Ganesha holds a unique position in the religious ideology of the Hindus. As a rule all religious rites must begin with the worship of this god.1 But the origin of Ganesha is veiled in mystery and the date of worship of this deity is rather a very vexed problem to the students of Indology.2 Fortunately due to the persistent efforts of scholars, we are now able to trace the evolution of Ganesha as the popular deity of the Hindus.
Elephant, totem of the Hastika tribe
Panini (6th or 5th century B.C.) refers to a tribe Hastinayanas as occupying the area near the confluence of the Swat and the Kabul with their capital at Puskaravati. Greek historians of 4th century B.C. mention a king named Astes (Hasti) as ruling over a people called Astakenoi (Hastikas) living in the region of Puskaravati. According to Strabo, the Hastikas lived the region between river Kabul and the river Indus.3
The name of their king- Hasti and their capital and other places in their country were all associated with elephants. It is therefore not unlikely that the elephant was extremely sacred to them and might have been their totem as well. After conquering them the Indo-Greek rulers possibly introduced elephant on their coins to win over the loyalty of the Hastikas.4
Sculptural evidence of Ganesha’s worship
But it took a couple of centuries more to fashion the images of Ganesha in stone and clay. The first images of Ganesha were also produced when images of different divinites of diverse pantheons came to be carved on a large scale under the Kushanas.5 To give a few instance, two images of Ganesha Nos 792 and 964, assigned to 2nd and 3rd century A.D. and belonging to the Kushana period are preserved in the Mathura museum. Another 5th century A.D. image from Mathura is in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art in Kansas city, USA. In Maharashtra two images of Ganesha have been discovered; one found at Hemalapuri in Nagpur district has been dated 4th century A.D. and the other from Ter in Osmanabad district is dated 3rd century A.D. A terracotta image of Ganesha was found at Veerapuram in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh which is dated to pre-300 A.D.6 At Badami (in Karnataka) we find the image of Ganesha dated around 6th century A.D.7 In the Brihadishvara temple at Tanjore built by Chola king Rajaraja I in about the beginning of the 11th century A.D. one can find different forms of dancing and seated Ganapatis.8
Ganesha images in Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, two images of Ganesha were discovered at a place called Gardez and Sakar Dhar. The image at Gardez is dated early 6th century A.D. and is now worshipped by the Hindu residents of Kabul at Dargah Pir Rattan Nath. An inscription on its pedestal records that this Maha Vinayaka was consecrated by Shahi king Khingala. The image at Sakar Dhar is made of marble and is dated 4th century A.D. 9
Epigraphical evidence of Ganesha’s worship
An inscription in praise of the elephant headed god and dated 862 A.D. is found on a column at Ghatiala near Jodhpur in Rajasthan. The column is crowned by four images of Ganesha seated back to back and facing the four cardinal points. This shows that by 862 A.D. Ganesha in the form of the elephant headed god had risen to that exalted position where he was worshipped independently and invocated for success.10 Ganesha is known in Tamil as Pillaiyar and the earliest references to the worship of Ganesha in south India belongs to the 7th century A.D. An inscription mentions one Paranjoti who brought an image of Ganesha from Vatapi and installed it at Kanapaticcuram.11 The Nidhanapur plate of Bhaskaravarman which is dated about the middle of 7th century A.D. refers to the elephant faced Ganesha.12
Literary evidence of Ganesha’s worship
Amarasimha the author of Amarakosha which is dated 7th century A.D. gives us the following synonyms for Ganesha- Vinayaka, Vighnaraja, Ekadanta, Heramba, Lambodara, Ganadhipa, Dvaimatura and Gajanana. Bhavabhuti of the same period speaks not only of the god Heramba but also refers to the elephant head of the god Vinayaka. Banabhatta talks of the elephant headed Vinayaka associated with obstacles. Dandin also refers to the elephant-faced god Ganesha in his Dashakumaracharita. The work Visnudharmottara speaks of the elephant faced deity Ganesha in the 5th century A.D. Hala who is placed in the 1st century A.D. in his Gathasattasai refers to the worship of Ganapati and his trunk. From these literary evidences it becomes clear that as early as the 1st century A.D. the elephant headed god, Ganesha entered into Hindu pantheon.13
