Ganesha ಗಣೇಶ

Names

• Ganesha — lord (isha) of the ganas, the hosts¹
• Ganapati — ruler of the hosts¹
• Vinayaka — a common name in the Puranas and Buddhist Tantras¹
• Vighneshvara — Lord of Obstacles¹
• Pillaiyar — noble child (Tamil)¹
• Ekadanta — he of one tusk¹
• Lambodara — pot-bellied¹
• Gajanana — elephant-faced¹
• Dvaimatura — he who has two mothers¹

Family

Parents

Shiva, Parvati

Siblings

Kartikeya (Subrahmanya)

Traditions differ on his marriage: many link him with Buddhi, Siddhi and Riddhi; others, common in South India, hold him an unmarried brahmachari.¹

History

Ganesha is mentioned in texts from the first century BCE to the second century CE; his classic form appears in the fourth to fifth centuries CE, and an independent cult was well established by about the tenth century.¹

His mount is the mouse or shrew Mushaka, and he usually holds his broken tusk.¹

Devotional identity

The Kimbell Art Museum identifies its four-armed sculpture as Ganesha and describes widespread devotion to him as a remover of obstacles and bestower of good fortune. These are religious associations, not promises of a guaranteed practical result.²

An early surviving image

The Kimbell dates this terracotta relief to the fifth–sixth century CE. That is the date of this particular artwork, not a claim that Ganesha worship began at exactly that time.²

One account of the elephant head

The Kimbell recounts a legend in which Parvati creates a guardian who refuses Shiva entry. Shiva beheads him and subsequently replaces his head with an elephant’s to appease Parvati. This is an attributed narrative, not a claim that every text or community tells the origin in precisely this way.²

Regional context

The Met describes temple niches in Odisha that place Ganesha alongside Shiva, Parvati and Skanda. A regional sculptural programme is evidence for that context, rather than a single template for all temples.³

How traditions differ