stuffing a whole 5-cheese pizza into his mouth at one go. "What is the problem?" he asked innocently. "He has eaten all the food we have, all the stores are emptied, we have used up all the take-out food in the three worlds, and he even now hungry and finishing off the last of Pizza Hut's stock also. Please do something about this ill-disciplined brat." Then Lord Shiva smiled. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small bag of stale rasinettes. The chocolate had gone all melty and sticky and it looked quite disgusting. Just then Lord Ganesha came running, "Daddy, I'm starving and this Kuberji's arrangements are quite insufficient - there is not enough food even for one small boy here." Kubera could not speak at this point, for he was too preoccupied with the steam emanating from his ears. Then Lord Shiva said, "Here, take these rasinettes. That's all I have." Ganesha gladly took the yucky package and ate every single piece with great relish. Just then Kubera's butler came up and said to him, "O lord, we have used up all the food in the three worlds. I am afraid there is nothing more to feed the young guest." Ganesha said, patting his stomach, "Don't worry about it old chap. I'm quite stuffed, I couldn't eat another bite." With that he strolled off into the garden casually. Kubera was tearing his hair out in frustration. He looked to lord Shiva for an explanation. Lord Shiva smiled patiently and said, "Your ego got the better of you. Yout hought you were so wealthy and would entertain all the devatas. But you could not fill even my little Ganesha's tummy. I hope you have learnt a lesson from all this." Then Kubera fell at Lord Shiva's feet and begged forgiveness. Now everything was ok, but what about the guests? Lord Shiva blessed Kubera with an akshayapatra - a vessel that remains ever-full of food. And so the party went off well, and Kubera learnt his lesson, a lesson which we would all do well to emblazon on our hearts: THINGS MAKE US HUNGRY, BUT LOVE MAKES US FULL.