Meaning of Ganapati
According to Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, the myths about Ganapati are very complex. But the literal meaning of the name is quite simple. It is gana and pati, i.e., the chief or protector of the gana. Gana means group or assemblage or corporation.14 In the view of R.G.Bhandarkar, Rudra had his hosts of Maruts, who were called his ganas and the leader of these ganas was Ganapati.15
Ganapati first worshipped by Tantrics
Ganesha was zealously worshipped by the tantrics both Hindu and Buddhists and many Agamas (like Tantrasara, Saradatilaka Tantra, Rudra Yamala and Mahanirvana Tantra16) were written on the praise and worship of this god. These tantrics furnished Ganesha with shaktis, evolved a large number of mantras and used these for accomplishing various ends. They regarded Ganesha as the ‘mantra pati’ and sometimes worshipped him for saving themselves from black magic practiced against them by others. Ganesha was also popular with the Vamachara tantrics which is amply evidenced by his names, ‘Ucchista-Ganesha’, ‘Ucchista-gana’, ‘Guhyacara-rata’, ‘Guyagama-nirupita’ and ‘Madaghurnita-locana’ as occurring in the Ganesha-Sahasranama-Stotra.17
The Yajnavalkya Smrti mentions that among the things to be offered to Vinayaka it includes fish and meat (both raw and cooked), wine, radish, cakes and sweets (modaka).18 As we know offering of flesh and wine was practiced in tantrism.
Ganesha desisted by the orthodox?
A verse in Manu Smrti (3.164) instructs that those who performed the ganayaga should be excluded from the funeral feasts (shraddhas). The Brahmavaivarta Purana mentions there was a fight between Ganesha and Parashurama wherein the latter hurled his battle-axe at Ganesha who lost his tusk. As Parashurama was the aggressive champion of the priest-class supremacy Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya infers that Ganesha had for his main enemy the priestly class of his times. Also the malice which the early priestly class literature (including the Manu Smrti) had for him seems to confirm the suggestion.19
Ganesha’s incorporation into Vedic fold
Probably the growing popularity of Ganesha led the orthodox section to bring him into their religious fold. This was achieved by connecting Ganesha with Vedic deities in the Puranas, by interpolating the Vedic texts with references to Ganesha and by infusing Vedic ideas with Ganesha worship.
According to Hazra, as Ganesha’s association with tantricism was not favourable to the Varnashrama dharma, the Ganesha Purana was written to infuse Ganapatyaism with Vedic ideas. This work describes Ganesha as Trayimaya and regards him as the sources of the Vedas, identifies him with the Vedic sacrifices and calls him Yajnapati.20 But this development was at a later stage as there is no mention of Ganesha as a distinct deity in either of the two great epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata.21 The Mahabharata story of Ganesha having served as a scribe of Vyasa while the sage was composing the great epic has been unanimously accepted as a late interpolation.22
Contradictory accounts in the Purana
With regards to the Puranas, the early Puranas like Markandeya, Vishnu and Vayu do not refer to him. Even the stories narrated in the later Puranas are not in agreement as to the way in which he lost his tusk. Whether again it was the right or the left tusk he lost is not definitely agreed upon. Some accounts declare that he lost his tusks in his encounter with Skanda; others assert he had a tussle with Parashurama. There is also no agreement as to the way he lost his natural head and got an elephant head substituted. The popular account makes Shiva cut off his head in anger. The Brahmavaivarta makes Vishnu responsible for the change in Ganapati’s head and also makes him an incarnation of Krishna. There is also no unanimity as to whether he is married or not.23
Interpolation in Vedas to accommodate Ganesha
