Lord Ganesha is one of the most loved deities in Hindu religion, worshipping whom is considered auspicious before beginning any new work. This is why you see people from all religions and faiths bringing Ganesha idols to their homes and keeping them in their houses for several days until Ganpati Visarjan during the festival of Ganesh Chathurthi.
On the onset of the festival today, we bring you some unknown facts about Lord Ganesha.
The Birth
Goddess Parvati carved an idol of a boy out of turmeric powder and breathed life into it. She did so to have someone as loyal to her as Nandi was to Lord Shiva. The boy was later called Ganesha, which means lord of the Ganas..
The Elephant Head
The reason why Ganpati Bappa has an elephant’s head is that when he denied Lord Shiva from entering his abode, because Goddess Parvati was taking a bath inside, Shiva decapitated his head in anger; an elephant was the first animal that Lord Brahma found when he went out to look for one, which is why Ganesha’s head was replaced with that of an elephant.
The First God
Lord Ganesha is the first God to be prayed whenever a holy procession takes place. This was the condition following which Goddess Parvati had agreed to calm down after she decided to destroy the whole world following Ganesha’s decapitation.
The Loved One
In one of the folklores, Lord Shiva announced Lord Ganesha to be the first God to be prayed on any holy ceremony when he, in a competition with his brother Lord Kartikeya to cover the whole world, circled around his parents citing them as his whole world. This pleased Lord Shiva to no end and he blessed his son to be the first God to be prayed.
The Wise One
Lord Ganesha was the one who wrote Mahabharata as sage Vyasa recited it to him. This was done on the condition that Vyasa would not stop while reciting the epic and Ganesha would not stop while writing, and also that Ganesha would not merely write it but would also understand every verse of it.
Three Years
Popular legends say that it took both of them three years, of continuous speaking and writing, to complete the mega epic.
The Broken Tusk
We see one of Ganesha’s tusk broken; the reason behind this is when he was writing the epic Mahabharata, the feather that he was using as a pen broke, but to maintian the pact of writing it continously, he broke off his tusk and completed the epic.
Out of Respect
Some people are of the belief that Lord Parashurama was the one who cut off one of Ganesha’s tusks because he didn’t allow him to enter the Shiva abode and meet Lord Shiva, who was busy praying. Ganesha didn’t save himself out of respect for the axe that was used to cut off his task, as the axe was given to Lord Parashurama by Lord Shiva himself.
The Angry Ganesha
In the rare incidents when we hear of Lord Ganesha being angry, he once cursed the moon as he laughed at his fat belly. Lord Ganesha cursed him saying whoever looks at the moon on Ganesh Chaturthi would be falsely blamed. This is still believed in most sections of the Hindu faith, as people avoid looking at the moon on Ganesh Chaturthi.
His Family
Talking of his consorts, Ganesha is said to have two wives, Riddhi (meaning prosperity) and Siddhi (spirituality). He also has two sons from his marriages, Shubh and Labh.
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