Collection of interesting facts related to Ganesh Chaturthi-Forward Balcony Banter, Tuesday, 22 September 2015
Had the opportunity to compere a little program for GaneshChaturthi. Did some general reading to pick up points on Ganesha to keepchildren and adults interested. Here are some bits which I found interesting! Hadthe opportunity to compere a little program for Ganesh Chaturthi. Did some general reading to pick up points on Ganesha tokeep children and adults interested. Here are some bits which I foundinteresting! We associate the communitycelebration surroundingGanesh Chaturthi with Lokmanya Tilak. In a way, that's correct. In 1894, Tilakwrote about celebrating Ganpati as a community event in the "Kesari".However, Tilak himself was inspired by one Babusaheb Lakshman Javale. Thelatter was the one who first came up with this concept in 1892. Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated in the month of"bhaadrapad", in the bright fortnight (shukla paksha) and on the dayof the 4th digit of the moon (chaturthi). This is true for places which followthe "lunar calendar". In case of places which follow the solarcalendar, there may not be one fixed month when Ganesh Chaturthi falls. InTamil calendar, Ganesh Chaturthi can occur in one of the two months: aavani orpurattaasi. There are two huge Ganeshaidols at Hampi,Karnataka...close to 20 ft and in stone. Curiously, they are named"saasuvey kaalu ganesha" (mustard seed) and "kadaley kaaiganesha" (groundnut) Ganesha! Ganesha is "maha kaaya". As"maha kaaya", He covers the whole universe...and exists as the veryuniverse. For such a huge Lord, a twenty-foot idol is a mustard seed only!That's the concept behind the name. Though Ganesha has anelephant face, we have the concept of "nara mukha vinayaka". We find this in Chidambaram,Koothanur and in Trichy. Here, Ganeshais worshipped with a human face! Though "vakra tundamahaa kaaya" portrays him as huge, there's another popular shloka where He is called"vaamana roopa"- having a tiny form. So, which one is true- maha kaaya or vaamana roopa? We need to go theUpanishad- "anoraniyaan mahato mahiyaan". He is smaller than the atomand bigger than the biggest. It shows that the Lord is not bound by spatialconcepts. He exists as the atom, as well as...as the universe. "Vakra tunda mahaakaaya surya koti samaprabha"- He who is huge and who dazzles like a million suns! It remindsus of the Bhagavad Geeta. In the chapter where Lord Krishna shows his universal form, the sameexpression is used "divi surya sahasrasya bhaved yugapad utthitaa".Lord Krishna dazzles as if a thousand suns have arisen together! It is becauseof this similarity, we interpreted "maha kaaya" as Ganesha showinghis universal form (vishvarupa), just like Lord Krishna. There is some sadnesstoo in this expression. One sun itself we cannot see. A million suns must be sovery bright! Such an overpowering presence, we cannot recognize! How blind mustwe be...how thick our ignorance to miss something which is so obvious! Thisidea is present in the Shivanandalahari. (eko vaarija baandhavah...) Ganesh is called "vikata":the prankster, the one who does mischief for the welfare of the people.There are 3 pranks which are popular. At Gokarna, he trickedRavana and placed the "atma linga" on the ground, never to be removed, much toRavana's anger. At Talakaveri, Ganeshatook the form of a crow and overturned Agastya's kamandalu and made the river Kaveri flow out. At Srirangam, Ganeshatricked Vibhishana and placed the idol of Lord Ranganatha on the ground, never to be removed! Tapping our forehead withfist: Any puja begins with the mantra "shuklaambaradharam...vishnum...". We use our fists togently tap the temples (on the forehead!) and remember Lord Ganesha. Thesignificance of this gesture comes from the above story pertaining to Ganeshaand Agastya. Agastya was angry that his kamandalu was overturned and went afterthe offender with clenched fists! Later, he discovered the offender to be noneother than Ganesha. He wasovercome with remorse and now, used his clenched fists to tap his own forehead!And thus began the custom of tapping the forehead temples with our fists. Weremember both vaamana rupas this way: Agastya and Lord Ganesha. Ganesha and Agastya arerelated in multiple ways. Both are vaamana roopa, short and both are great eaters! Agastya drank up theentire ocean to drive out the rakshasas and digested the demon"Vatapi" for good! Ganesha is of course well known for his eating andlove for modakas! Agastya worshipped Ganesha. Agastya is supposed to havecarried the "vatapi ganapati" from Badami (known earlier as vatapi)all the way to