The Lovable God Who Rides a Mouse

Yesterday, millions of Indians bid a “bye” to their most loved and jovial god,Ganesha.Here is the hauntingly beautiful story of the Elephant God!

The Elephant God who rides a mouse!

Ganesha, the chief protagonist in many Indian young teen and kid TV  animated shows is a friend, confidante, and many things to many people.He is also the Commander in Chief of the army of Lord Shiva, the destroyer in the Indian concept of the Trinity.He  helps people in achieving their mundane goals by removing the hurdles, is shown to be riding a tiny mouse and is fond of laddus which are basically sweets shaped in a spherical form.

Why do you think, he rides a mouse?answersplease?

Ganesha has an elephant trunk, has just one tusk and wields an axe as his weapon. Flanked by his two consorts, Riddhi and Siddhi,He is given the pride of place in any household. he is the protector of the household.

He has an elder brother, Kartikeya and his mother’s name is Parvati.Even though, he is one of the junior most gods in the Indian pantheon , he is given primacy when invoking the blessings and good wishes of all the gods.His is the name to be invoked first while invoking and inviting all the gods .

Don’t you think he has a unique body structure? He has a trunk and is pot bellied.Why? He has huge ears also.Indians believe, the trunk represents His  strong sense of intuition which can be developed by long hours and days of practice.While, one can be superiorly endowed with intelligence, equally important is to have a nose for things not apparent.His big ears convey the message that one should be ever attentive to things happening around.And, his pot belly tells us to keep secrets of friends to ourselves and never reveal them to anybody.So, basically, Ganesha instructs us how to be a wise individual in the modern world.

Birth of Ganesha

Ganesha was never in the form he is seen today in. He was born as a normal looking kid to his parents. Fierecely obedient to his mother, Goddess Parvati, one day he was ordered by his mother to stand guard while she took her daily shower and not let any one enter the house. The ever obedient Ganesha took his position at a vantage point, reminding himself of his duty toward his mother.

Sometime later, his father , Lord Shiva came to the house and asked his son to open the door.Ganesha, replied to his father saying he had been forbidden by his mother to not let anyone enter the house.The father tried to reason with but, the obedient son refused to relent. This went on a for a few hours and all this enraged Lord Shiva.He drew out his weapon and cut off the head of his son!

Upon hearing the commotion, Goddess Parvati came out of the house and was horrified to see the dismembered body of her son.Of course, she was inconsolable and wanted her son back from death.Lord Shiva, realising the enormity of the situation then decided to bring relief to the mother of Ganesha- he transplanted the head of a child elephant to the torso of Ganesha and this how the child came back to life! Interesting story, isn’t it?

Ganesha Chaturthi

Every year, in the month of Bhadrapad, millions of Indians escort Lord Ganesha to their homes and seek his blessings.The day, he is installed in the house is termed Ganesh Chaturthi.For the next 10 days, the Lord is visited upon by people in good numbers and his blessings sought after. On the tenth day of his arrival, he is escorted by the faithful to a water body and his idol immersed in it. This event of immersion is called Ganpati Visarjan. Ganpati is another name of Lord Ganesh .

Ganesh Chaturthi procession in Mumbai (image courtesy-Internet)

The Lord is again invited to Indian households on Diwali or Deepawali , the festival of lights.

The appeal of Lord Ganesha runs across the world. He is worshipped in countries like Indonesia, Japan, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and many other countries of East Asia.

How, do you like this blog post, friends? I would like to get your feedback either on this post itself or you may write to me at swayamt@gmail.com