Ganesha Part 1: His Origin And Birth

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One day, the goddess of devotion and fertility and wife of Shiva, Parvati, was taking a bath.

Not wanting to be disturbed, she told their bull Nandi to stay guard outside her room so no one could come in.

Naturally, he obeyed.

But Sometime later, Shiva came by and wanted to see his wife. Not one to disobey his master, Nandi let Shiva pass.

When Parvati saw Shiva she was angry, because not only was he interrupting her, but Nandi had let Shiva in. She suddenly realized that she had no one loyal to her in the way they were to Shiva.

Upset by this, she decided to create someone that was deeply loyal to her alone.

After Shiva left, she picked up her turmeric paste (used for bathing) and blew it across the room, breathing life into it; and out of the dust came Ganesha, her son.

Now she finally had the loyalty she had always desired.

An Awkward Misunderstanding

Parvati began posting Ganesh at the entrance of her room to keep guard when she bathed.

And just like clockwork, one of those days Shiva came by to talk with Parvati. But Ganesh wouldn’t let him in.

Not realizing who Ganesha was, Shiva commanded his army to attack him, but he destroyed them!

Shiva was shocked. Who was this boy?

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Feeling threatened and challenged, Shiva decided to fight Ganesh- and in Divine fury, cut off Ganesha’s head, killing him instantly.

When Parvati realized what had happened, she was deeply hurt and enraged. After all, he was her son.

Retribution

Inconsolable, she set out to destroy all of creation. (Talk about some serious retribution!)

But when Brahma, the creator of the universe saw this, he knew he had to talk to her.

He pleaded and pleaded for her to reconsider her extreme plan.

Eventually, she agreed, but on two conditions:

Ganesha had to be brought back from the dead, and he had to be forever worshiped before any of the other gods.

Shiva knew he had to agree…after all, he had overreacted a bit, to say the least.

A New God is Born

Shiva sent Brahma out to find the first animal that was laying with its head facing north. Soon after, he returned with the head of an elephant, and Shiva placed it on the body of Ganesh.

After breathing life back into him, Shiva gave Ganesh the postion of being foremost amongst the gods, and overseer of all the attendants of Shiva.