Who is Ganesha, and why is he worshipped first?

Mahabharata (the scribe)

The opening of the Mahabharata tells that Vyasa, having composed the epic in his mind, was told by Brahma to call on Ganesha to write it. Ganesha, the remover of obstacles, agreed on condition that his pen should never stop; Vyasa asked in turn that he write nothing he had not understood. Vyasa then wove some verses so tightly that even Ganesha had to stop and think, and meanwhile Vyasa composed more. Scholars see this episode as a later addition, and the critical edition of the epic leaves it out; the version families know keeps it. Ganesha is also honoured as a patron of scholars, scribes and authors.

Sources for this reading

• Wikipedia, “Mahabharata” (revision 1378502504, read October 15, 2026): the first section says that Ganesha wrote the text down at Vyasa's dictation, “but this is regarded by scholars as a later interpolation to the epic and the ‘Critical Edition’ does not include Ganesha”. Background; cited, not copied.
• The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, translated into English prose (K. M. Ganguli), published by Protap Chandra Roy: Adi Parva (Calcutta: Bharata Press, 1884) (Adi Parva, Section I, Vyasa, Brahma and Ganesa (pp. 4–6; the condition, the “knots of composition” and Ganesa pausing, p. 6, leaf n39); summarised in our words)
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Ganesha” (god of beginnings, “traditionally worshipped before any major enterprise”, patron of “intellectuals, bankers, scribes, and authors”). Read in the Wayback Machine copy (snapshot August 19, 2026). Cited, not copied.

The Puranas (the birth story)

In one of the best-known tellings, which Gopinatha Rao gives from the Shiva Purana, Parvati makes a son from the dirt on her skin and sets him to guard her door. Shiva is refused entry; in the fight that follows the boy loses his head. To calm Parvati's anger, Shiva has the head of the first living being found, an elephant, set on the boy, who comes back to life, and makes him commander of his hosts (ganas), Ganapati. Other Puranas tell it differently: in the Brahma Vaivarta Purana the head is lost when the planet Shani looks at the child, and in the Varaha Purana Shiva tells his son that he shall be worshipped first on all occasions.

Sources for this reading

• T. A. Gopinatha Rao, Elements of Hindu Iconography, vol. 1, part 1 (Madras: Law Printing House, 1914), “Ganapati”: the Shiva Purana account (Parvati's gate-keeper made from the dirt on her skin, the fight, the elephant's head, the commandership of Shiva's hosts), pp. 36–39; the Varaha account, from Kennedy (“worshipped and invoked the first on all occasions”), pp. 39–41. Gopinatha Rao died 1919: public domain. Summarised in our words; pp. 36–38 checked on the page images (leaves n191–n193), pp. 39–41 in the OCR. (pp. 36–41 (leaves n191–n196))
• Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Puranic, by W. J. Wilkins (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink; London: W. Thacker, 1882) (“Ganesa”, pp. 267–272 (leaves n286–n291): the Brahma Vaivarta telling, Shani's look, p. 269; the Shiva Purana telling, the door and the elephant's head, p. 271; the Varaha Purana, chief of the ganas, worshipped first, pp. 271–272; read in the OCR and summarised in our words)

Smarta

Smarta families worship Ganesha as one of the five forms of the panchayatana puja, beside Shiva, Vishnu, the Goddess and Surya, and may give one of the five preference above the others. In their rites, as in most Hindu rites, he is honoured before any other god, so that the work may go forward without obstacles.

Sources for this reading

• Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Smarta sect” (allegiance to the five gods, Shiva, Vishnu, Shakti, Surya and Ganesha, in the pancayatana puja; Smartas “may give preference to one deity above the others”). Read in the Wayback Machine copy (snapshot July 27, 2026). Cited, not copied.
• T. A. Gopinatha Rao, Elements of Hindu Iconography, vol. 1, part 1 (Madras: Law Printing House, 1914), p. 46: Ganesha is the god whom the pious Hindu “invokes when he begins all sacrifices and religious ceremonies”; his names include Ganapati. Gopinatha Rao died 1919: public domain. Read in the OCR (leaf n201). (p. 46 (leaf n201))

Maharashtra and public festival

Ganesh Chaturthi is one of the year's great festivals in Maharashtra, and it is kept in many other parts of India and by Hindu communities around the world. An image is consecrated (prana pratishtha), worshipped with the sixteen services for a day and a half up to ten days, and then taken in procession and immersed in water. At home it is often a smaller rite with a small image, and many families now choose a clay image that dissolves in water.

Sources for this reading

• Festival guide “Ganesh Chaturthi” in this library, with the Pujadeep calendar rule ganesh-chaturthi.
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Ganesh Chaturthi” (prana pratishtha and the sixteen services; the image kept for one and a half, three, five or seven days, or until the eleventh day, then immersed; popular above all in Maharashtra and kept by Hindu communities worldwide; small home rites; clay images that dissolve). Read in the Wayback Machine copy (snapshot September 21, 2026). Cited, not copied.

Sources

• The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, translated into English prose (K. M. Ganguli), published by Protap Chandra Roy: Adi Parva (Calcutta: Bharata Press, 1884) (Adi Parva, Section I (pp. 4–6))
• Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Puranic, by W. J. Wilkins (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink; London: W. Thacker, 1882) (“Ganesa”, pp. 267–268 (leaves n286–n287): elder son of Siva and Parvati; god of wisdom; all ceremonies and serious writings begun with an invocation to him; “Few books are begun without the words, ‘Salutation to Ganesa’”; riding on a rat. Read in the OCR)
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Ganesha” (elephant-headed god of beginnings; chief of the ganas; his vehicle a rat; remover of obstacles; many stories of his birth; regarded as the child of Shiva and Parvati). Read in the Wayback Machine copy (snapshot August 19, 2026). Cited, not copied.

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