My boys love to hear stories about Ganesha- the Elephant headed God. They know all about how He got his Elephant Head, why there is a snake around His belly, how He cursed the moon and why Hindus pray to Him for all new beginnings etc. This post is upon the request of my sister-in-law in Irvine. She wanted to be able to tell her daughters more about Him, so here is a Ganesha 101!
Ganesha and New Tasks: No new endeavours begin for most Hindus without a prayer to Ganesh, since he is the God of New Beginnings and Remover of all Obstacles. Ganeshaya means the head of an elephant. The elephant symbolizes great strength and also great wisdom. Hence, when we pray to Ganesh, we are attracting the qualities of strength and wisdom to begin and complete a new job properly.
Noose and the Axe: Om Shri Ganeshaya Namah is a simple mantra recited for any new beginning. It brings to us the powers of Ganesh- his strength and wisdom, to fulfill any task. Towards that, Ganesha uses the noose that He carries in His Hand to capture and remove all obstacles in our path- that is, when we pray to Him! The axe is used for the same purpose.
Broken Tusk: This is my kids’ favorite version. One night, Ganesha stuffed himself on hordes of mithai. (Well, he is rather fond of food, especially mithai.) He decided to go out for a ride on his mouse, to take his mind off the mild tummy ache that was beginning to creep in from indigestion. However, as his mouse began to take him around, a snake suddenly appeared. The mouse was very startled and jumped in fright, causing Ganesh to fall off the mouse onto his huge tummy. Ganesh’s tummy couldn’t bear the impact of the fall, what with it being so full, and it ripped a bit! Ooops- thought Ganesh and quickly picked up the snake and tied it around his belly as a belt, which would hold the yummy mithai in.
Now the Moon was watching all this, and couldn’t help laughing loudly and rather rudely. Ganesha grew very upset and in his anger, broke off his tusk and threw it at the Moon. That is how the Moon got the black mark that we can see on a full moon night. And that is why Ganesha has one broken tusk!!
