The Hindu God Ganesh Represents Wisdom and Success

The Hindu God Ganesh Represents Wisdom and Success A couple of years ago I finally met someone I had known for many years, but only on the Internet. I noticed that she always wore the same pendant, a strange figure of a man with an elephants head and wondered why such an elegant lady would be so attached to what looked like a funny plastic figure. When I finally got round to asking her about it, I was ashamed of my ignorance. It was the first time I had heard of the Hindu God Ganesh.

To a western eye, Ganesh looks really strange; an almost comical figure who has a man's body (and a bit of a paunch) an elephants head, four hands (at least), only one tusk, and spends his time riding around on a very small mouse. But Ganesh is not a clown and to see him as a joke is to misunderstand centuries of belief and symbolism. He is highly revered in the Hindu religion, where the same attributes,

looked at in a different way, make him the embodiment of wisdom and learning, the patron of science and the arts, the remover of obstacles, and hence called on at the beginning of every enterprise as the god of success. It was as such that my friend wore her pendant, not plastic but very old jade, a talisman designed to bring success to each one of her ventures.

The Hindu religion is very old and practiced over a wide area, so it isn't surprising that there are many stories about the origin of the Hindu gods. In most Hindu traditions, Ganesh is the son of Shiva and his wife Parvati. Hindu's recognize four major denominations all of whom regard Parvati and Shiva as important, but for the Shakta, Parvati, whose name means 'she of the mountains' is the Supreme Being and Shiva is her consort. It was Parvati who created Ganesh.

Parvati is said to value her privacy, so one day when she wanted to bathe and had no-one around to keep watch for her, Parvati used turmeric paste to create a boy.

She gave him life and asked him to be sure to guard her privacy, and this is how Ganesh was born, without any real intervention from his 'father' Shiva.

When Shiva returned home he wanted to go inside, but Ganesh followed his Mother's instructions and stopped him. There was a battle, and Shiva, who is Lord of Destruction, cut off the boy's head.

When she saw what had happened, Parvati's anger knew no bounds. She demanded that Shiva amend the situation, so he sent his servants to bring back the head of the first living thing they found. The head belonged to an elderly elephant they had found just as he was about to die, so Ganesh was brought back to life and given the elephant's head.

By association Ganesh is regarded as strong, affectionate and loyal. Such a large head can only be a sign of wisdom and intelligence, while the huge ears are used to carefully separate the good and the bad and to listen to the requests of supplicants.

Like the elephant Ganesh is powerful if provoked, but loving when shown kindness. Unlike most elephants, Ganesh has only one tusk.

There are many stories of the reason for the broken tusk; the most popular is that Ganesh was given the job of writing down the epic tale known as the Mahabharata.

At one point his pen failed and rather than stop, Ganesh removed his tusk and carried on, showing he was willing to make a sacrifice to acquire knowledge.

Other, less poetic stories say that the tusk was removed by a villain who stole it to make ivory earrings for beautiful ladies.

It's not always immediately obvious that statues of Ganesh have four (and sometimes more) hands. One is usually shown in abhaya pose that is held up with palm out and fingers pointing upwards, while the second holds a sweet, a symbol of the inner self. The other two hands will usually contain a goad and a noose, the former being used to prod followers along the path of truth, while the latter represents the snare of earthly desires. At his feet most statues of Ganesh show a mouse, his traditional steed. The mouse is the symbol of the intellect, wandering in and out, but tamed by the greater power of the whole.

Many devotees believe that the strange shape of the one tusked elephant headed God mirrors the symbol OM, a symbol which represents the primeval sound which was the first thing to be created and from which the rest of the universe arose. This is the symbol which is commonly used to represent all of Hinduism and its beliefs.

Although the Hindu religion has four main denominations, all worship Ganesh, whose image can be found across India, Nepal and many areas of the Far East. For Buddhists, Ganesh appears as the god Vinayaka and is usually shown dancing. His statues appear in Nepal and Tibet. In Japan he is seen as a minor god and young people call on him when looking for success in love. Throughout Malaysia, Java, Bali and Borneo there are temples to Ganesh and in Thailand his position as remover of obstacles and patron of the arts mean that there is a ceremony where offerings are made to Ganesh before any movie or TV series starts shooting.

Indonesia is a Muslim country, but even there Ganesh is revered and his image can be found in many Cambodian temples. Yet despite spreading across the Eastern world Ganesh was unknown in Europe until relatively recently, though some scholars, commenting on a statue of Ganesh where he is shown with two heads (one of an elephant one of a man) facing in opposite directions have likened the

image to that of Janus, the two headed God of the Romans, but no actual link between the two has been found.

Whatever your view on the gods of the east or of the ancients, their statues and associated symbolism are always thought provoking. However we view something, other cultures often see (or saw) it very differently; one reason why museum quality statues and other artifacts make fascinating and artistic conversation pieces for any home.

There is too much written about Lord Ganesha in Hindu mythology. Anybody who has worshipped Ganesh with true dedication and feeling has never ever failed to get the prosperity and riches that he is entitled to. You too can solve your financial problems forever by bringing Lord Ganesha to your home.

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