Tamil Nadu. As per one version, this idol is at Tiruvarur and Muthuswamy Dikshitar sang thekriti "Vatapi Ganapatim" in praise of this idol. As per an alternate story, Narasimha Varma, the Pallava kingin Tamil Nadu defeated Pulakeshi II (who ruled Badami) and carried back thisidol. Pulakeshi II, Mahendra Varma (pallava king) and the great Harsha werecontemporaries. Mahendra Varma was defeated by Pulakeshi II. Later, MahendraVarma was succeeded by Narasimha Varma. Narasimha Varma was a great wrestlerand many of the landmarks at Mahabalipuram were constructed during his reign.All this happened 1400 years ago. Narasimha Varma's general was one"Paranjyoti" who became a saint (like Ashoka, he underwent acatharsis of sorts) after this battle with Pulakeshi II. He became one of the 63nayanmars and was called "siruthonda nayanar". Ganesha's tusk: Ganeshabroke his right tusk for different reasons as per these stories. As per themost popular story, hebroke his tusk to write the Mahabharata. As per an alternate story, there wasan asura called "gajamukhasura". This asura also had an elephantface! Ganesha threw his tusk at him anddestroyed the asura. In the ardha naareeshwara form, the right halfis Shiva and the left half is Parvati (Shiva's right and left- not theobserver's!) Asian female elephants normally have no tusk, male elephants havetusks. By breaking hisright tusk off, Ganesha as it were, shows his ardha naareeshwara form.It differs from his parents, in the sense, here, the right half is female andthe left male! In the shodasha naamaof Ganesha, he is called "ekadanta", a name with reference to thetusk. Ganesha's trunk: Ganesha'strunk conveys "humility". Ganesha is the epitome of knowledge. After all, he is called"kavin kavinaam" and "brahmanaspati". The scriptures say"vidya vinaya sampannah", that knowledge should be accompanied withhumility. How do we depict humility? In an Indian context, people speak withtheir hand covering the mouth especially when they talk to someelderly/accomplished person. Ganesha forever has his hand (trunk) covering hismouth. He is the epitome of humility too. Ganesha's ear: Ganesha'sears are prominent. It shows that he can hear our pleas better than otherdeities!! He flaps hisears rhythmically and keeps beat (taala). He's fat, but a great dancer! We haveimages of "nartana vinayaka". Normally, we need someone else to fanus. But Ganesha can fan himself (chaamara karna) and does not need any externalinstrument. He is his own fan! It shows how the Lord does not use"anything external to him" during the creation of this world. Themaker is He, the material is He and the instrument too is He! In the shodashanama of Ganesha, he is called "gajakarnaka" with reference to hisear. Ganesha's belly is full.All the brahmaandas...multiple universe find a place in him. The universe is visualized as an"anda"- egglike to show it has neither a beginning nor an end. Sotoo, Ganesha's belly is like an egg. Everything is housed in him! Nothing isoutside him. In the shodasha nama of Ganesha, he is called"lambodara" with reference to his belly. Ganesha's modaka:Ganesha's favourite sweet is modaka. In degrees of happiness, we have priya (happy), moda (veryhappy) and pramoda (most happy!). That which gives happiness is modaka. Sweetgives instant happiness! The dough has no taste. But scratch the surface of thedough, and it is filled with sweet "poornam". It is full, sweet and filled...as itwere...with happiness! Ganesha's bellyis filled with modakas. All the worlds abide in the same belly. The worlds arein reality....modakas only! If we find this world, this life.... tasteless, itmeans we are still at the surface. Scratch a bit and we get to the"content" (adhishtaana) which is aananda. The Lord is manifest as theworld. He is "sat-chit-aananda". Naturally, the content of the worldshould be aananda...happiness! Let's not be at the surface! Let's bite into thepoornam...and partake of that happiness! Any number of quotes can be given-"brahma eva idam amrutam purastaad, brahma pashchaad..." etc. Ganesha and Vishnu: LordVishnu is Ganesha's maternal uncle. There is a verse to that effect "shrikaanto maatuloyasya..." That's because Parvati and Vishnu are siblings. In Krishnaavatara, yoga maya was born to Nanda and Yashoda and Krishna was raised astheir son as well. In that way, they were...sort of...siblings. Lord Vishnu went to see Ganesha on hisbirthday. Ganesha snatched Vishnu's chakra, stuffed it into his mouth andwouldn't give it back. Lord Vishnu held his two ears with his four hands and didsitups! It was so amusing that Ganesha burst out laughing and the chakra wasejected! In