forum.banglalibrary.org/viewtopic.php?id=1031 VINAYAKA CHATURTHI day is set apart for the sole worship of Ganesa, the common deity of all Hindus. As he is sup posed to be very fond of rice puddings, these dishes are cooked on a very large scale in every Hindu house and offered to the god, to be consumed, by the members of the family, after the worship is over. A fresh image of Ganesa in clay is made and worshipped on this day. One hundred and eight different names of this god are repeated after the preliminary ceremonies and 108 different flowers are thrown in worship over him. The origin of this worship is prehistoric. Yudhisthira, the hero of the Mahabharata, Damayanti, the queen of the Nishada King Nala, Indra, the Lord of the Heavens and even Krishna, the expounder of the Bhagavatgita are said to have devoutly worshipped Ganesa and to have obtained their desired ends. Vinayaka or Ganesa is the eldest son of Siva and Parvati, or of Parvati only, according to the following legend, as he sprang from the scarf of her body. Siva had gone from home and Parvati was left alone on the Kailasa ; she wished to have a bath and not liking the idea of any person entering the house then, she rubbed her body with her hands and from the dirt that rolled off produced a figure to which she gave life and named Ganesa. She then asked Ganesa to sit at the door and allow no one, whoever he might be, to come in till she had finished her bath. Ganesa sat at his duty and while Parvati wras bathing inside, Siva returned home. He wanted to enter his house, but Ganesa would not allow him. After trying in vain to persuade him with gentle words, the great god used threats which, however, had no effect. He was at last compelled to cut off Ganesa s head and force his way in. When the goddess who was within perceived her lord entering and when she came to know that Ganesa had been murdered, she would not speak to Siva until her attend ant was restored to life. In order to do this, Siva gave orders to his army of the Bhutaganas to find the first living creature that slept with its head turned towards the north, to cut off its head and to fit it into Ganesa s body. The Bhutas searched and searched for a very long time and at last found an elephant asleep with its head to the north and cutting off its head they brought it and fixed it to Ganesa s body, and lo ! he rose up a man in body and elephant in face. This story also accounts for the belief of the Hindus to avoid the northern aspect in sleep.
Posted on: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 06:37:16 +0000
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