Photo Friday: Ganesh’s ‘Good Luck’ Story

Posted by Rhys on October 8, 2010 · 4 Comments 

Ganesh grants Good Luck at Pushkar

Ganesh is one of the most infamous & well-loved gods of the Hindu religion. He stands for good luck & prosperity, dwelling above doors all across India to bless their homes. The story of Ganesh is one of my favourites…

Ganesh is the son of Shiva, the God of Death, & Parvati. While Shiva was away his wife Parvati had a son who was created to protect her while she bathed & such. Ganesh looked after his mother in his father’s absence, until Shiva returned. On his return, Shiva saw Ganesh outside his quarters, thinking ‘Who is this dude?!’. Ganesh was thinking along the same lines having never met his father. He stopped Shiva from entering his own house, which kinda pissed the God of Death off!… not a good idea! Shiva sent his boys in to sort out Ganesh still unaware he was trying to destroy his own son. Ganesh was a hard little bugger though & killed off all of his fathers minions with ease. Eventually, Shiva decided if you want something done properly you gotta do it yourself. He waltzed up to Ganesh & cut off his head!…

Enter Parvati… ‘What the hell’s going on here?!’. Shiva proudly announces the decapitation before his wife informs him of his error. ‘Ah crap! I’ll fix it dearest. I shall go into the forest & take the head from the first beast I see.’ And with that Shiva ventured off to resolve the pedantic problem of a headless son. As promised he returned with the head of a beast… lucky for Ganesh it was an elephant… Nice!! Abracadabra, Ganesh is reborn with the head of an elephant & the body of a boy, hence his odd appearance.

Filed under General · Tagged with Ganesh, Hinduism, India, Photography, Pushkar, religion