keeping with this incident, many devotees do "thorpikarnam" (holding their ears with their hands crossed) in front of theGanesha shrine. Ganesha and Shiva: Lord Shiva forgot to propitiate Ganesha when he went to destroy the asura Tripura. Shiva had to meet with an obstacle. The axle ofhis chariot broke! Thereafter,Shiva made amends and took blessings from his own son! Ganesha and Kartikeya: Kartikeya gotmarried to Valli (daughter of a hunter-chief) due to a prank played byGanesha. Ganesha assumed the mock form of a wild elephant and chased Valli. Asshe ran for cover, she found solace in the embrace of Kartikeya! Revolving aroundShiva-Parvati and claiming the mango: The story is very popular and known to everyone. WhileKartikeya took the trouble to actually go around the whole world to claim themango as a prize, Ganesha simply circled around his parents. Much toKartikeya's anger, Ganesha won the competition with a clever interpretation ofthe rules! A number of ideas can begleaned from the story. Philosophically, we can take the following moral. Byknowing "one cause", all the "effects" are "as though"fully known. If we know "one gold", the cause, we have in effectknown "the gold bangle", "the gold necklace", "thegold earring" etc. We need not take the trouble of sequentially knowingeach effect in detail: first the bangle, next the necklace, next the earringand so on. One gold alone appears as the bangle, the necklace etc. So too, byknowing the "adhyaatma", one's own inner self, we have in effectknown the entire creation. One's inner Self alone appears as this entireuniverse as in a dream! It is a baffling fact, but taught by the Upanishads.Kartikeya takes the trouble of trying to cover the entire world, an impossibletask considering the immensity of the creation. Ganesha keeps it simple. Hecircles around Shiva-Parvati, the original cause (and present in each one of usas the adhyaatma) and stakes claim to the prize. He has "as though"circled the entire creation! This interpretation is seen in the MundakaUpanishad. Ganesha and Parvati: WhenLalitaambika (Parvati'sform) went to destroy Bhandasura, the asura's army chief used a special"yantra" called vighna yantra. Due to this astra, Lalitambika's armywas in disarray. They underwent a change of heart, so much so, they starteddistancing themselves from Lalitambika and started favoring the enemy! Ganesha used his tusk to break this yantra.With this, the soldiers were back with the right spirit and the enemy wasconquered. Ganesha and turmeric: Itis customary to take a lump of turmeric and invoke Lord Ganesha in it. This practice is followed in anyGanesha puja. What isthe reason behind invoking Ganesha in a lump of turmeric? When Parvati createdGanesha, she is supposed to have scraped turmeric from her own body. Turmericwas the clay with which Parvati molded Ganesha. In keeping with thisstory, we also invoke Ganesha in a lump of turmeric. Turmeric is"mangalam", auspicious. Parvati is called "sarva mangalaa".Little wonder that the child crafted should also be "mangalakaari".In many songs, Ganesha is praised as "mangalakaari", who's graceconfers the devotee with "shubham", everything auspicious! Inlanguages like Tamil, turmeric is called "manjal". The word"manjal" comes from "mangala", auspicious. Turmeric is auspicious, Parvatiis auspicious, Ganesha is of course auspicious! Ganesha and the moon: Themoon was proud of hisgood-looks and laughed at Ganesha, who looked funny to him! It provoked Ganeshaand he cursed the moon. The beauty is, he didn't directly curse the moon. Ganesha pronounced a cursethat whoever looks at the moon, will be subject to blame and false accusation!With this, no one looked at the moon. If they looked at the moon and landed introuble, they cursed the moon! Thus, Ganesha's purpose of teaching the moon alesson, was served! The moon begged for forgiveness. Ganesha was magnanimous. He forgave the moon and evenplaced the moon on his head. Ganesha has a special name:"bhaalachandra"- the one who placed the moon on his forehead or"phaalachandra"- the one who placed the moon on the parting of thishair. Shiva, Parvati and Ganesha have the moon on their head. It is always the"third digit" of the moon on their head. Still, Ganesha's curse couldnot be completely revoked. He made a concession. Theone who looked at the moon on "Ganesha chaturthi" day alone, willinvite the curse. Even onthat day, if he listens to the story of "Syamantaka mani", he canwriggle out of the curse! So much concession! Ganesha and Krishna: Theentire episode of Syamantaka Mani (gem) is connected to Ganesha in a way. LordKrishna happened to see the