Series on Ganesha the Great!
This mini ‘one_act_play’ in english, is designed to convey this theoretical, as well as, the symbolic stories-based information about Lord Ganesha, as found in the text ‘Ganesha Purāṇa’.
ध्यायेत् सिंहगतम् विनायकममुम् दिग्बाहुम् आद्ये युगे
त्रेतायाम् तु मयूर वाहनममुम् षड् बाहुकम् सिद्धिदम् |
द्वापारे तु गजाननम् युगभुजम् रक्ताङ्गरागम् विभुम्
तुर्ये तु द्विभुजम् सिताङ्ग रुचिरम् सर्वार्थदम् सर्वदा
(गणेश कवच, गणेश पुराण)
Vyāsa : Oh Grandpā, please brief me about some important incarnations of Lord Ganesha.
Brahmadeva : My son, in the first ‘Kṛutayuga’ (कॄत युग) period, a pair of handsome twins called ‘Devāntaka’ (देवान्तक) and ‘Narāntaka’ (नरान्तक) were born to a brahmin scholar ‘Raūdraketu’ (रौद्रकेतु) and his wife ‘Shāradā’ (शारदा). After hard penance, the twin brothers received boons from Lord Śiva and became very powerful and virtually invincible. Even though they were born to a great Vedic scholar, due to their blown-up ego and greedy selfish motives, they slowly got diverted from the path of truth and morality and established their demonic tyrannic rule in all the three lokas (त्रैलोक्य = भूमि, स्वर्ग, पाताल). Lord Ganesha then got born as the son of Sage Kashyapa (कश्यप) and his wife Aditi (अदिति). This incarnation was named ‘Mahotkaṭa’ (महोत्कट) and his favorite ‘Ride’ vāhana was Lion. Symbolically this ride ‘Lion’ represents the sets of ‘Moral Laws of Behavior’, naturally fixed by the Mother Nature. These sets are tuned for every kind of living species, e.g., this ‘Set of Laws’ is different for a) a lion as against a cow, or b) a King as against a sage, or c) a child student as against a matured teacher, etc. Riding on the Lion, ‘Mahotkaṭa’ (Vināyaka Gajānana), confronted and killed ‘Narāntaka’ by crushing him under his thumb like a ‘bug’. Then, when the powerful ‘Devāntaka’ pulled out one of his two elephant’s tooth, he snatched the tooth back from his hands and killed the demon by repeated hitting and breaking his head to pieces using that same tooth like a hammer.
Vyāsa : Oh Grandpā, great. This is how Lord Ganesha then became famous by the name ‘Ekadanta’, isn’t it?
Bramadeva : Yes, My son. You are right. Later in the next ‘Tretāyuga’ (त्रेता युग) period, King ‘Chakrapāṇi’ (चक्रपाणि) and his queen ‘Ugrā’ (उग्रा) conducted hard penance for pleasing Lord Sun and the queen became pregnant with a spark of Lord Sun (received by her as his blessings). However, the queen could not bear the radiance of the fetus and she secretly dropped it on the sea shore. Lord Varuṇa therefore took care of the (forcibly aborted baby) prince till he grew to childhood. Then he handed over the child to his father King Chakrapāṇi, for taking care of his education appropriate for a ‘Prince’. King Chakrapāṇi named the prince as ‘Sindhū’ (सिन्धू), the gift of Lord Sea and got him trained appropriately for a ‘Prince’. Lord Sun was very fond of this son and granted several boons and placed a secret bottle of nectar in his stomach, which made him very powerful and nearly impossible to get killed. However, this extraordinary level of power was used by Sindhū to rule the ‘traīlokya’ (स्वर्ग, मॄत्यु, पाताल), in his greedy selfish demonic fashion. Lord Ganesha then took the ‘Gajānana’ incarnation as the son of Goddess Pārvatī. Then, riding on a divine Peacock (मयूर) he killed the demonic Sindhū, using his Axe Paraśu, which busted the nectar bottle hidden in his stomach. He was then called as ‘Mayūreshvara’ (मयूरेश्वर). This idol of ‘Mayūreshvara’ is installed as the deity in one of the temples, among the famous ‘Aṣṭa-Vināyaka’ temples. This temple is located at Morgaon near Pune.
