Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Ganesha has been represented with the head of an elephant since the early stages of his appearance in Indian art. [53] Puranic myths provide many explanations for how he got his elephant head. [54] One of his popular forms, Heramba-Ganapati, has five elephant heads, and other less-common variations in the number of heads are known. [55]
Parvati playing with baby Ganesha. While Ganesha is popularly considered to be the son of Shiva and Parvati, the Puranas relate several different versions of his birth. [5] [6] These include versions in which he is created by Shiva, [7] by Parvati, [8] by Shiva and Parvati, [9] or in a mysterious manner that is later discovered by Shiva and Parvati.
She does not have a consistent name and is known by various names, Stri Ganesha ("female Ganesha" [3]), Vainayaki, Gajananā ("elephant-faced"), Vighneshvari ("Mistress of the remover of obstacles") and Ganeshani, all of them being feminine forms of Ganesha's epithets Vinayaka, Gajanana, Vighneshvara and Ganesha itself.
He is red in colour. He has four arms. His low right hand shows the movement of lack of fear (abhaya); the two others wear the elephant goad and the noose; the last hand, who holds a lemon, embraces the goddess. With the top of his trunk, Shakti Ganapati holds a cake. Dvija Gaṇapati "Ganapati the Twice-Born"
His personal belief regarding Ganesha as the god of arts formally became prominent following the establishment of the Fine Arts Department of the government, which has Ganesha on its seal. Today, Ganesha is depicted both in the seal of the Fine Arts Department, and Thailand's first prominent fine arts academy; the Silpakorn University. [32]
For premium support please call: 800-290-4726 more ways to reach us
In addition, the eight guardian deities who preside over the points of the compass each sit on an elephant (world elephant). Each of these deities has an elephant that takes part in the defense and protection of its respective quarter. Chief among them is Airavata of Indra. There is a reference to Airavata in the Bhagavad Gita:
India and Hinduism have influenced many countries in other parts South Asia, East Asia and Southeast Asia as a result of commercial and cultural contacts. Ganesha is one of many Hindu deities who reached foreign lands as a result. [1] Ganesha was a deity particularly worshipped by traders and merchants, who went out of India for commercial ...