Ganesa Worship Part 1

The original basis for Hinduism are the holy books called the "Vedas". In the ancient times, the followers of Vedas developed many forms of worships and cults. And they also quarrelled among themselves. So the Vedic Culture was split. This was taken advantage of, by the Buddhists and the Jains who belonged non-Vedic religions. The Vedic Culture was facing the danger of becoming extinct.

Then the great Adhi Sankara came. He overcame all the non-Vedic religions and combined all the different cults which were based upon the Vedas. He created six branches of the Vedic religion. Each of them had its own supreme god or goddess. But they were all based on the Vedas. The branch with Siva as the Supreme Lord was called Saivism. For Vishnu, was Vaishnavism. Ambal worship was called Shaktha. Surya had Saura and Muruga had Kaumara as their sub-religions.

The branch which followed Ganapathi as its chief god, was called Ganapathya. The present form of Hinduism that we follow now, is an amalgam of all these six sub-religions, with elements of totemism, paganism, ancestral worship, guardian deity worship and animism. During the course of time, all the other five sects accepted Ganapathi and gave Him prominence their systems. In all of them, Ganapathi is worshipped before any puja, ceremony or rites.  When any new venture is undertaken, Ganapathi is first worshipped. He is worshipped to prevent and remove obstacles. It is also believed that failure to worship Ganapathi will lead to problems.

There are many stories about Ganapathi. He awas created from the Body of Ambal by Herself. She made Him Her guard. In a battle His head was cut off. Siva fixed an elephant's head onto the body. So He became named as Gajaanana.  He was made as the chief of the servants of Siva, Thus He earned the name as Ganapathi, GanaNatha, Ganesvara, and Ganesa. As the remover of ostacles, He is known by the names, VignaRaja and Vignesvara. Since He is worshipped before any other god is worshipped, He is known as Vinayaka - "He who has no overlord".

When Veda Vyasa, composed the great epic of MahaBharatha, Ganesa was asked to do the writing. So Ganesa broke off His right-sided tusk and with it wrote the Maha Bharatha, while Vyasa recited the verses. Because He has only one tusk, He is known as Eka Danta. He always keeps His trunk curled and thus earned the name "Vakra Thunta". His big belly has earned for Him the name, "Lambhodhara". His large body gives Him the name Maha Kaaya. His size, shape, and elephant-head together, have given Him the name Vikata. He has the Moon as the tilaka on His fore-head. So He is called Palachandra. In Tamil, he is known as the Pillaiyar. This is because He is the eldest son of Siva and Ambal.

Once upon a time, there was an Asura demon who threatened the worlds. Ganesa went after Him. But the asura changed into a huge rat, called the bandicoot. Ganesa sent His noose called Paasa and tied him. Ganesa's Paasa removed all the ignorance from the asura. But he remained in the form of the rat which is known as Mushika. Hence Ganesa is also called Mushika Vahana. There are many exploits of Ganesa. He used His intellect to win a competition with His younger brother Muruga. His prize was the Divine Mango.

Ganesa Worship Part 2

The sage Agastya is known as the Tamil Muni. He brought one of the seven holy rivers to South India. It was contained in a pitcher. But Ganesa played a trick on him by taking the form of a crow and and toppling the pitcher of Agastya. This released the river and it ran out as the Kauveri River towards the sea, enriching, on its way, Karnataka and TamilNadu. The enraged Agastaya chased after the crow, which then took the form of a boy. Agastya went to knock hard on the boy's head. Just then Ganesa showed His true form to Agastya. Agastya was shocked with the sacrilege that he was about to have committed. In atonement of his act, Agastya knocked hard on his own fore-head. It was thus that the Pillaiyar Kuttu was born.

Ganesa also stopped Ravana, the Lord of Langka, from taking the hrine of Siva MahaBaleswara to Langka. If he had taken it there, he would have become invincible.