From the use of the terms Ganapati and ganas in the RV (ii.23.1) and (x.112.9), Yajur-Veda and the Taittiriya Samhita, many scholars have concluded that the references are to the familiar elephant-headed Ganesha. This conclusion according to Y.Krishan is wrong as the Aitareya Brahmana (I.21) and the Kausitaki Brahmana (viii.5) makes it clear that in the Rig Vedic hymn (ii.23.1), the term Ganapati is addressed to Brahmanaspati or Brhaspati.24 Sayana also variously explains in his commentary the term, gana found in different places in the Vedic texts. But in none of the places he takes the word to mean the pot-bellied god Ganesha.25
According to Hazra in the Ganesha Purana, Ganapati is called Brhaspati and Brahmanaspati and the Rigveda mantra ‘gananam tva ganapatim’ is applied to him. It is probable that as Ganapati-Vinayaka, being a non-Vedic deity has no Vedic verse addressed to him, his devotees of the Vedic fold applied the above mantra to him and thereby connected him with the Rigveda. It may be due to the application of this mantra that Ganapati came to be known as Brhaspati and attained fame as a god of learning and wisdom.26
With regards to the view of a scholar (Hans Raj) that Ganesha is an epithet of Rudra, a form of Agni, Y.Krishna says that in Vedic literature, Agni means fire and is quite different from the Vedic Rudra. Only in the Brahmanas that Rudra is identified with Agni; that is the sacrificial fire as distinct from the god of fire. In post-Vedic mythology, it is Skanda and not Ganesha who is considered as the son of Agni.27
Ganesha finds no mention in the Vedic ritualistic practices of Vishvedevah sacrifices consisting of offerings in devayajna (sacrifice to gods), bhuta yajna (sacrifice to various spirits or beings) involving baliharana (offering but not in fire) and pitr yajna (sacrifice to manes). Ganesha also does not occur in Vedic shanti rites which are performed specifically to avert evil by appeasing the wrath of gods.28
References to Ganesha in the gayatri mantras in Maitrayani Samhita, Taittiriya Aranyaka and Mahanarayana Upanishad are held to be the productions of some later age. Rajendra Mitra has observed that these mantras have the mystical character of the mantras to be found so abundantly in the tantras and the presupposition is that they belong to the same age with the earliest of the tantras, that is at best the beginning of the christian era.29
All these show the desire of the Vedic followers to incorporate Ganesha into their religious ideology.
From Malevolent Spirit to removal of obstacles
According to P.V.Kane there were two stages in the development of the cult of Vinayaka or Ganesha. In the Manava Grhya Sutra it is said that the Vinayakas are four, namely Shalakatankata, Kusmandarajaputra, Usmita and Devayajana. They are evil spirits and people who are seized by them have bad dreams and see in them inauspicious sights. The Manava Grhya Sutra then prescribes propitiatory rites to remove the effects of Vinayaka seizure. The Baijavapa Grhya Sutra mentions four Vinayakas, namely Mita, Sammita, Shalakatankata and Kusmandarajaputra and describes seizer by them and its effect in the same way as the Manava Grhya Sutra. The Vinayakas are at this stage malevolent spirits who dangers and obstacles of various kinds. In the cult various elements from the terrific aspects of Rudra were probably first drawn upon and amalgamated with other elements drawn upon from aboriginal cults.30
The next stage is indicated by Yajnavalkya Smrti (dated 300 A.D) where Vinayaka is said to be one appointed by Brahma and Rudra to the over-lordship of the Ganas. He is represented not only as causing obstacles, but also as bringing success in the actions and rites undertaken by men.31
The Ganapatya sect
It was chiefly the tantrics who took up the worship of Ganapati in right earnest and became an incentive to the growth of the Ganapatya sect.32 Even earlier than the 7th century A.D. the position of Ganapati as a supreme deity was recognized by a section of people and in the Narayanopanishad (the date of which according to J.N.Farquhar is between 550-900 A.D.) there is the Ganapati Gayatri. The Devi Purana looks upon Vinayaka as superior to Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and others.33 According to R.G.Bhandarkar the Ganapatya cult must have come into existence between the end of the 5th and 8th century A.D.34 The Ganesha Samhita is possibly a work belonging to the Ganapatya sect.35