moon on Ganesh Chaturthi day. He underwent a lot oftrouble as a result. Krishna was blamed for killing"Prasena" and stealing the gem. Satraajit, the original owner of thegem and even Balarama doubted Krishna. It took a lot of effort on Krishna'spart to clear his name. But it ended on a good note. Krishna married Jaambavatiand Satyabhaama (Satraajit's daughter) at the end of this episode. Naradaexplains to Krishna the reason for all these problems and Krishna does aspecial puja for Ganesha. Ganesha and serpent:Ganesha eats so much that he ties a snake to keep his overflowing belly in check! A snake symbolizes "shakti"- power. Withoutlegs, it moves so quickly! It's all shakti! Ganesha's bellysymbolizes the entire universe as seen earlier. And circumscribing thisuniverse is...power. We see power everywhere- in the cascading waterfall, inthe streak of lightning, in the volcanic eruption...everywhere. Ganesha and Rama: On his way toRameshvaram, Rama prayed at the Ganesha shrine at "Uppoor" andat "Thondi". "Thondi Ganesha" advised Rama to go furthersouth to build the bridge from Rameshwaram. Adi Shankara composed the famous"Ganesha pancharatnam" on this "Thondi Ganesha". Ganesha and Hanuman:There's a special form of the Lord called "Aadyanta prabhu". Here, one half is Ganesha andthe other half is Hanuman. Ganesha is the adi-devata- the first deity we prayto. He is right at the beginning. Hanuman is "rudraavatara", Shiva'smanifestation. In that sense, he is laya karta...who alone remains after thiscycle of creation is destroyed. He is verily the "anta". Thus, thiscombination of "adi" and "anta" makes this form"aadyanta prabhu". Ganesha and pranava: Inmany compositions, we find Ganesha referred as "pranavaakaaram"- having the form of"om" (pranava). "Om" is a "sound-symbol". It isnot a visual symbol as seen sometimes. As a sound symbol, "om" ismade up of the syllables "a", "u" and "m". Notethat in Sanskrit, "a" and "u" combine to form"o". That's why we say "om", though it has 3 syllables.When we open the mouth, naturally we say "aaaaa". When we close themouth, naturally, we say "mmmmm". "aaaaaa" "uuuu"and "mmmm" cover all sounds which can be uttered by any human beingin any language. Sounds make up words. Words refer to objects. In effect, wecan say "om" refers to "all objects" in the creation. Thetotality of everything in the creation is the Lord. He exists as every object,as all objects in the creation. Hence, "pranava" or "om" isthe best name for the Lord since it covers everything in one sweep. Curiously,though "om" is a sound-symbol and needs to be uttered/intoned, forGanesha alone, it also appears are a "visual-symbol" also. From theletter "om" in devanagari script, with its characteristic loops, itis easy for anyone to extrapolate it to the face of Ganesha. Even in regionallanguages like Tamil, the letter "om" is very close to an elephantface with trunk and tusk! Thus, Ganesha and "pranava" are intimatelyrelated. Ganesha and Kubera: Thereis a popular story involving Kubera and Ganesha. Kubera, the lord of all riches, is proud of hisbounty. To flaunt his wealth, he throws a feast. Kubera is so sure that thefood can never run out. Ganesha punctures his pride by consuming all the foodand still not satisfied! A crest-fallen Kubera goes to Lord Shiva to find anexit strategy! Lord Shiva rebukes Kubera and teaches him the importance of agracious and pure heart. Only then does any gift bless both the giver and therecipient. Shiva gives Kubera a handful of rice. With a change of heart, withbhakti, Kubera now serves the rice to Ganesha. Ganesha's appetite isimmediately satiated! The story is simple. We can take the following moral fromit. As the Geeta says: "patram, pushpam, phalam, toyam yo me bhaktyaprayacchati..." "Just one leaf, one flower, one fruit, one drop ofwater...if it is greased with bhakti, with love...that alone is enough...and Ireadily accept" says the Lord. Bhakti is the only currency which the Lordaccepts as seen in this story. Ganesha and Adi Shankara:In the panchaayatana pooja popularized by Adi Shankara, Ganesha is worshipped in the"red stone" obtained from the river Sone in Bihar. It iscalled Sonabhadra. The other stones which are used in this puja are: Saligramastone for Lord Vishnu obtained from the river Gandaki in Nepal, Bana linga stone for Lord Shivaobtained from the river Narmada,swarnamukhi stone for Devi from AP and crystal for Surya from Vallam in Thanjavur. Ganesha in"shanmata": There are 6 "matas". Followers of a particular deity (ishta devata)form a "mata". "Gaanapatyam"is one of the mataas. As per this tradition, Ganesha is the Supreme God.The