Ganesha, the courageous

No better way to start this blog. Lord Ganesha, in Hindu mythology is believed to be the God who helps you surpass the hurdles in life. He is otherwise known as Vighneshwara ('Vighn' - hurdle and 'Eshwara' - God). And every devoted Hindu offers a coconut to Vighneshwara before he starts anything new. I, for one, used to offer a coconut to Vighneshwara before I went in to write the many exams in school and in college or before I attend the first day of a new job. Whatever the believes or myths might be, I get a sense of satisfaction on doing so. Isn't it nice that you start doing things on a positive note? Anyways... As the first post in this blog, I'll tell you the most fascinating story about Ganesha which my father told me when I was a kid.

One fine day Lord Shiva went out on an errand telling his wife, Goddess Parvathy that it'd take him a while to return home. Now, these couple have made the Himalayas their home and they lived a free, in-harmony with nature life. Their home, the Kailasa was nothing but an enclosure of rocks and ferns on the ranges of the Himalayas. This is because Lord Shiva is an ascetic by nature and is the God of destruction amoung the Trinity, the other two being Lord Bhrama (God of creation) and Lord Vishnu (God of preservation). Ah! That's another story, which I'll tell you in due course.

Now, in the absence of her husband and since she was in a mood for a bit of rejuvenation, Goddess Parvathy decided to take a good oil bath at the warm spring in their abode. But there was a problem. Their watchmen were on a vacation and there was no one to guard the entrance to their home. What if a visitor just walks in unannounced? She mulled over this thought for a while and suddenly got an idea. She sculpted the figure of a very handsome boy in the sandal wood that was lying around and gave life to it. She named him Ganesha and gave him a spear and asked him to guard the entrance. She instructed him not to let anyone inside without her permission. The boy bowed in front of her and took to his first ever assignment of guarding the entrance of Kailasa very eagerly (You know, how the young boys are when they are asked to do something for their loved ones - the excitement, the eagerness to please...)

As fait would have it, Lord Shiva returned much before the anticipated time and found a young boy stopping him at the entrance of his home.

"You can't go in without my mother's permission", said the boy.

Shiva scaled the boy from head to toe and with a smile on his face tried to enter Kailasa.

"I said, you can't go in until my mother comes out after her bath", said the boy and pointed the spear at Shiva.

Now, being the Lord of destruction, Shiva is notorious for his short temper.

"Move out of my way, you little shrimp. Who are you to stop me from entering my home?", Shiva growled.

But the boy wouldn't concede and when Shiva tried to force his way in, the boy challenged him for a duel. To the surprise of Lord Shiva, he found the boy good enough an opponent for him. And at the end of a fierce fist fight that lasted for a couple of hours, Shiva finally decided to use his most lethal weapon, the Trishul, on the little boy. And with one swish of the Trishul, Shiva beheaded the boy. It was at this moment that Parvathy returned from her bath and found her dear son lying in a pool of blood and beheaded! She let out a scream in her pain and horror and it is said that it melted the ice at the peaks of Himalayas.

"What have you done, my lord? How could you do this to our son?", Parvathy wailed in agony.

"What? Our son? I didn't know that!"

And when Parvathy told him the story of Ganesha's birth, Shiva promised to resurrect their son.

But a head, once shaved off can never be re-fixed. No. Not even by Gods. But this predicament of Shiva was solved by Saint Narada who came that way. Saint Narada walks around the heaven collecting news and spreading it across the place. A secret seldom remains a secret with Narada. But he is finding solutions for problems and is also an exponent in the science of astrology. And so, he advised Shiva to fix the beheaded body of Ganesha with the head of an elephant which has just died. Shiva did just that and Ganesha was resurrected but with the head of an elephant! Also Shiva blessed the boy with immaculate strength and intelligence as a recognition for his devotedness to his mother, his courage to stand up to him and his spirit of determination to defend a cause that he believed in.

And so, Lord Ganesha stays a symbol of courage, determination and devotedness to a cause.

Every year, in India, we celebrate the birthday of Ganesha (Vinayaka Chathurthi) in a very grand way and which culminates with the immersing of massive clay statues of Ganesha in the nearby rivers or the sea.

Invariably in every home of a Hindu, you'd find a picture of Ganesha hanging on the wall. And, artists all around the country has taken a special liking and interest in depicting Ganesha in so many different ways according to their own imagination. Here are some examples: