Karttikey completed the challenge of circling around the world three times and returned to Mount Kailash. He was sure that he had beaten Ganesha in the race. But much to his amazement, he saw that Ganesha was already there and Mother Parvati was hugging him. He ran towards his parents and asked Ganesha, “How did […]
Ganesha learnt an important lesson from his mother. He learnt that God lives in the soul of every creature and one should not hurt any living thing. From this lesson, he also found a solution to the problem he was currently facing–the race between him and Karttikey. He went straight to Mount Kailash and stood
Both Karttikey and Ganesha agreed to Shiva’s challenge. Soon, the race started. Karttikey rode his mount, the peacock, and immediately set off for the journey. Ganesha thought, ‘My mount is smaller and will not be able to match the speed of Karttikey’s peacock. This way I may end up losing, so I have to think
Time passed, Karttikey and Ganesha grew up. Shiva and Parvati decided to get them married. But they found it difficult to decide who should marry first. Both the sons were equally dear to them. Finally, they approached their sons to ask their opinion on the matter. Unfortunately, Ganesha and Karttikey had a terrible argument. “I
One day, Parvati made some sweet rice-cakes. When Karttikey saw this, he asked for some. Parvati smiled and said, “Son, these sweet rice-cakes are special. They have great holy power hidden in them. Only those who are worthy will get these cakes.” Karttikey asked, “What are those holy powers, Mother?” Parvati said, “Son, mere inhalation
There is yet another story related to Ganesha’s annoyance with the Moon-god. On one of his birthdays, he went to visit his devotees’ houses on Mushik’s back, as usual. Since he was very fond of sweets, he ended up eating all the sweets served by his devotees. Ganesha decided to return home. On the way,
The other gods pleaded with Ganesha to forgive the Moon-god for laughing at him. The kind-hearted Ganesha could not take back his curse completely. So he softened the curse a bit. “You shall lose your brilliance for fifteen days and regain it in the next fifteen days. You shall continue to wax and wane like
Ganesha was being mocked at by the Moon-god constantly. This enraged him further. Ultimately, it was too much to bear and Ganesha lost his patience. “You are laughing at me! Since you have insulted me so much, let us see how you will shine from now on!” yelled Ganesha in fury. Controlling his laughter with
There is yet another popular legend related to Ganesha’s anger with the Moon-god. One day, Shiva had a visitor. It was none other than Brahma. They both were discussing something important when Sage Narad walked in. As Narad was offering a wonderful fruit to Shiva, Ganesha and Karttikey reached there. They saw the fruit, and
There exist many stories about why Ganesha got very angry with the Moon-god (Chandra). According to one legend, Indra once organised a sumptuous meal for all the gods and the goddesses at his abode in Indralok. All the invitees started for Indralok, mounted on their respective vahans. Meanwhile, Ganesha was finding it difficult to sit
The coronation ceremony of Lord Ganesha had all the gods and the sages in attendance. Everybody took turn to bless Ganesha. Lord Vishnu and goddess Lakshmi were there, too. But as soon as they met Ganesha, Lakshmi made haste to leave. Vishnu was upset with Lakshmi’s odd behaviour. He said, “You have not blessed Ganesha
One day, Parvati sat deep in her thoughts. She was thinking about the pattabhishek (coronation) ceremony. Suddenly, a thought came to her mind. She decided that her son, Ganesha, should have a pattabhishek ceremony. Parvati soon sent out invitations to all the gods and the sages, as she wanted to celebrate the ceremony in a
The entire marriage procession of Vishnu was trying to pull the stuck wheel of his carriage out of the hole, but it would not budge. A farmer, who was passing by, saw their struggle and offered to help. The gods were sceptical and some even made fun of him, thinking how a mere farmer could
Ganesha was extremely angry when he came to know that the gods had conspired against him, to prevent him from attending Vishnu’s wedding. So he decided to take revenge on them. Ganesha told his mount Mushik to dig a hole on the road where the marriage procession was about to pass. The obedient Mushik did
Vishnu was perplexed. He told the gods that he had already invited Ganesha to his wedding and he could not stop him from accompanying them now. But the gods had already hatched a plot. “Please tell Ganesha that the demons could seize heaven if they come to know that it is empty. Flatter him about