Lord Ganesh

About Ganesha: The Elephant-God

All about the Most Popular Zoomorphic Hindu Deity

Ganesha — the elephant head -deity riding a mouse — has become one of the commonest mnemonics for anything associated with Hinduism. This not only suggests the importance of Ganesha, Ganeshji, Ganpati, Ganapati or lord Ganesh but also shows how popular and pervasive this deity is in the minds of the masses.

As per Hinduism Ganesha (or "lord of the hosts," also spelled as Ganesa and sometimes referred to as Ganapati in Marathi, Gujarati and other Indian languages) is a son of Shiva and Parvati, and the husband of Bharati, Riddhi and Siddhi. He is also called Vinayaka in Marathi and Kannada, Vinayagar (in Tamil) and Vinayakudu in Telugu. 'Ga' symbolizes Buddhi (intellect) and 'Na' symbolizes Vijanana (wisdom). Ganesha is thus considered as the master of intellect and wisdom. His name is usually prefixed with the Hindu title of respect, 'Shree'.

He is the lord of wisdom, intelligence, education, prudence, luck and fortune. He is the remover of obstacles, and as such it is normal to invoke him before the undertaking of any task with such incantations as Aum Shri Ganeshaya Namah (hail the name of Ganesha), or similar.