Ganesha’s helpful nature

Sai R Vaidyanathan

In a few days is Ganesh Chaturthi. Ganesha, the lord of auspicious beginnings, resolves problems of fellow beings in unusual ways. Here are some instances.

Freeing the river

Indra, the chief of gods, once went to Lord Ganesha for help. Indra was rearing a garden in Sirkali in the Tamil countryside for getting flowers to worship Lord Shiva. But dry weather was making Indra and the other farmers suffer.

In a vision, Ganesha got to know that sage Agastya had got the holy river Kaveri from Lord Shiva in his ‘kamandalu’ (water jug). So Ganesha assumed the form of a crow and flew to Sahyadri, the abode of Agastya. There, he sat heavily on one side of the ‘kamandalu’. The vessel tilted and Kaveri flowed out, infusing new life into the crops.

Jumbo as matchmaker

Brothers Kartikeya and Ganesha had a contest over a fruit which Kartikeya lost. In anger, Kartikeya left his home at Mount Kailash and landed at Mount Palani in South India.

Concerned, Ganesha followed him. He saw Valli, a hunter girl, at a distance. To change Kartikeya’s angry mood, Ganesha decided to play a prank.

Assuming the form of a mad elephant, he began chasing Valli in such a way that she had to go in Kartikeya’s direction. On seeing Kartikeya, she sought his help. When Kartikeya confronted the elephant, it withdrew from the scene.

But as a result of it, love blossomed between Kartikeya and Valli. Soon, they got married.

Epic contribution

After Ved Vyas conceived the idea of the Mahabharat, he began searching for a scribe who could pen it down. As it was to end up being the biggest epic in the world, no ordinary mortal was up to the task. So he sought Creator Brahma’s help.

“Only the god of wisdom Ganesha can do it,” said Brahma. So Ved Vyas invoked Ganesha and told him about his plan.

So excited did Ganesha get that he not only broke his right tusk — to use it as a pen — but he also put forth a condition that Ved Vyas should recite it without a pause.

Ved Vyas accepted but put forth a counter-condition. “You won’t inscribe it till you understand the meaning.” Rules settled, the duo got down to work.

Role in freedom struggle

To gather people cutting across class and caste lines for the freedom struggle without alarming the British rulers, Bhau Lakshman Javale, the royal physician in Pune, started organising community Ganesha festivals. In 1892, the first community Ganesha celebrations took place with the installation of three Ganpatis.

The following year, there were more public celebrations. Patriot Bal Gangadhar Tilak took a special note of it in an editorial in his ‘Kesari’ newspaper on September 26, 1893. In 1894, Tilak installed a Ganpati at his own residence.

Laugh and exercise

Once, Lord Vishnu made Ganesha laugh by holding his ears by crossing his hands and doing sit-ups. This traditional salutation to Ganesha is called Toppikkaranam. Today, this technique is called super brain yoga and was introduced some months ago in Haryana schools to boost students’ memory.

The author can be contacted at author.sai@gmail.com