He also stopped Vibhishana, the younger brother of Ravana, from taking the shrine of Sri Ranga Natha to Langka. Thus Sri Ranga Natha became fixed in Sri Rangam, near Tiruchi. Ganesa occupies a temple on top of the Tiruchi Hill, and is known as the "Uchchi Pillaiyar" of Tiruchi Malaikkottai.

After Agastya settled down in the Podhiyil Mountains of TamilNadu, he compiled the grammer for the Tamil language. This was written on the side of a mountain by Ganesa with His tusk. This grammer was known as Agaththiyam. This book was later lost, and Tolkaappiyam took its place as the chief grammer book, for some time. This episode is mentioned by the Saint Arunagiri Nathar in the first hymn of his Thiruppugaalz, which is dedicated to Muruga.

One of the greatest poets in Tamil is Auvaiyaar. She was an ardent worshipper of Ganesa. She has dedicated a hymn called "Vinaayagar Agaval" to Ganesa. This hymn is a Mantra Verse and contains deep spiritual knowledge about Kundalini Yoga. After the dedication of the hymn, Ganesa lifted up uvaiyaar with His trunk and placed her in Thiru Kaiyilaaya Heaven.

Ganesa Worship Part 3

Ganesa's mantra which starts as "Ganaanaamthvaa Ganapathim" is found in the Vedas. Ganesa worship has been practiced for a long time in TamilNadu by the class of merchants, known as the "Nagaraththaar". The famous illaiyaarpatti Temple in the Ramanathapuram District of TamilNadu was founded by them. It is a temple where a giant figure of Ganesa has been carved out of an rtificial cave, which was cut out on the side of a hill of granite stone. These types of temples are known as "rock-cut temples". This temple is at least 1600 years old.

There is a famous Ganapathi in Kasi, known as Dundi Ganapathi. Then we have the Vatapi Ganapathi of Thiruvaarur and Thiru henggaattangudi.

All performances of Karnatic music always start with a kirthanai dedicated to Ganesa. The most famous and commonest sung kirthanai, is the "Vaathaapi Ganapathim bajeeham", which was composed by Muthuswamy Dhikshithar.

There are many hymns dedicated to Ganesa in Tamil. In fact, any literary work or works on other types of sastras, have always a hymn of protection, called "Kaappu Cheyyul". This is usually addressed to Ganesa to remove obstacles and to give victory in the enterprise.  Thus we may have almost a hundred thousand hymns dedicated to Ganesa over all these centuries.  But there are many hymns and works dedicated specifically to Ganesa. We have the Vinaayagar Agaval, Vinaayagar Kavacam, Kaariya Siddhi Maalai, Ganesa Thoththiram, Mooththa Pillaiyaar Thiru Irattai Mani Maalai by Nambi Aandaar Nambi, Mooththa Pillaiyaar Thiru Mummanik Kovai by Adhiraavadigal, and Mooththa Naayanaar Thiru Irattai Mani Maalai by Kapila Deva Naayanaar. Adhi Sankara has composed a hymn to Ganesa called "Ganesa Pancha Ratnam". This was dedicated to the Ganesa in Madurai Meenakshi Temple. Ganesa is said to have danced to the rhythm of the hymn. He has also composed another sthuthi called "Ganesa Bhujangam". Naaradhar has composed the "Sankashta Naasana Ganapathi Sthothram".

Among the Mantras, we have the names of Sankashta Naasana Ganapathi which are twelve in number. They are called the Dvaadasa Naama. The sixteen mantra names are called Shodasa Naama; twenty-one mantras are known as Eka Vimsathi Naamaavali; one hundred and one names are known as the Ashttoththara Satha Naamaavali; thousand mantra names go by the name of Sahasra Naamaavali". The great Tantrik sage, Baskara Raya, has given a full explanation for all the thousand mantras.

Apart from these, there are the Beeja Mantras, the Moola Mantras, and the Devata Gayathri Mantras. There are many Mantrik Dhyana Slokas for Ganesa.

There is a main purana dedicated to Ganesa, called Vinayaka Purana. This has been translated into Tamil by Kachchiyappa Munivar. Ganesa occupies a very important position in Kandha Purana. He helped Muruga marry Valli after many difficulties.

