Why Ganesha Has An Elephant Head

There are of course many esoteric explanations regarding the elephant head. An elephant is strong, but always calm. It is one of the few animals conscious of itself and which even has funerary rituals. Despite its force, it is vegetarian.

Puranas offer many versions with regard to Ganesha’s birth and origins of his elephant head. In Shiva Purana it is told that he was created out of an ointment for washing(ubtan) which Parvati, the Divine Mother, took from her body. It is said that one day, as Parvati was preparing to take a bath, she became aware that the guardian of her apartments was missing. She then took a part of the soap from her body, molded it into the shape of a child and blew vital force, prana, onto it. She charged this child to be her guardian and instructed him not to allow anyone to enter the palace.

The child-guard respected his mother’s words and sat outside, with the scepter in his hand. Exactly then, Shiva chose to visit his beloved wife, Parvati, and he came to the palace. Because the little guard prevented him from entering, Shiva got angry and threatened the boy but he was unflinching and only with the support of demons and gods together he could be defeated. Shiva became so furious, that he cut off the boy’s head with his trident.

When the Divine Mother discovered what had happened she was very sad and asked Shiva to bring him back to life. Shiva started to search for the first child sleeping orientated towards the north in order to cut his head off and place on the lifeless body. It was night and all the mothers were sleeping holding the children tight in their arms and therefore Shiva could not take the head of any child. However he saw an elephant calf sleeping alongside its mother, back to back, and decided to take advantage of this opportunity. Therefore he took the head of the elephant calf and joined it to the guardian child’s body, thus bringing him back to life.

Shiva named the boy Ganapati, leader of his troops and decided that every man should adore him before conducting any major action.

Another version states that Ganesha was born as a favor granted to Parvati, following her prayers to Vishnu. The Divine Mother then invited all gods and demigods to come visit her child. They came looking to the child full of concern – all of them except for Shani (Saturn), who looked into the ground because he had been cursed by his wife that any being that looked upon would be transformed into ashes.

The Divine Mother was convinced, however, that her baby could not be harmed by Shani’s eyes and despite the curse and she beseeched him again to look at the child and bless him. The moment that Shani looked at the baby, he head turned into ashes. Vishnu flew away riding Garuda (the god with an eagle’s head, his traditional vehicle), searching for a child in order to bring its head, according to Brahma’s indications. The head he found was that of an elephant calf.

There are many other stories from various ages (kalpas), regarding Ganesha’s birth but they all reveal the fact that he is a creation of the Divine Force, either Shiva or Shakti. Ganesha was created in order to guard the Divine Mother’s palace. So he is the only one that can allow us to get to Her.

Article taken from Yoga Magazine magazine, issue no. 23