Anantanandagiri’s Shankaradigvijayakavya and from its commentary called Dindima composed by Madhava-Vidyaranya and Dhanapati gives information about the six sub-sects of the Ganapatyas with whom Sri Shankaracharya entered into debate. These sub-sects were Maha-Ganapati, Haridra-Ganapati, Uchchhishta-Ganapati, Navanita-Ganapati, Svarna-Ganapati and Santana-Ganapati.36 The Ganapatya sect decayed towards the close of 14th century A.D. Though the sect decayed the position of Ganesha, the god of success, adored by all Hindus became firmly established.37
How Ganesha came to have an Elephant head
According to R.G.Bhandarkar, Rudra-Shiva and the gods allied with him were connected closely with forests and wild places, in which elephants also were found. The hide worn by Rudra and by his consort also in one of her forms was the hide of an elephant and it perhaps suited the fancy of some men to place the head of that animal over the body of a god originally mischievous.38 R.C.Hazra is of the view that the elephant head must have been added to Ganesha due to his identification with some popular deity conceived and worshipped for immunity from the havoc created by wild elephants.39 As mentioned earlier by M.K.Dhavalkar, the elephant was the totem of the Hastika tribe of north-western India and probably the god might have been fashioned with an elephant head.
In the view of Y.Krishan Indian pantheon is essentially anthropomorphic in character and animals as a rule are the vahanas or mounts of Indian deities. In ancient Egyptian zoolatry, the divine can manifest itself in animals and birds. Hence Y.Krishan suggest that the concept of an elephant-headed god was an importation from Egypt via the Hellenistic kings of the Middle-East and the Indo-Greek of North-Western India.40
Mushika, the Vahana of Ganesha
The rat which is the vehicle of Ganesha in later representations is conspicuously absent in early sculptures. Perhaps the earliest representation is in the temple at Muktesvar in Bhubaneswar which belongs to 10th century A.D. In south India the rat does not occur before the 12th century A.D.41
We do not know exactly how Ganesha came to have a mouse as his vahana (mount). It may be either Ganesha came to be connected with agriculture and was consequently furnished with a rat as his vahana or some agricultural deity riding a rat was identified with him. The comparatively late age of the connection of the rat with Ganapati goes against the belief of some scholars that Ganesha was originally a Dravidian deity worshipped by the aboriginal population of India who were sun-worshippers and that Ganesha on his vahana, the rat, symbolized a sun-god overcoming the animal, which in ancient mythology was a symbol of the night.42
Ganesha worship by Jains
Ganesha appears rather late in Jaina literature and art, being particularly favoured by the Svetambara sect. In Digambara literature there is no reference to making his image. Ganesha’s images have been found in the Jaina caves at Udayagiri and Khandagiri in Orissa. The earliest reference to Ganesha in Jaina literature is to be found in Hemachandra’s Abhidana-Chintamani dated 12th century A.D.43
Worship of Ganesha abroad
In Afghanistan the worship of Ganesha began at an early period as elephants were considered sacred in its eastern parts. From there it spread into Central Asia, Tibet and thence to China where the god was worshipped by the Buddhists. From China, the worship of Ganesha was introduced into Japan in the 9th century A.D. by Kobo Daishi, a Buddhist monk. In Central Asia and Far-East, the god was worshipped as Vinayaka by the Buddhists, but in South-East Asia the worship was offered by the Hindus. In Cambodia and Vietnam he was known as Ganesha when worshipped independently but when he was seated with Shiva as his attendant, he was known as Vinayaka.44
In the religious history of India, Ganesha has come a long way. From being the totem of a tribe, he was espoused by the tantrics and zealously worshipped by them. Ganesha entered the Vedic pantheon as a malevolent spirit and emerged as a God of removal of obstacles. Today Ganesha is worshipped all over Asia and venerated by the Hindus, Buddhists and the Jainas.
