Gaṇeśa Gajamukha Punarjīvana

The Kumāra Khaṇḍa of the Śiva Purāṇa tells how Gaṇeśa was beheaded and brought back to life. Bhagavān Śiva cut off Gaṇeśa’s head, with Bhagavān Vishṇu’s māyā (power of illusion) giving him the chance. Pārvatī then rose in great wrath and made millions of Śaktis who began to destroy the three worlds. Nobody could stand against her, not even Bhagavān Śiva.

Pārvatī gave her conditions. Her son must be brought back to life, and he must be given the first place among all beings. The devas fetched the head of a one-tusked elephant and fixed it on Gaṇeśa’s body. Gaṇeśa lived again, and Brahmā, Vishṇu and Śiva together declared his first place.

Bhagavān Śiva cuts off Gaṇeśa’s head

Wave after wave of divine force had failed to defeat Gaṇeśa. He had beaten the gaṇas of Bhagavān Śiva, turned away the peace-making of Brahmā, and driven back Bhagavān Vishṇu and the gathered devas. Then Bhagavān Vishṇu used divine māyā. With it he made an opening in Gaṇeśa’s attention and gave Bhagavān Śiva the moment he needed. Bhagavān Śiva took it and cut off Gaṇeśa’s head.

The head was gone. Gaṇeśa was Pārvatī’s own creation. He was her son and her doorguard, made from her own body and given her own prāṇa-śakti (life-force). He now lay headless.

Nārada tells Pārvatī

Nārada carried the news to Pārvatī. She heard that her son had been killed by Bhagavān Śiva himself, with the active help of Bhagavān Vishṇu and all the devas she knew. Her grief and her wrath rose together, with a force beyond compare.

Pārvatī is the Ādiśakti, the first power from whom all creation gets its power to exist. Her child had been made from her own body, and he had been struck down.

Pārvatī’s wrath and the cosmic Śaktis

In her rage Pārvatī made millions of terrible Śaktis, fearsome female divine powers. They rushed out in all directions and began to devour everything in the three worlds. Devas, gaṇas, Brahmā, Vishṇu, the ṛshis and all other beings could not face this force. Bhagavān Śiva himself could not stand against it.

The ṛshis, the devas and in the end all the cosmic powers bowed before Pārvatī and prayed to her to calm down. She heard them. But she would not give way without conditions.

Pārvatī’s conditions

Pārvatī said clearly what she required before she would call back the cosmic Śaktis.

  1. Her son must be brought back to life. The child she had made from her own body, whose head had been cut off, must be fully restored to life.
  2. He must be given the first place among all beings. Before any deva is worshipped, before any ritual is done, before any work is begun, Gaṇeśa must be honoured first.

The elephant’s head

The devas accepted the conditions. They went to the north and found an elephant. It had one tusk, and they took its head. They brought the elephant’s head back and, with Bhagavān Śiva presiding, fixed it on Gaṇeśa’s body where his own head had been cut off.

Vedic mantras were recited over the body. Water charged with the power of mantra was poured on it. Gaṇeśa came back to life. He rose with the elephant’s head as his own, alive and whole. Pārvatī saw her son living again.

The declaration of first place

Pārvatī was calmed. Bhagavān Śiva formally called Gaṇeśa his second son, after Kārttikeya, and accepted him as his own child. Then the Trimūrti, Brahmā, Vishṇu and Śiva, together made the declaration of Gaṇeśa’s first place.

Whoever worships Gaṇeśa first, before beginning any pūjā (worship), any yajña (fire ritual), any pilgrimage, any study or any work of any kind, will receive the full and undivided fruit of whatever they are doing. This was declared together by the three supreme powers of creation, preservation and dissolution.

From this moment Gaṇeśa’s title Vighneśvara, the master of obstacles, who decides whether the path of any work is clear or blocked, was given its highest standing.

Sources

  • Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Kumāra Khaṇḍa, Chapters 15–17