The Story of Ganesha

When the great god Shiva returned to his house after a long absence, he found a portly young man lounging by the doorpost. The young man refused him entry. 'What? Deny me?' raged Shiva. He lopped the young upstart's head off and ground it to a pulp under his mighty heel. The commotion brought his wife Parvati to the door. 'Shiva,' she screamed, 'What have you done? That is your own son, Ganesha.' Stunned, Shiva promised to replace the head with that of the first being he came across. He rushed away, and returned with an elephant's head, which restored Ganesha to life. And that is why Ganesha is elephant-headed, and why he is the Lord of Obstacles and of the Removal of Obstacles, because of his defence of his mother's honour. He is a chubby fellow. Hindus feed him sweets at the beginning of a journey, or at the entrance to a temple, so that, mollified, he will remove the obstacles on their path. Sitting on my desk at home, I have a little silver Ganesha from my travels in Indonesia, and Katya and I are planning to pray to him and leave him some sweets before we start on our travels.