57 Facts About Ganesha

Ganesha, known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon.

Devotion to Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to Jains and Buddhists and includes Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, and Bangladesh and in countries with large ethnic Indian populations including Fiji, Guyana, Mauritius, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Ganesha is widely revered, more specifically, as the remover of obstacles and thought to bring good luck; the patron of arts and sciences; and the deva of intellect, Purity, Innocense, Valour and wisdom.

Ganesha is invoked as a patron of letters and learning during writing sessions.

The principal texts on Ganesha include the Ganesha Purana, the Mudgala Purana and the Ganapati Atharvasirsha.

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Ganesha has been ascribed many other titles and epithets, including Ganapati, Vighneshvara, and Pillaiyar.

Name Ganesha is a Sanskrit compound, joining the words gana, meaning a 'group, multitude, or categorical system' and isha, meaning 'lord or master'.

The word gana when associated with Ganesha is often taken to refer to the ganas, a troop of semi-divine beings that form part of the retinue of Shiva, Ganesha's father.

Ganesha adds that the words pallu, pella, and pell in the Dravidian family of languages signify "tooth or tusk", "elephant tooth or tusk".

Unlike those of some deities, representations of Ganesha show wide variations and distinct patterns changing over time.

Ganesha images were prevalent in many parts of India by the 6th century CE.

Ganesha holds his own broken tusk in his lower-right hand and holds a delicacy, which he samples with his trunk, in his lower-left hand.

The motif of Ganesha turning his trunk sharply to his left to taste a sweet in his lower-left hand is a particularly archaic feature.

Ganesha has been represented with the head of an elephant since the early stages of his appearance in Indian art.

The most recurrent motif in these stories is that Ganesha was created by Parvati using clay to protect her and Shiva beheaded him when Ganesha came between Shiva and Parvati.

The Ganesha Purana prescribes a tilaka mark as well as a crescent moon on the forehead.

Jain depictions of Ganesha show his vahana variously as a mouse, elephant, tortoise, ram, or peacock.

Ganesha is often shown riding on or attended by a mouse, shrew or rat.

Ganesha is Vighneshvara, the Lord of Obstacles, both of a material and spiritual order.

Ganesha is popularly worshipped as a remover of obstacles, though traditionally he places obstacles in the path of those who need to be checked.

Krishan notes that some of Ganesha's names reflect shadings of multiple roles that have evolved over time.

Ganesha is considered to be the Lord of letters and learning.

The term, when identified with Ganesha, refers to the notion that he personifies the primal sound.

Ganesha holds, supports and guides all other chakras, thereby "governing the forces that propel the wheel of life".

Ganesha is associated with the goddess of luck and prosperity, Lakshmi.

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The 1975 Hindi film Jai Santoshi Maa shows Ganesha married to Riddhi and Siddhi and having a daughter named Santoshi Ma, the goddess of satisfaction.

Ganesha is worshipped on many religious and secular occasions, especially at the beginning of ventures such as buying a vehicle or starting a business.

Devotees believe that if Ganesha is propitiated, he grants success, prosperity and protection against adversity.

Ganesha did so "to bridge the gap between the Brahmins and the non-Brahmins and find an appropriate context in which to build a new grassroots unity between them" in his nationalistic strivings against the British in Maharashtra.

In Hindu temples, Ganesha is depicted in various ways: as a subordinate deity ; as a deity related to the principal deity ; or as the principal deity of the temple .

Ganesha appeared in his classic form as a clearly-recognizable deity with well-defined iconographic attributes in the early 4th to 5th centuries CE.

Some earliest known Ganesha images include two images found in eastern Afghanistan.

The second image found in Gardez, the Gardez Ganesha, has an inscription on Ganesha pedestal that has helped date it to the 5th century.

Ganesha appears in China by the 6th century, states Brown, and his artistic images in temple setting as "remover of obstacles" in South Asia appear by about 400 CE.

Ganesha is, states Bailey, recognised as goddess Parvati's son and integrated into Shaivism theology by early centuries of the common era.

Courtright reviews various speculative theories about the early history of Ganesha, including supposed tribal traditions and animal cults, and dismisses all of them in this way:.

One theory of the origin of Ganesha is that he gradually came to prominence in connection with the four Vinayakas .

Depictions of elephant-headed human figures, which some identify with Ganesha, appear in Indian art and coinage as early as the 2nd century.

Ganesha agreed but only on the condition that Vyasa recites the poem uninterrupted, that is, without pausing.

The story of Ganesha acting as the scribe occurs in 37 of the 59 manuscripts consulted during the preparation of the critical edition.

Ganesha's rise to prominence was codified in the 9th century when he was formally included as one of the five primary deities of Smartism.

Once Ganesha was accepted as one of the five principal deities of Hinduism, some Hindus chose Ganesha as their principal deity.

Ganesha Sahasranama is part of the Puranic literature, and is a litany of a thousand names and attributes of Ganesha.

Ganesha is one of a number of Hindu deities who consequently reached foreign lands.

Ganesha was particularly worshipped by traders and merchants, who went out of India for commercial ventures.

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Statues of Ganesha are found throughout the region, often beside Shiva sanctuaries.

The forms of Ganesha found in the Hindu art of Philippines, Java, Bali, and Borneo show specific regional influences.

Today in Buddhist Thailand, Ganesha is regarded as a remover of obstacles, the god of success.

Ganesha even built a Ganesha shrine at his personal palace, Sanam Chandra Palace in Nakhon Pathom Province where he focused on his academic and literature works.

Today, Ganesha is depicted both in the seal of the Fine Arts Department, and Thailand's first prominent fine arts academy; the Silpakorn University.

Ganesha appears in Mahayana Buddhism, not only in the form of the Buddhist god, but as a Hindu demon form with the same name.

Ganesha's image appears in Buddhist sculptures during the late Gupta period.

In Nepal, the Hindu form of Ganesha, known as Heramba, is popular; he has five heads and rides a lion.

Ganesha appears in China and Japan in forms that show distinct regional character.

In Japan, where Ganesha is known as Kangiten, the Ganesha cult was first mentioned in 806.

However, Ganesha is worshipped by some Jains, for whom he appears to have taken over certain functions of the god of wealth, Kubera.

Images of Ganesha appear in some Jain temples of Rajasthan and Gujarat.