To begin with, there is his absurdly endearing appearance — he has the head of an elephant and a stocky little body — his pot belly shows that he enjoys his food. He has the heart of a child, following his impulses, and does not make much ado about things, even though he is a god. Every god has his own vahana or mount — for instance Shiva had Nandi the bull, Vishnu has Garuda the eagle, while Ganesha, more down-to-earth, rides on a mouse.
He uses a serpent as a belt to hold his stomach in and one of his tusks is broken — and therein lies a favourite Ganesha story, one of many. It is the story of why Ganesha has a broken tusk or why the moon has a crater — a dark smudge that is visible even from planet Earth.
Ganesha was returning rather late one night, after a mighty feast given by Kubera, the richest of all the gods. Ganesha had eaten one too many of his favourite modakas — dumplings filled with coconut and jaggery — and his mount, the mouse, was carrying his master aloft gamely. However, that was not the case with Lord Ganesha.
He completed penning down the sacred hymns even before the sage had thought of the next. In the mean time, the pen He used for writing down the verses, began to wear away.
Aware of His earlier condition, and not finding out any other alternative, the Lord pulled out his left tusk and used it to complete writing the great epic Mahabharata.
It was a full moon that night. As he was riding, his mouse saw a snake and ran behind the bush. Ganpati fell to the ground and his stomach broke open. Ganpati started to put the food back in his stomach. The moon god saw him and started laughing loudly. Angered by this, Ganpati pronounced a curse on the moon God and before cursing moon theew his one tusk on Him and broke Him in two pieces. Frightened by the curse, the moon God started pleading for mercy.
Also if anyone sees the moon on my birthday, he or she shall not attain moksha liberation. The moon God kept quiet. Read on to find out: The story as in Upodghata Pada in the Brahmanda Purana According to the story in Upodghata Pada in the Brahmanda Purana, Lord Parshuram, the sixth avatar of Vishnu, went to thank Lord Shiva for blessing him with the power to fight his enemy, Kartavirya Arjuna and some other kings.
This made Parshuram enraged and He started fighting with Ganesha. When it looked like Ganesha was about to win, Parshuram threw His axe at Ganesha. Ganesha, however, didn't fight back because the axe was a gift from his father, Lord Shiva. He allowed the axe to hit Him and He received it with his left tusk which got chopped off and fell on the ground.
The story as in the Mahabharata The story that is included in the Mahabharata is that Ganesha broke his own tusk off to continue writing the Mahabharata as Vyasa was dictating it to him.
Maharishi Ved Vyasa wanted to pen down Mahabharata, but he knew that he would not be able to do this alone. Vyasa's response to Ganesha's proviso was pointed out as an example of an organic solution to a problem; Vyasa had come up with this pragmatic strategy because he was goal-oriented and intent on fulfilling his mission.
This legend was a popular teaching story to inspire focus and concentration; and its iconic reminder in daily life was the broken tusk on all Ganesha idols. Another myth about the tusk that I saw danced out in Thailand in December occurs in the Brahmanda Purana.
It was taught to the young to instil absolute obedience. Parashurama or Rama of the Axe was Lord Vishnu's sixth avatar, believed to have never really gone away but to still be meditating on Earth in a secret cave in the mountains.
Lord Shiva had given Parashurama the axe to help him complete his mission. When Parashurama's task was over, he made his way to Mount Kailash where Shiva lived, to return the axe and thank him.
But at the mystic mountain, he found his path blocked by Ganesha. Lord Shiva had ordered his son to guard Mount Kailash against all visitors, since he was about to go into a long, deep trance and did not want to be disturbed.
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