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#1. ‘Ganesha’ is Sanskrit for ‘leader of the ganas’. Who are the ‘ganas’?
The ganas are an army of attendants who surround and serve Lord Shiva. Ganesha earned his name when he successfully fought off this fearsome horde to protect the entrance to her mother Parvati’s chambers. The word ‘gana’ in Sanskrit means multitudes so another interpretation of his name is ‘the lord of the masses’.
Image: Dancing Ganapathi, 2021-2022, Sindhe Chithambara Rao, Water colours and drawing ink on leather (goat hide), © Sarmaya Arts Foundation. (2022.2.66)
#2. According to legend, this holy river was born at the spot where a young Ganesha toppled a pot of water:
According to the Puranas, the Sage Agastya’s wife Lopamudra transformed herself into a pot of water to bring relief to a drought-hit land south of the Vindhya mountains. During his journey southwards, the Sage set the pot down on a hill. Ganesha, in the form a crow, pecked at the pot and the water gushed down, giving birth to the Kaveri.
Image: Ganesha Story Pattachitra, Bijay Kumar Bariki © Sarmaya Arts Foundation (2016.37.1)
#3. What is the name of the elephant whose head was given to Lord Ganesha?
Airavata is the celestial five-headed white elephant described in Hindu scriptures as the guardian of Lord Indra’s heavenly palace. According to some legends, when Lord Shiva beheaded his son in a fit of rage for denying entry to his wife’s chambers, a grief-stricken Parvati threatened to destroy the world. A remorseful Shiva redeems himself by replacing his son’s head with one taken from the majestic Airavata.
Image: Untitled (Gond Painting), Santosh Shyam, 21st Century © Sarmaya Arts Foundation 2016.68.3
#4. Who is the Goddess cradling Ganesha in her arms in this Bengal patua painting?
In Bengal, the Goddess is worshipped in her maternal avatar as Ma Durga accompanied by her children, Saraswati, Lakshmi, Karthikeya and Ganesha. In this pattachitra scroll painting, the artist Tagar Chitrakar imagines Durga as the spirit of the Sundarbans, cradling a baby Ganesha. Among the animals surrounding her are the divine mounts of each diety: lion (Durga), mouse (Ganesha), owl (Lakshmi) and swan (Saraswati). They’re joined by species endemic to one of the world’s largest mangrove forests, like the Royal Bengal Tiger and the saltwater crocodile.
Image: Sunderban (Durga like Tree), 2023, Tagar Chitrakar, Natural colours on paper,© Sarmaya Arts Foundation, (2023.10.10)
#5. A historic Ganesha temple is housed inside this three-billion-year-old rock formation, one of the oldest in the world. Where does it stand?
The Ucchi Pillaiyar Temple is hewn into the side of the Rock Fort of Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu. (Pillaiyar is the Tamil name for Lord Ganesha.) It is chiselled into the face of one of the oldest rock formations in the world, dating to the Archean eon that occurred 4 to 2.5 billion years ago. Thanks to its height and location on the banks of the Kaveri, Rock Fort has been used as a military stronghold for centuries by empires ranging from the Cholas to the British East India Company.
Image: Fort and temple, Tiruchirapalli, c. 1865-1869, Edmund David Lyon, photograph part of album titled ‘Views of South India and Palitana’, Albumen silver print from glass negative, © Sarmaya Arts Foundation (2017.1.1(13))
#6. Mumbai is known for its grand Ganeshotsav celebrations, but the festival as we know it today actually began in this city:
The tradition of the grand public celebration of Ganeshotsav began in Pune in 1892. The festival was organised by community leaders like Bhausaheb Rangari, who wanted to rally support among citizens for the nationalist movement against British rule. Two years later, freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak brought Ganeshotsav to Mumbai and the festival has since become synonymous with the city.
Image: Ganesh visarjan day in Mumbai, India, photo by Chetan Karkhanis in association with TravelMag.com/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
#7. ‘Maha Rakta Ganapati’ is a Ganesha avatar worshipped in which East Asian country?
In Tibetan Buddhism, Ganesha is imagined as Maha Rakta Ganapati, an intimidating and powerful god who attacks the forces of evil. He’s painted a thundering red with twelve arms raised to strike and standing on one leg in a dancing tandav-like pose. Ganesha is a Buddhist deity worshipped in various forms wherever the faith has taken root, from Tibet to Cambodia to Japan.
Image: Dancing Red Ganapati of the Three Red Deities, 15th century, Rubin Museum of Art, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
#8. Ganesha’s favourite sweet, modak, has travelled all the way to Japan. What does its name ‘seijō-kankidan’ translate to?
Seijō-kankidan is a modak-inspired Japanese sweet that’s offered to the Ganesha-inspired deity, Kangiten! In Japanese Buddhism, Kangiten is revered as the ‘God of Joy’ and represented visually as two elephant-headed figures locked in an embrace. The seijō-kankidan has a sweet filling of aromatic bean paste wrapped in a golden pastry shaped to look like a bag of money.
Photo by Dokudami, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikipedia Commons
References
Kulkarni, D. (2022, August 21). How communal conflict led to the birth of Ganesh utsav. Hindustan Times.
Eck, D. L. (2012). India: A Sacred Geography. Harmony.
The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets. (2015). Oxford University Press.
Rajat Ghai, & Rajat Ghai. (2023, October 7). ‘It is the elephant-headed aspect so prevalent in Ganesha that has allowed his icon to gain a foothold in many cultures.’ Down to Earth.
Decoding Ganesha. (2023, July 12). Devdutt Pattanaik.