Ganesa Worship Part 4

If not for Ganesa, we would not be having the Thevaram Hymns.  The Thevaram Hymns are part of a collection of Saivite Holy literature. The Thevaram hymns were composed on Lord Siva by the saints Appar, Sambandhar, and Sundarar. Sundarar was the last of the three authors.  After Sundarar ascended to Thiru Kaiyilayam, the hymns were safely kept in a safety vault in the Nataraja Temple of Cithambaram and forgotten. But a few Thevaram hymns were sung in temples here and there.

After about ten generations later, Raja Raja Cholza became the emperor of South India and Ceylon. He was an ardent Saivite. He heard the few extant Thevaram hymns, but could not find the rest of them.

There was a boy called Nambi Aandaar Namb, in a place called Thiru Naaraiyur. In that place, is a temple for Ganesa, who is known there as the "Pollaa Pillaiyaar". Ganesa performed several miracles to Nambi, and Nambi could talk with Him.  So Raja Raja asked him to help find the Thevaram hymns. Nambi in turn appealed to Ganesa, and Ganesa revealed the secret place where the hymns were stashed away.  Raja Raja and Nambi went to Chidambaram, located the place, and found the Thevaram hymns. With the help of Ganesa, the melody or Pan for each Thevaram hymn was also found out from a woman.  Nambi went on to compile the first eleven sections of the Saivite Holy Books called the Thiru Murai.  

Raja Raja took great measures to spread the Thevaram and have them sung regularly in all the Siva temples. He himself made a shrine of Siva called "Thevara Devar" and offered personal worshipto Him with Thevaram hymns.

The important festival for Ganesa is the Vinayaka Chathurthi. This comes on the 4th day of Sukla Paksha, in the month of vani(Sravana) - September/October. This is the day that Vinayaka took Avatara. Just as Vishnu has ten avataras or incarnations, Ganesa has sixteen avataras.

Among the Virathas, Chathurthi Viratha, Sankatahara Chathurthi Viratha, Ganesa Shashti Viratha, and Velli Viratha are important.  The Sankatahara Chaturthi Viratha occurs during the fourth day of the They Pirai or Krishna Paksha, every month. Every year, we have the Maha Sankatahara Chathurthi.The viratha starts before sun-rise and lasts until moon-rise just before mid-night. This is observed in order to overcome difficulties and problems. People suffering from the bad effects of Moon or Mars can perform this viratha. 

There are thirty-two forms of Ganesa. Each one of them have their own Mantras, Slokas, Sthothras, and rituals. Each one is worshipped following a specific method, for very specific purposes.  Some of the forms are Sakthi Ganapathi, Maha Ganapathi, Siddhi Ganapathi, Lakshmi Ganapathi, Bala Ganapathi, Heramba Ganapathi, Bakthi Ganapathi, Vira Ganapathi, Uchchishtta Ganapathi, Vigna Ganapathi, and Sankata Naasana Ganapathi.

Ganesa can be worshipped in many ways. There are elaborate homas, pujas, etc. But at the same time Ganesa worship can be the simplest of all.  Ganesa statue can be installed under a tree and He can be worshipped straight away. A figure of Ganesa can be moulded by hand, with clay, cow-dung, flour, turmeric powder, or sugar and a very simple puja can be performed . He can be worshipped with Arugu grass, Nandi Avarththam flowers, Bilva, and Vanni leaves. He likes sweet fruits. Special among them are the Wood-Apple, Mango, Pomegranate, Naaval, Bananas, and Jack-fruit. Milk, Honey and Sugar-syrup are also favourite offerings. Chundal nuts, Green Grams, Kolzukkattai, Modhakam, and Paayasam are also His favourites. Juice of sugar-cane is offered in some special types of worship. Panchamirtham also is very much liked, just as His brother, Muruga.

Ganesa's favourite Bali is the shattering of coconuts. This is known as "Sidharu Kaay".  Ganesa likes very simple, straight-forward, honest, and dedicated Bhakthi.