Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesha Chaturthi is the day that we celebrate Lord Ganesha. It is celebrated on the birthday of Lord Ganesha. This celebration normally lasts 10 days.

Ganesha is the god of wisdom and the remover of all obstacles. There are many stories associated with Lord Ganesha. I will show some of them in the stories section of this presentation.

History of Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesha Chaturthi is one of India’s most celebrated holidays. It usually starts on the forth day of the waxing moon period (usually between August 20 and September 15). The festival usually lasts 10 days. Almost all families in India celebrate this holiday. They decorate statues of Ganesha lavishly and do poojas dedicated to him. People make sweets to offer to Lord Ganesha. The sweets normally consist of ladoos, rice pudding, and different foods depending on where you live. Temples normally make statues to be released into a nearby river.

Origins of Ganesh Chaturthi

The first public Ganesh Chaturthi was first celebrated in 1989 in Pune, India. This celebration was put together by Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Before that the Ganesh Chaturthi was a private thing that everybody did in their own homes.

Stories About Lord Ganesha

The birth of Ganesha Part 1

The story goes that Lord Ganesha wasn’t actually born to Shiva and Parvati but instead created by Parvati using turmaric powder. Parvati wanted a son that would be loyal to her. So she shaped the powder into the shape of her wanting, strong and beautiful, and then brought him to life. Parvati was overjoyed to have a son that she could truly call her own. Later when Parvati was going to bathe she gives Ganesha a staff and tells him to not let anybody in without permission. After a while Shiva comes and wonders who the mysterious boy was, as he tries to enter Parvati’s living quarters Ganesha stops him. Shiva tries to explain that he was Parvati’s wife but Ganesha ignores him and hits Shiva with his staff. Shiva becomes furious and tries to battle him, Shiva realizes that he was no ordinary boy so he sends his followers to try to defeat the boy, but instead the exact opposite happens and Ganesha beats them all.

The birth of Ganesha Part 2

Shiva asks the boy who he was and he replies by saying that “I am the son of Parvati and none cane enter here without my mothers permission”. Shiva then grow furious and sends his entire army to fight the little boy and yet Ganesha prevails with the help of Kali and Durga. After that Shiva asks Vishnu to come and help him. In the battle Shiva goes so mad that he throws his trident as Ganesha and beheads him. When Shiva realized what he had done he whishes that he had never done what he did. When Parvati hears of what happened she decides to destroy the world but Brahma asks for mercy and to not destroy the world. Parvati agrees but only under two conditions, that her son comes back to life and that he is worshipped before any other god. Shiva apologizes and the sends Brahma to go North and bring him the head of the first animal they encounter. Brahma soon returns with the head of an elephant.(The head of Gajasura)

The birth of Ganesha Part 3

Brahma fitted the head of the elephant to the boy and sprinkled water on him. Ganesha awake with the head of an elephant on his shoulders. Parvati goes and embraces her son. Shiva then confronts Parvati and announces that from then on the boy shall be named Ganesha, the chief of Shiva’s Ganas, and Vigneshwar, the remover of all obstacles. Shiva also says that Ganesha will be treated like a god and that he shall be worshipped before any god.

How did Lord Ganesha get a broken tusk?Story 1

While Shiva went to go and rest in his room, he told Ganesh to keep guard. After a while Purshuram a pupil and a devotee of Lord Shiva came and asked entrance so he may speak with Lord Shiva. Lord Ganesh obeying his father did not let Purshuram in. They started to fight using words as their weapons, but finally Purshuram had enough and he throws his ax at Ganesh. Ganesh knowing that the ax was a gift that Purshuram had gotten from his father didn’t do anything. The ax hit Ganesha on one of his tusks and broke it off. In the commotion Shiva and Parvati come out and see what Purshuram did. Purshuram asks for mercy and forgiveness. After Ganesha is revived by his father he forgives Purshuram.

How did Lord Ganesha get a broken tusk?Story 2

When Sage Ved Vyasa comes up with the idea of Mahabharat he looks around to find someone who would write the story down as he recited them. He decides to ask Ganesha to do it for him. Ganesha agrees to do it. To write the script Ganesha breaks off a tip of his tusk.

Ganesha and the Moon

Lord Ganesha loved to eat sweets, especially pudding and ladoos. On one of his birthdays he goes around getting as many sweets as he could. After he ate to his full Ganesha set off to his house on his loyal companion, his mouse. On the way home the mouse sees a snake and gets frightened. Because of this Lord Ganesha slips off of the mouse and falls. Because of the fall Lord Ganesha’s stomach bursts open allowing all of the pudding and ladoos to fall out. Lord Ganesha puts all the sweets back into his belly and ties the snake that had scared the mouse around his belly. The moon who had seen all of this happen laughed. Lord Ganesha got mad at the moon and hurled one of his tusks at the moon. He then put a curse on the moon, saying that whoever looked at the moon on Chaturthi day, Ganesha’s birthday, and whoever did look at the moon would get bad luck.

Ganesha goes around the world

One day Kumaraswami, Ganesha’s brother, comes to Shiva and gives him a fruit and tells him to give it to his favorite son. Shiva decides to give them a test to decide who was his favorite son. He tells them both to go around the world as fast as they can. Kumaraswami instantly hops onto his steed, a peacock, and sets off. When he comes back he finds that Ganesh had already finished the task. Kumaraswami knew that Ganesha was slow and asked him how he had finished before him. Ganesha replied by saying “My mother and father are my world, they are my universe, I just went around them”.

Gajasura

Gajasura was an elephant demon. Gajasura was also a great devotee of Shiva. So one day he started to pray to Lord Shiva to get a boon. After some years Shiva appeared to grant a boon. Gajasura asks that Shiva reside inside his stomach, and Shiva accepted. Later Parvati started to get worried because she did not see Shiva anywhere. Parvati went and asked Lord Vishnu to go and search for Shiva. Vishnu disguised himself as a street player and took Nandi, Shiva’s steed, to go and search. After a long time they finally found Gajasura and asked him to release Shiva. Gajasura accepted but only if Vishnu gave him one more boon. He asked Vishnu to make him immortal, and Vishnu agreed. Later when Ganesha lost his head Shiva sent them to get the head of the first animal they encounter knowing that it would be Gajasura the elephant. When Gajasura’s head was attached to Ganesha became immortal granting the boon he had asked for.

Ganesha and his mouse• Story 1

Gajamukha, a demon, did prayer to Lord Shiva and got a boon that would make him invincible. Gajamukha started to terrorize the heavens. The gods not knowing what to do sent for Ganesha. Ganesha starts to do battle with the demon by growing big. After a while Ganesha realizes that Gajamukha couldn’t be defeated so he turns him into a big mouse and makes him his steed.

• Story 2

Once in the court of Indira, the king of Devas, Krauncha insulted the sage Vaamedeva and for that he was cursed and turned into a mouse by the sage. Then Krauncha went and wrecked havoc in the dwelling of the sage Paraashara. Paraashara asked Ganesha to come and save his house. Ganesha came and brought the mouse under his control and made him his steed.

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