Every time I had a prayer at our small shrine at home, I always noticed the statuette of Ganesh. I always wondered why he had a human body and a head of an elephant, when all the other gods were all in complete human-like form. This always bothered me, and I was very curious. This particular day that I had mentioned, was the day that I asked my mum. It came to my mind when I was concurrently praying with my mother at the small shrine in my house and I was anxious to know why Ganesh was different.
At the kitchen table while I was having an Alpen cereal with a trace of raisins, a sprinkle of sugar and a drop of honey I asked my mum. I asked her why this god in particular had a different form compared to all the other gods. She began telling me the legend story of Ganesh. She started off by saying that he lived in India long, long ago and that some people believe that he is still alive because he is considered by the Hindus as one of the immortals. As she crunched on her cornflakes at the table she told me his story.
Ganesh was created when a goddess named Parvati supposedly made him out of clay and changed him into human form with the powers Parvati had. Ganesh was created when Parvati’s husband, Lord Shiva ‘The God of Death’ was away at war. Parvati wanted to have a bath and there was nobody to guard the door, so she created Ganesh to guard the door. She loved Ganesh and she was highly pleased with her creation. Parvati gave certain instructions to Ganesh to let no-one in the house while she was bathing. So Ganesh stood by the door while Parvati had a bath. It so happened, that Lord Shiva returned and he did not know that his wife, Parvati had created Ganesh. When Lord Shiva returned to the house, Ganesh did not let him in and Shiva got very angry. He was so angry that he drew his sword and cut off Ganesh’s head. My mum continued this story and I got more and more intrigued by it.
After Shiva cut off Ganesh’s head, Parvati had come out of the bath and saw what Shiva had done. Parvati flew into fury, and scolded Shiva for doing what he did. Shiva swore that he would cut off the head of the first animal he came across and he would place that head on Ganesh’s body. Shiva then went out into the jungle and the first animal he came across was an elephant. He took the head of that elephant and placed it on Ganesh’s body and Parvati was of somewhat happy.
“That was how he got an elephant’s head and a body of a human,” my mum concluded. After I heard this story I went to do some research and I found that they were many different versions and stories of why he had an elephant head and each of them were very interesting. This is my version of the story I like best!