Reference
N.R.Bhat - Shaivism in the light of Epics, Puranas and Agamas, Indica Books, Varanasi, 2008, p. 476
Kali Kumar Datta – Date of Ganesa Worship, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol-22, 1959, p.150
M.K.Dhavalkar – Origin of Ganesha, Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, vol – LXXI, 1990, pp:16,17
Ibid
Ibid, p.23
Ibid, pp:4,5
Ibid, p.23
H.Krishna Sastri - South Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses, Madras Government Press, 1916, p. 176
M.K.Dhavalkar – Op.Cit, pp: 5,6,7
Ibid, p.3
N.R.Bhat – Op.Cit, p.478
Kali Kumar Datta – Op.Cit, p.156
Ibid, pp:154,155,156
Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya – Lokayata – A Study in ancient Indian Materialism, People’s Publishing House, 1968, p.129
R.G.Bhandarkar – Vaisnavism, Saivism and minor religious system, Indological Book House, Varanasi, 1965, p.147
Suniti Kumar Chatterji, Editor, The Cultural Heritage of India, vol-5, The Ramakrishna Institute of Culture, Calcutta, 1934, pp: 142,143
R.C.Hazra – The Ganesha Purana, Dr. R.C.Hazra Commemoration Volume -Part I, All India Kashiraj Trust, Varanasi, p.223
R.C.Hazra – Ganapati worship and the Upapuranas dealing with it, Dr. R.C.Hazra Commemoration Volume -Part I, All India Kashiraj Trust, Varanasi, pp: 235,236
Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya – Op.Cit, pp: 131,132,133
R.C.Hazra – The Ganesha Purana, Op.Cit, p.223
Suniti Kumar Chatterji, Editor, Op.Cit, p.142
J.N.Banerjea – Pauranic and Tantric Religion (Early phase), University of Calcutta, 1966, p.151
U.Venkatakrishna Rao- The Ganapati Cult, QJMS, Vol- 41, 1950-51, pp: 94,95,99
Y.Krishan – The Origin of Ganesha, Artibus Asiae, vol 43, No- 4 (1981-1982), p.290
Kali Kumar Datta – Op.Cit, p.151
R.C.Hazra – Ganapati worship and the Upapuranas dealing with it, Op.Cit, pp:239,240
Y.Krishan – Is Ganesa a Vedic God?, Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, vol – 71 no.1/4, 1990, p.69
Ibid, p.70
Kali Kumar Datta – Op.Cit, p.152
P.V.Kane – History of Dharmashastras, vol – 2, part I, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona, 1941 p.214
Ibid
R.C.Hazra – Ganapati worship and the Upapuranas dealing with it, Op.Cit, p.242
Ibid, p.239
R.G.Bhandarkar – Op.Cit, p.148
Suniti Kumar Chatterji, Editor, Op.Cit, p.143
J.N.Banerjea – Op.Cit, p.154
J.N.Farquhar – An Outline of the Religious Literature of India, Oxford University Press, 1920, p.271
R.G.Bhandarkar – Op.Cit, 149
R.C.Hazra – Ganapati worship and the Upapuranas dealing with it, Op.Cit, p.237
Y.Krishan – The Origin of Ganesha, Op.Cit, p.300
M.K.Dhavalkar – Op.Cit, p.24
R.C.Hazra – Ganapati worship and the Upapuranas dealing with it, Op.Cit, p.241
Y.Krishan – The Origin of Ganesha, Op.Cit, pp: 299, 300
M.K.Dhavalkar – Op.Cit, p.24
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