More of Ganesha

From top to bottom:

1. An ancient carving of Ganesha from Prambanan in Jogjakarta, near the Borobudur complex.

2. Granite carving of Ganesha from South India.

3. Tanjavur painting from Tamiil Nadu, India.

4. Tibetan metal sculpture of Ganehsa.

Omnipresent Ganesha

So wide is the appeal of Lord Ganesha that you can find Him the whole of Asia. The exquisite representations of Ganesha within each community is simply a beautiful way of worshiping this adorable deity.

From top to bottom: Ganesha in Cambodia, Angkor, Bali, Nepal and Orissa in India.

Ganesha Chaturthi

It is that time of the year that the most beloved lord of the Hindu pantheon celebrates his birthday. Known as Ganesha Chaturthi, this festival is one of the most joyous celebrations in India and in all places where Hindus reside. And when there are Hindus, Ganesha is always present there. In fact, He is equally prevalent in Buddhist Thailand, Loas, Cambodia and Vietnam. In Malaysia, lately the Chinese too have fallen in love with this adorable deity who endears to just about anyone.

You may already know of His origins and how he got his elephant head but there is another related legend that explains why Hindus are advised not to look at the moon on the fourth day of the full moon. It goes something like this:

"Ganesha is very fond of sweets ladoos. On one of His birthdays he was going around house to house accepting the offerings of this sweet.

Having eaten a good number of these, He set out moving on his steed, the mouse at night. Suddenly the mouse stumbled as it had seen a snake and became frightened. This caused Ganeshji to fall down.

His stomach burst open and all the laddoos came out. But Ganeshji stuffed them back into his stomach and, to keep the laddos firmly there, He grabbed hold of the snake and tied it around his belly.

Seeing all this, the moon in the sky found it extremely funny and cracked up laughing. The moon remarked that not only Ganesha was a strange creature with an elephant head, His big, fat belly was now split,

This unseemly behaviour of the arrogant moon annoyed Ganesha immensely and so He pulled out one of His tusks and hurled it against the moon, and cursed that no one should look at the moon on the Ganesh Chaturthi day. If anyone does, he will surely earn a bad name."

In India, especially in Mumbai and other northern states, huge effigies (like in the last pix) of Ganesha are paraded down to the ocean and finally immersed in the running waters. It is one big parade and whole communities get together to send the Lord home on his birthday!

May you be blessed by our dear Lord on His special day!

Hybrid Ganesha

This image shows how easily devotees can adapt Ganesha into their everyday lives. He is all pervasive, even in Hollywood characters where he assumes the form of Spider Ganapathy!

As a Hindu, do you get offended by this depiction? I personally dont think it warrants any anger. We always forget that God is pure love and never wrath - well... there have been instances where God too gets angry but that is to vanquish evil.

Why Ganesha?

Why not? More pertinently, how not to? He is after all the most adorable of Hindu deities. Ganesha is always depicted as a jolly deity who is easy to appeal to and to appease (trust me, He isn't that easy to please. He removes obstacles but can also be instrumental in putting it there in the first place!).

But Ganesha stirs up the warmest of feelings in you; that everything will be all right, that He listens with His big ears, that He scrutinises your problems with His beady eyes, that His pot belly reflects the good-humoured nature of this affable deity. Ganesha is simply put, reassurance.

Someone asked me long, long time ago, why Ganesha was depicted as an elephant-headed god? I couldn't answer and started mouthing the puranas or mythological tales of his coming to being.

Amazingly, a Chinese girl turned around and answered the question: "He represents the gentle strength of God".

Vanakam, Namasthe, Sastrigal, Salam, Greetings to all. Glad you dropped by this little site in the vast world of blogs. May you always find joy in your heart, peace in your mind and a smile on your face.

OK... formalities out of the way, it is nice to say Hi to you all. As you can see frm the heading, this page is about Hinduism; not that I claim to be an expert in it. No one really can. There is a famous saying in the Tamil language which means 'What you know is fistful of sand, what you need to know is an ocean-ful of sand'. That surmises the religion as well. It is so vast, so infinite that trying to understand the entire thing can leave you flummoxed, like I have on many occasions. But with a little curiousity, a lot of acceptance, a little logic and a lot of faith, things tend to present themelves in a clearer fashion. And you start thinking that you have understood but than, a newer dimension appear and sends you back into another quest of trying to understand it all over again. It basically is evolution. Moving on to a higher plane, seeking out spirituality.

Like how God had intended all of us to evolve and become the perfect human being. But what is a perfect human being? God? It is true then, inside everyone lies a perfect, god-like being just waiting to be rid of all the layers of pollution that covers the true soul from emerging.

Salutations to Ganesha

I bow to thee, O Five-handed One, with countenance as bright as the luminous moon. I salute thee Son of Gauri, daughter of the Himalayas, consort of Mahadev. I worship thee, O pot-bellied One, who rides the industrious rat as his vehicle. I rejoice in thee, O Vignaharta, remover of obstacles.