Gaṇeśa Pradakshiṇā Viveka

The Kumāra Khaṇḍa of the Śiva Purāṇa tells of a famous episode. Kārttikeya and Gaṇeśa both wished to marry. Their parents, Bhagavān Śiva and Pārvatī, set a contest. Whoever went around the whole earth first would marry first.

Kārttikeya set out at once on his peacock at full speed. Gaṇeśa walked around his parents seven times. He said the śāstras teach that parents are equal to all tīrthas, all devas and all worlds. Bhagavān Śiva and Pārvatī accepted his wisdom and named Gaṇeśa the winner.

The question of marriage

After Gaṇeśa had been brought back to life and his first place had been declared, both Kārttikeya and Gaṇeśa said they wished to marry. Both were ready for the gṛhastha āśrama (the stage of life of the householder). Their parents, Bhagavān Śiva and Pārvatī, heard the request and set a test to decide who would marry first.

The test was simple to state. Whoever could go around the whole earth first would marry first.

Kārttikeya sets out

Kārttikeya did not wait. He mounted his peacock and left at full speed to go around the earth. He is the great Senāpati (commander), and he set off with confidence.

Gaṇeśa’s reasoning

Gaṇeśa did not leave the place where he stood. He walked slowly around his parents, around Bhagavān Śiva and Pārvatī, seven times, with his hands folded in añjali (the gesture of respect). When he had finished the seven rounds and stood before them again, Pārvatī asked him, “What have you done? The contest was to go around the earth.”

Gaṇeśa answered with the authority of the śāstras. The sacred teaching is that parents, mātā (mother) and pitā (father), are equal to all tīrthas, all sacred rivers, all devas, all worlds, all yajñas (fire rituals) and all of creation. To walk around one’s parents with devotion is, by the teaching of the śāstras, the same as going around the whole earth. He had not taken a shortcut. He had done what the test truly asked for, by understanding what “going around the earth” means in the eyes of dharma.

He had made seven rounds, not one.

Bhagavān Śiva and Pārvatī accept his answer

Bhagavān Śiva and Pārvatī heard Gaṇeśa’s reasoning. The teaching he named is a true teaching of the śāstras. It holds that the divine is fully present in one’s parents, and that pūjā (worship) of them is pūjā of the whole cosmos.

They declared Gaṇeśa the winner of the contest, and they arranged his marriage. Kārttikeya was still travelling around the far-off earth.

Sources

• Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Kumāra Khaṇḍa, Chapter 19