There is more than one legend of Ganesh's birth. The widely-accepted story, from the writings of the Shiva Purana, has his mother, Parvati, fashioning him as a good-looking little boy out of a chunk of clay. Parvati, you see, was bored and lonely, as her husband, Shiva (a.k.a. the Destroyer of Worlds) would often forsake her for long, million-year stints, meditating in the wilds. So what better company than a child for her to foster and play with? Ganesha grew up a strong, lovable kid, the apple of his mother's eye. Their idyll though, was suddenly shattered when Lord Shiva came back from the wild. Unaware of his "son's" existence, Shiva barged in, impatiently looking for his wife. He came upon the boy, standing guard dutifully, as instructed by Parvati, who was taking a bath. Ganesh refused to allow the wild-eyed, dusty intruder, whereupon the enraged Destroyer lopped off the boy's head. Hearing the noise, Parvati came out... and you can imagine the scene that occurred. A chastened Shiva, anxious to make amends, turned to Brahma the Creator for help. The boy's severed head had flown too far off and was lost. Brahma suggested that Shiva restore the head with the first creature he could find whose head faced north. That happened to be a sleeping elephant! Parvati was mollified and she extracted two favors for her beloved son - that he be named the chief of Shiv's army of ganas (hence his other popular name, Ganapati, or leader of the Ganas) and be invoked by all before they started any enterprise. In a different, less known tale, Ganesh was born to Parvati as an outcome of her prayers to Vishnu, the Preserver. It was a happy occurrence when all the Gods came to bless Parvati's beautiful newborn. All except poor Shani (Saturn), son of Surya, the sun-god, who was saddled with the curse of burning those upon whom his gaze fell. Foolishly, Parvati beseeched Shani's presence. When the dark god Shani looked at Ganesh, the boy's head flew off it is said, to heaven. Seeing the grief-stricken mother, Vishnu mounted Garuda, his eagle, and flew away in search of a substitute. On the riverside of the Pushpabhadra River, he saw an elephant, whose head he brought back and joined to the body of Parvati and Shiva's son. In a yet another story about how Ganesh acquired an elephant head the head belonged to a wild demon, Gajasura, who was also a zealous follower of Shiva. For all his amazing power as Destroyer of world, Shiva was easily delighted by his worshipers and granted them boons thoughtlessly, which led him to into some bad situations. This is exactly what happened with Gajasura. When Shiva asked the demon what he wanted, Gajasura replied, "I want you to dwell within my body." Stumped, Shiva had no option but to comply. Parvati, after some time, realized exasperatedly that her husband had gone missing again. After a useless search, she approached Vishnu for help. Vishnu (who knows All) understood he had to trick Gajasura. Taking Nandi, Shiva's bull, he went to home as a piper and staged a spectacular performance. Gajasura was captivated by the bull's dance and offered to grant the piper a reward. "Just name your wish, it shall be granted," said Gajasura grandly. "Release Shiva from your belly - now!" Gajasura knew this was Vishnu in disguise; also, that his end was near. Letting Shiva burst out from his insides, the dying demon pleaded for forgiveness. His final wish? That he be remembered forever, by having his head worshipped. Once more, Shivarelented and placed the elephant head upon that of his own son, Ganesh.
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There is more than one legend of Ganesha's beginnings. This article discusses few of those stories.
Chip Tolaney is a designer and a writer. His work can be seen on Ganesh Statue site called Ganesh Mall. His other work can be seen at Ganesh Blog.. Visit The Story of Hinduism's Favorite God Ganesh's Birth.
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