The son of Shiva and Parvati, the elephant God Ganesha is the God of success and knowledge. He is one of the most prevalent deities in the Hindu pantheon. Ganesha’s large, elephantine head symbolizes the wisdom, knowledge, and good luck that he bestows upon his worshippers. His one tusk, elephant head and human body makes him a unique God. He has a big belly which symbolizes the universe, large ears as he listens to every devotee, and his vehicle who is a mouse is always seen by his side. It is said that Lord Ganesha grants good fortune to those who offer him his favourite sweet called the “Modak”. He loves the bright red hibiscus flower as it signifies prosperity.

Ganesha is worshipped in every Indian household, especially at the start of any auspicious event or ceremony. There are countless mythology stories about Lord Ganesha.

One interesting story is about his birth. It is believed that Goddess Parvati once while going for her bath, created a boy from a sandalwood paste and breathed life to give birth to Lord Ganesha.  She then asked this boy to stand as a guard while she took her bath. Lord Shiva who was not aware that he now had a son, returned to see a boy obstructing his path and not letting him enter. This angered Lord Shiva who chopped off the boy’s head. When Goddess Parvati came out, she was shocked and angry to see her headless son. She told Lord Shiva that she would destroy the entire world if her son was not brought back to life. Shiva then asked his most faithful, Nandi bull to go to the forest and bring the head of first animal that he could sight. Nandi came with an elephant head, which was then joined to the body of his headless son. This is how Ganapati or Ganesha was born. Siva also gave him a boon that he will always be the first one to be worshipped by people before any beginning.

Like his elephant head, there is also an interesting myth associated with Lord Ganesha’s broken tusk. The great Sage Vyas, who is the author of the Mahabharata epic, wanted to write the Mahabharata. He requested Lord Ganesha to be his scribe. Lord Ganesha agreed but told Sage Vyas that he should not stop dictating till everything is complete. While the epic was being written, the feather which was used for writing broke. So, Lord Ganesha quickly broke his tusk, dipped it in ink and continued writing till the end. This is how he has one tusk.

There is another extremely interesting mythological story associated with Lord Ganesha. Ganesha loved modak and laddoos. One day, he ate a lot of sweets that were offered to him and his belly was full. When he sat on his vehicle which was the tiny mouse, due to Lord Ganesha’s weight, the mouse tripped and Ganesha fell along with his sweets. The moon saw this and started laughing. He was very proud of his good looks and laughed at Ganesha’s big belly. Ganesha got furious at the Moon’s vanity and cursed him that anyone who looks at the moon will be wrongly blamed. That way, the Moon realised that no one would ever look at him. He begged to Lord Ganesha who then made it mild and said anyone who looked at the moon on the day of Ganesh Chathurthi could also redeem themselves by looking at the moon on the second day and listening to stories of Krishna.