other matas are Shaivam, Vaishnavam, Shaaktam, Souram and Kaumaaram. Theshanmata was also established by Adi Shankara. The only addition to thepanchayatana (5 deities) is Kaumaaram (followers of Kartikeya). In thepanchayatana puja, Kartikeya does not find a place. Ganesha in the Vedas: Inthe Veda, there are special "Suktas" glorifying each deity. The most popular hymn in theVedas for Lord Vishnu is the "Purusha Suktam". The most popular hymnin the Vedas for Lord Shiva is "Shri Rudram". The question is...whereis Ganesha extolled in the Vedas? In the Atharvana Veda, there is a sectioncalled "Atharva Sheersham". This is one of the most popular Vedichymns for Lord Ganesha. Here, Ganesha is praised as thecreator-sustainer-destroyer of the entire creation. It is an Upanishad andreveals Ganesha as non-different from one's own Self also. Ganesha as Heramba: Thereis a special form of Ganesha called "Heramba". Here, Ganesha sits on a lion. It is peculiar because an elephantand a lion are normally enemies. We say that an elephant is rattled by seeing alion even in a dream (simha swapna). However, in Heramba, an elephant and lion come together.Likewise, Kartikeya rides a peacock. In many places, including KukkeSubramanya, Kartikeya is associated with a snake. Snake and peacock are naturalenemies. Similarly, Shiva's third son (Ayappa or Shaasta) rides a tiger. Ayappais in human form- a man. It's as if a man rides a man-eater! All opposites haveto resolve in Bhagavan. Either we can say, He is "BOTH fat and thin"or we should say "He is neither fat nor thin"!!! Ganesha as LakshmiGanapati: For a Ganesha bhakta, he folds everything into Ganesha. Thus, we have concepts of "Lakshmi Ganapati","Vidya Ganapati" and "Shakti Ganapati". It's as ifLakshmi-Saraswati-Durga and whatever they symbolize, find their being inGanesha himself. Even in songs we find expressions like "lambodara lakumikaraa" (lakumi is a variant of lakshmi). Siddhi-buddhi Ganesha:We have no idea if Ganesha is married or not! In South India, Ganesha is a confirmed bachelor. However, in places likeJambukeshvaram, we have "vallabha Ganapati" with a lady seated onGanesha's left lap. We also have "siddhi-buddhi vinayaka".In the South, siddhi-buddhi are not considered as consorts. Rather, they arelooked upon as Ganesha's powers. In North India, Ganesha has two wives- Riddhi and Siddhi. The confusion is not limited to Ganesha. In North India, Kartikeya is considered as abachelor.In the South, he has twowives- Valli and Devasena! We can take whatever suits us. Ganesha - a subjectiveinterpretation: Sometimes, we find a subjective interpretation of Ganesha- how the concept of Ganeshasignifies a "man of spiritual perfection" (a gnyaani). He serves as aguide for every "saadhaka" (spiritual aspirant) to scale the sameheights of perfection. We know that Ganesha's human head was replaced with thebiggest head, an elephant head! The idea behind this is the following. We live our entire lives like a frog in a well! So narrow is ouroutlook with importance given only to "me" and "mine". Some trigger- a chancebook, a chance meeting, a chance experience... suddenly changes us. The earlierpetty mind (laghu chetas) is completely blasted and it is replaced with thegrandest vision possible. "My family" now is this entire earth (vasudhaiva kutumbakam),"my nation" now is the entire universe (swadesho bhuvanatrayam) andthe whole creation is now permeated by the Lord alone (ishaavaasyam idamsarvam). The change ofGanesha's head indicates this change in outlook. The broken tusk showsthe readiness to sacrifice everything to gain this vision. The trunk can pickup a needle as well as uproot an entire tree. So too, a man of perfection hasmastered his mind in a two-fold way. He is "dakshah" efficient... inhis dealings with the world outside. When it comes to seeing the "onetruth" in the "many", he has that subtlety (sukshma buddhi) aswell. A pot-belly shows his ability to digest all experiences with equal ease-the good, the bad and the ugly! He accepts all experiences as"prasada". The mouse hovering around the feet of Ganesha indicatesdesire. A man of perfection is forever in charge. He is the master. He ridesover the tiny mouse and perhaps fulfil s whatever "preferences" hemay have. There is never a time when the mouse rides him! We can go onextrapolating more from this allegorical Ganesha. This is just a sample! I found the reading informativeon certain points and refreshing in some points. I feel it is a good writeup toforward . R.Gopalakrishnan. 28-10-2025 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/553681959.805485.1761620715563%40mail.yahoo.com.
