Gaṇeśa Janana

The Kumāra Khaṇḍa of the Śiva Purāṇa tells how Pārvatī made Gaṇeśa from the paste of her own body. She wanted a doorguard loyal to her alone, who would let nobody into her private rooms without her leave. She gave the boy life with her own prāṇa-śakti (life-force), put a club in his hand, and set him at her door.

What follows, his meeting with Bhagavān Śiva at that door, is the start of the long Gaṇeśa narrative of the Kumāra Khaṇḍa.

Why Pārvatī wanted a doorguard

Bhagavān Śiva and Pārvatī had set up their home at Kailāsa, and Kārttikeya had been born. Bhagavān Śiva had a habit of walking into Pārvatī’s private rooms without warning, at any hour. Pārvatī had her own inner part of Kailāsa, with her own sakhīs (women friends) and attendants.

Her two closest sakhīs, Jayā and Vijayā, spoke to her about it. They pointed out that she had no doorguard who was loyal to her alone, one who would keep his post whoever came, even Bhagavān Śiva himself. They advised her to make such a being by her own power.

The making of Gaṇeśa from body-paste

Pārvatī took the advice of her sakhīs. While bathing, she gathered the mardana piṇḍī, the paste that collects from the oils and cleansing materials rubbed on the body. From this paste, which came wholly from her own body, she shaped a human form. Then she gave the form her own prāṇa-śakti, the vital life-force. The form came alive as a bright and beautiful boy.

Pārvatī looked at him with a mother’s eyes. She gave him a club (daṇḍa or gadā) and set him at the entrance to her rooms. Her order was clear. Nobody was to be let in without her own permission. The boy took his place with complete seriousness and perfect loyalty.

The meeting with Bhagavān Śiva

Bhagavān Śiva came to Pārvatī’s rooms as he always did. The boy at the door stopped him. Bhagavān Śiva was not used to being refused entry anywhere at Kailāsa, and he was surprised. The boy kept his place, club in hand, and would not let him pass.

Bhagavān Śiva struck the boy with his own weapon. The boy, Pārvatī’s creation, filled with her śakti, struck back. The gaṇas of Bhagavān Śiva came and faced the boy as the standoff grew.

The fight grows: the devas, Brahmā and Bhagavān Vishṇu

In the days that followed, the gaṇas of Bhagavān Śiva challenged Gaṇeśa wave after wave, and he beat them all. Bhagavān Śiva sent Brahmā as a go-between. Gaṇeśa was not moved at all. He pulled Brahmā’s moustache to show that he would not give way, and Brahmā fled. Pārvatī heard how the fight had grown. She sent word through her sakhī, advising Gaṇeśa to hold firm.

Then Bhagavān Śiva brought Bhagavān Vishṇu and the whole assembly of devas against Gaṇeśa. Pārvatī answered by making two terrifying Śaktis, who swallowed all the weapons aimed at her son. Gaṇeśa defeated Bhagavān Vishṇu and all the devas. Only when Bhagavān Vishṇu used divine māyā (power of illusion) did Bhagavān Śiva find the chance to cut off Gaṇeśa’s head.

The Kumāra Khaṇḍa goes on to tell of Gaṇeśa’s revival and his raising to the first place.

Other accounts of Gaṇeśa’s birth

The Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa also tells of Gaṇeśa’s making from body-paste, but it has no doorguard confrontation. In that account the elephant face (gaja-mukha) is Gaṇeśa’s own form from birth.

The Kedāra Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa gives a different origin. There Gaṇeśa is the son of Māyā, who is Prakṛti. He survived the Kālakūṭa dissolution, and Bhagavān Śiva later cut off his head in a different setting.

Sources

• Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Kumāra Khaṇḍa, Chapter 13 (Pārvatī’s sakhīs, the making of Gaṇeśa, the meeting at the door)
• Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Kumāra Khaṇḍa, Chapters 14–15 (the fight with the devas, Brahmā and Bhagavān Vishṇu)
• Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa
• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kedāra Khaṇḍa