Prismma A special feature on Ganesh Chaturthi :) Festival : Ganesh Chaturthi www.prismma.in Interior Design, Home Living and Lifestyle Magazine : India

PrismmaA special feature on Ganesh Chaturthi :)




Festival : Ganesh Chaturthi

www.prismma.in

Interior Design, Home Living and Lifestyle Magazine : India


Do visit it or read the copied version from prismma here:

This is the latest abstract Ganesh painting by Padmaja Madhu, a very dear friend. She made this specially for Ganesh Chaturthi (Lord Ganesha’s birthday). She is very passionate about painting and also gives beautiful descriptions about her paintings on her blog.

Padmaja is a Bangalore (India) based artist who is completely self-taught. She believes that the road to artistic evolution lies in exploring diversity in media, styles and subject matter. Her work reflects this philosophy. She blogs at ‘The world is a rainbow‘

Ganesha puja at Padmaja’s house with Kadubu as prasad ( the famous Karnataka sweet for the occasion)

Padmaja says, “Art has put me on to the path of joy and self discovery. The process of transferring my thoughts on to a canvas by means of colours and shapes is gratifying. Each piece is created with the fond hope of bringing joy to others as well.”

Here are some more pictures of Ganesh Chaturthi Celebrations at home:

This is a 60 year old Ganeha key chain, this was sent by Padmaja.

On this auspicious day I would like to share with you some of the mythological stories that I love about Ganesha

The Legend of the Mouse

According to hindu mythology, there was an asura known as Gajamug. He was a great devotee of Shiva, and pleased with his devotion, Lord Shiva granted the asura a boon that made him invincible. Gajamug became very proud and powerful and started troubling the devas. Once he forced the devas to do 1008 Thoppukaranamsthrice a day. Tired of his antics, the devas asked Shiva to save them from Gajamug.

Shiva sent Ganesha to help the devas. Ganesha went equipped with several weapons such as bow and arrow, sword, and even an axe. But the asura had been given a boon that none of these weapons could cause him harm, so Ganesha’s attempts to destroy him proved to be ineffective.

Finally, Gajamug took the form of a small mouse and rushed towards Ganesha. Ganesha was very clever and immediately sat on the little mouse. Gajamug asura was defeated and made to apologise for his deeds. Since then, Ganesha is always accompanied by a mouse as his vehicle.

Ganesha writes the Mahabharata

Veda Vyasa was a great sage and poet. He was instructed by Brahma to compose the world’s greatest epic poem, the Mahabharata. Ved Vyasa told him that he needed someone to write it down while he composed it. Brahma asked him to pray to Ganesha, because only he could understand and write what Veda Vyasa would dictate. Veda Vyasa prayed to Ganesha. When Ganesha appeared, Veda Vyasa said, “Would you be able to write as fast as I dictate?”

Ganesha in turn challenged him, “Would you able to dictate as fast as I write?”. They made an agreement that once started, Veda Vyasa would not stop dictating and Ganesha would not stop writing and that he would only write what he understood. As they started the Mahabharata, whenever Ganesha wrote too fast, Ved Vyasa would dictate difficult verses. Ganesha would take time to understand them and in the meantime Ved Vyasa would compose more verses. Thus the great epic was written.

The race around the world

On an occasion, Shiva and Parvati had been given a fruit by the devas and both the sons Ganesh and Kartikeya(Skanda) wanted it. Some legends claim the dispute was about who was elder of the two. The parents suggested that the one who circled the world three times first would get it as a prize. Kartikeya got on the peacock, his vahana (vehicle) and flew around the world stopping at all sacred spots on the way and offering his prayers. But at every major stop, he would find Ganesha ahead of him and was perplexed.

Ganesha understood that his vehicle, the mouse, would not be able to compete with Skanda’s peacock and he could never beat him.  He thought for a while and came up with a solution. He walked around his parents, Shiva and Parvati, three times, with great devotion. When his parents asked him why he was not circling the globe, he answered that his parents are the whole world. He need go no further to travel the whole world. Skanda accepted the superiority of Ganesha, and bowed to him.

It is no wonder then, that Ganesha is always known to be a problem solver, the remover of all obstacles. It is Hindu custom for people  to always seek the blessings of Lord Ganesha before starting anything, so that all hurdles are eliminated.

The symbolisms

Riding on a mouse, one of nature’s smallest creatures and having the head of an elephant, the biggest of all animals, symbolises that Ganesha is the creator of all creatures. Elephants are very wise animals; this indicates that Lord Ganesha is an embodiment of wisdom. The process of evolution–a mouse gradually evolves into an elephant and finally becomes a man. This is why Ganesha has a human body, an elephant’s head and a mouse as his vehicle. This is the symbolic philosophy of his form.

Hope you enjoyed the stories as much as I always have.

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi !