50 Fun Facts About Ganesha

Along with his elephant head, how many arms does Ganesha usually have?

A large belly completes the standard image.

Ganesha is most widely revered as the remover of what?

He is also the god of beginnings, which is why he is honoured at the start of rites and ceremonies.

Ganesha is the son of which divine couple?

The Puranas give several birth stories, and in some he is created by one parent alone.

In the most common story, Ganesha received his animal head after which god beheaded him?

Parvati had made the boy from clay to guard her; he stood between her and her husband and paid for it.

From what did Parvati create Ganesha in the best-known version of his birth?

In another version he sprang from Shiva's laughter and was given the animal head because he was too alluring.

Which small animal serves as Ganesha's usual vahana, or mount?

The earliest images show no mount at all; some incarnations ride a lion or the serpent Shesha.

What sweet is most famously offered to Ganesha, who is often shown holding a bowl of them?

Laddus are offered too, and old statues show him curling his trunk left to taste one.

Ganesha's name Ekadanta refers to what feature?

It was his earliest name, and early images show him holding the missing piece in his hand.

Ganesha's name Lambodara means what?

It is one of eight synonyms listed in the ancient Sanskrit lexicon Amarakosha.

The name Ganesha combines gana, 'group or multitude', with isha, meaning what?

The ganas are the troop of semi-divine beings in Shiva's retinue, so he is their lord.

Which name for Ganesha is used in Tamil?

It means something like 'noble child'.

Ganesha holds the title Pratham Pujya, meaning he is what?

The earliest inscription invoking him ahead of all other deities comes from a commercial community.

Which epic did Ganesha agree to write down as the sage Vyasa dictated it?

His condition was that Vyasa recite without pausing; Vyasa's was that Ganesha understand every verse before writing it.

What condition did Ganesha set before agreeing to be the sage's scribe?

It is why he is associated with mental agility and learning.

Who is Ganesha's brother, the god of war?

He is also called Skanda and Murugan; the north says he is the elder, the south says Ganesha is.

Buddhi, Siddhi and Riddhi, said in one tradition to be Ganesha's wives, personify what?

A rival tradition makes him a lifelong celibate brahmachari.

Which 1975 Hindi film invented a daughter for Ganesha, a goddess of satisfaction?

The story has no basis in the Puranas but her cult took off anyway.

Ganesha's annual festival, Ganesh Chaturthi, typically falls in which months?

It runs ten days and ends with the immersion of the idols.

What happens to the clay Ganesha idols at the end of the festival?

The immersion, visarjan, takes place on Ananta Chaturdashi; Mumbai alone immerses around 150,000.

Which Indian nationalist turned Ganesh Chaturthi into a grand public event in 1893?

He chose Ganesha, 'the god for Everyman', as a rallying point against British rule.

Ganesh Chaturthi is a state festival of which Indian state?

The Peshwas had already made it a public festival in their capital Pune in the 18th century.

Mumbai's famous Siddhivinayak temple stands in which neighbourhood?

It was built in 1801 by Laxman Vithu and Deubai Patil.

The Ashtavinayaka pilgrimage visits how many Ganesha temples around Pune?

The Sanskrit name simply means 'eight Ganeshas'; each shrine has its own form and lore.

In which sect of Hinduism is Ganesha worshipped as the Supreme Being?

For everyone else he is a pan-Hindu god worshipped regardless of affiliation.

Ganesha is identified with which sacred sound, said to be his very form?

The term omkarasvarupa means 'Om is his form'.

Ganesha's form Heramba-Ganapati has how many heads?

Other head-counts exist too, but one is by far the norm.

In Ganesha's standard four-armed form, what does he hold in his lower-right hand?

The lower-left hand holds a sweet, which he samples with his trunk.

Which two implements does Ganesha typically hold in his upper arms?

The goad drives the devotee forward; the noose captures whatever stands in the way.

What colour is Ganesha most often described as?

The Sritattvanidhi prescribes different colours for different meditation forms.

According to the Ganesha Purana, which serpent did Ganesha wrap around his neck?

Snakes also appear as his sacred thread, belt or throne.

Ganesha's name Dvaimatura means what?

One birth story has him born from the goddess Malini after she drank Parvati's bath water.

Which mark does the Ganesha Purana prescribe for Ganesha's forehead?

The crescent is borrowed from his father Shiva.

Ganesha is first mentioned in Hindu texts between the 1st century BCE and which century CE?

The earliest securely dated images come from the 4th and 5th centuries.

The earliest mention of the word Ganapati appears in which text, though it may not refer to Ganesha?

It occurs in hymn 2.23.1 of the 2nd-millennium BCE collection.

The name Vinayaka has a darker origin in four spirits of the Manavagrihyasutra who did what?

The obstacle-remover seems to have started out as an obstacle-maker to be appeased.

Under what name is Ganesha known in Japan, where his cult was first recorded in 806?

Chinese and Japanese forms show a distinct regional character.

Ganesha's widespread name in Thailand is what?

He was a major deity in Southeast Asia by the 7th and 8th centuries.

Among Sinhalese Buddhists in Sri Lanka, Ganesha is revered under what name?

He stands alongside Vishnu, Skanda and the Buddha in their pantheon.

Jain depictions of Ganesha show him riding a mouse, a tortoise, a ram or which bird?

Devotion to Ganesha reaches well beyond Hinduism to Jains and Buddhists.

The Kathmandu Valley in Nepal has how many principal Vinayaka shrines?

Temples to him have also been built in Southeast Asia and several Western countries.

A 7th-century Ganesha statue with the archaic trunk-to-the-left motif survives in which cave complex?

Another early sculpture is set into Cave 6 at Udayagiri in Madhya Pradesh.

Ganesha's association with which group first spread his worship outside India?

The earliest inscription invoking him before all other gods comes from the merchant community.

Ganesha's incarnation Vakratunda rides which animal, according to the Mudgala Purana?

Vighnaraja rides the divine serpent Shesha.

Ganesha's public festival in Pune goes back at least to the era of which Maratha founder?

The Peshwas, devoted to Ganesha, made it a public festival in the 18th century.

Ganesha's epithet Gajanana describes what feature?

Other names spell out his other traits: Ekadanta for one tusk, Lambodara for the hanging belly.

Which philosopher popularised the five-deity Panchayatana puja that includes Ganesha?

The 9th-century system placed Ganesha alongside Vishnu, Shiva, Devi and Surya on an equal footing.

In Kundalini yoga, Ganesha is said to reside in which chakra?

The name combines mula, 'original', and adhara, 'foundation', fitting the god who is worshipped first.

In which text does the mouse first appear in writing as Ganesha's mount?

It reappears in the Brahmananda and Ganesha Puranas as the vehicle of his final incarnation.

In one alternative birth story, Ganesha is born to an elephant-headed goddess who drank what?

The goddess Malini drank the water after it had been thrown into a river; the more familiar version has Parvati shaping him from clay.

In northern India, which of Shiva's two sons is generally said to be the elder?

In the south the order flips and Ganesha is counted as the firstborn; as Skanda's worship declined after 600 CE, Ganesha's rose.