Vyāsa : Oh Grandpā, it is very interesting. But then why is a mouse popularly recognized as the ‘Ride’ of Lord Ganesha?
Brahmadeva : My son, in the later ‘Dwāparyuga’ (द्वापर_युग) period, once Lord Śiva instinctively visited Satya-loka and happened to awaken Lord Brahmadeva from his deep sleep. A beautiful red colored demon took birth out of an instantaneous ‘Yawn’ experienced by Lord Brahmadeva, during getting awakened. Out of an appreciation of his handsome personality with a pleasing reddish complexion and form, Lord Brahmā named this baby son as ‘Sindūra’ (सिन्दूर). Further, out of my blind fatherly love, I myself (Lord Brahmadeva) unnecessarily sanctioned several boons to that immature baby son. One of the boon was, he can kill anybody by just hugging him forcefully. The demon was pleased and instinctively wanted to try this boon, on me, his own father, who had granted him all so many boons. When I realized this demonic instinct in him, I ran away and cursed him that he will get crushed and killed by Lord Gajānana.
King ‘Vareṇya’ (वरेण्य) and his queen ‘Pushpāvatī’ (पुष्पावती) had carried out penance and got the boon that Lord Ganesha will get born as their son. In Kailāśa-loka, Goddess Pārvatī had delivered a baby but was actually quite upset with the ‘funny looking’ personality of her son with the huge head (गजानन), huge belly (लम्बोदर) and a bent mouth (वक्रतुण्ड) like an elephant’s trunk. Lord Ganesha therefore inspired Lord Śiva to order Lord Nandikeśvara, to carry this infant Gajānana incarnation and place him on the bed, by the side of the sleeping queen Pushpāvatī. The royal family members were however terribly upset by the news that the queen had given birth to an abnormal child with the head of an elephant. The Royal priests proclaimed that the child was ‘inhuman’, inauspicious (अपशकुनी) and was a great risk to the welfare of the royal family, as well as, the state’s population. On the chorus of bad advice of such foolish priests and mad ministers, King Vareṇya inhumanly ordered that the infant should be abandoned in a thick forest. By divine planning, Sage Parāshara (पराशर) happened to hear the cry of the divine infant and carried him to his hermitage. He loved him like his son. Once a divine gandharva called ‘Krauñca’ (क्रौञ्च) happened to get cursed to become a mouse. This huge mouse caused havoc in the hermitage of sage Parāshara. The child Lord Gajānana therefore tamed this huge mouse and forced him to become his ‘Ride’. Then riding on this mouse, he challenged demon Sindūra and assuming a virāṭa svaroopa or infinitely huge universe size form (विराट-विश्वरूप स्वरूप), the Lord crushed the demon by a hugging embrace. His whole body therefore became smeared with red color, due to the red color of ‘Sindūrāsura’ and his blood. All gods and sages and kings appreciated this valorous deed of child Gajānana. King Vareṇya who attended these felicitations, remembered & recognized the child, as his mistakenly abandoned son. He therefore requested the Lord for pardoning him for his foolish behavior under the influence of his foolish priests and ministers. He also requested his son to educate him in ‘true knowledge’. Lord Gajānana therefore preached ‘Ganesha Gītā’ (गणेश गीता) to his father disciple, King Vareṇya.
Vyāsa : Oh Grandpā, I am most obliged to you for this great information about Lord Ganesha. I shall now conduct penance and observe ‘Vināyakī’ and ‘Sankaṣṭa-haraṇa Chaturthī’ vratācaraṇa rituals to please him and get boons from him.
Brahmadeva : My son, it was my pleasure to recollect and speak about the Lord Ganesha and some of his important incarnations.
Dr. Dhananjay B. Ghare, Former Scientist, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
Vedic WAVES 
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