99 Thoughts on Ganesha

99 Thoughts on Ganesha written by Devdutt Pattnaik is a well researched book on Ganesha the elephant headed God loved by millions in India. In the 19^th Century the King of Mysore  ordered the court scholars to make a list of all Hindu gods that are worshipped in his kingdom. In the list finally compiled there is a mention of 32 types of Ganesha that were being worshipped. It starts with Bala Ganapathi, the child like Ganesha and ended with Sankatahara Ganapathi, the problem solving Ganapathi.

Perhaps Ganesha is the only deity, who has seen innumerable forms in the imagination of his devotees. There are similarly many  stories on why and how Ganesha lost his original head and was replaced by the head of an elephant.

A text written in 1751, identified 108 Upanishads in the Hindu Religion, of which there is a Ganesha Upanishad also.

I did not know, for example, when Ganesha’s trunk points to the left, towards the heart, it indicates the more worldly form of Ganesha, while his trunk when pointed to the right, indicates a more ascetic form of Him.

There is a contemporary 5 day celebration on Ganesha between 21^st to 25^th December in the USA every year, that was started by Himalayan Academy based at Hawai, competing with the Christmas.

In Vedic literature, Ganesha is identified as a scholarly man, but there is no mention of his elephant head. It must have been  a later addition. Some would say, it could have been inspired by the Greeks, when they invaded and conquered a part of India. The Greeks had conquered Egypt before they came to India and Egypt was known to have animal headed deities like Horus, Anubis etc.

In the Rig Veda, the word 'Ganapati' is found, which today means 'Ganesha' also.While Rig Veda was composed around 1500 BC, the title Ganesha appears in Puranic texts, which were written about 2000 years after that. ‘Vinayaka’ or ‘Siddhi Vinayaka’ is also synonymous with ‘Ganesha’ these days. But in Manab –Griha- Sutra written in 500 BC, it refers to a group of four trouble making deities. Even in Yagnavalka – Smriti, written in 300 AD there was  one trouble-making Vinayaka.

If you are not a Marathi, you would not perhaps know what is ‘Morya’ in ‘Ganapati Bappa Morya’ that they chant. Morya is because of Morya Gosavi, who was the foremost leader of Ganapati cult  and his tomb is still seen in Chinchwad, not far away from Moregaon, where he was born, after his parents prayed to the Ganesha there known as 'Moreshwar', for a child.

Ganesha is Pillaiyar in Tamilnadu. In Nepal Ganesha is worshipped by the Hindus and Buddhists. There is a tantric Ganesha named Heramba. Ganesha is found in Tibet as Maha-Rakta-Ganapati.. Some images of the Elephant-headed god is found even in Mangolia. He is known as Mahapienne in Burma. In Cambodia, Ganesha has only two arms. In Thailand also two forms of Ganesha are seen, Phra Phikanet and Phra  Phikanesawora.

The book has 221 pages, full of knowledge and information on Ganesha, and the above is only a small summary of the same. The book is written in simple language, nicely divided chapters, and is highly readable. There are many nice and  rare pictures of Ganesha from all across India and Asia.