The gods were excited. Lord Vishnu was getting married to goddess Lakshmi. Heaven was all decked up and preparations were on in full swing. All the gods were invited to the wedding. A day before the wedding, the gods went to meet Vishnu at his abode. Vishnu was puzzled to see them before him. “My […]
There is another interesting story about how Ganesha got a mouse as his vehicle. Once, there lived a demon named Gajmukha. He worshipped Shiva fervently. Once, he performed severe penance and attained many boons from Shiva. But Gajmukhasur did not use them wisely. Instead, he became vain and started tormenting the gods and the sages
Mushik revealed his true identity to Lord Ganesha. The kind-hearted Ganesha took pity on Mushik and decided to bring an end to his sufferings. With his powers, Ganesha reduced Mushik’s huge size to a reasonably small one. Mushik also pleaded with Ganesha to use him as his mount. “Please forgive me and take me as
After trapping Mushik, Ganesha mounted his back. Mushik could not bear Ganesha’s weight. On hearing his cries, Ganesha stopped the ride. Mushik then told Ganesha, “Please hear my story. I am actually a celestial musician (Gandharv) named Kraunch. I have been cursed to become a mouse! When I was a Gandharv, I happened to step
A huge mouse was making people’s life miserable on earth. They pleaded with Lord Ganesha to come to their rescue. “Lord, we cannot stay here any longer. We will have to move to some other place,” they prayed to Ganesha. On hearing this, Ganesha went down to earth to deal with Mushik himself. He pacified
Many stories exist about how Ganesha got a mouse (mushik) as his vahan (mount). Here is one story, found in the Puranas. Once, there lived a huge and powerful mouse named Mushik, on earth. Mushik scrambled here and there, nibbling at food and clothes, and biting people’s feet. It jolted and scared people. There was
There are many stories behind how Ganesha got the name Siddhivinayak. According to a legend, the universe was created by Brahma with Ganesha’s blessings. When Brahma was busy creating the universe, Vishnu, the preserver, dozed off on top of Sheshnag. During that sleep, two demons Madhu and Kaitabh emerged out of Vishnu’s ears. Empowered by
Once, there lived a king in Hemvati, called Abhinandan. His ambition was to become the king of heaven. So he started performing a great sacrifice to achieve his goal. When Indra came to know of this, he became scared of losing his throne. He summoned Kaal (time) and asked him to create obstacles in the
During his childhood, Ganesha used to play with his father’s ganas at Mount Kailash. Ganesha would hide in a flower garden and suck the water from the Ocean of Milk using his trunk. It is believed that Vishnu rests on the coils of serpant king Sheshnag, who floats on this ocean. Ganesha would then shower
According to a legend, Parvati once requested Shiva to take her to a beautiful grove named Nandankanan. Shiva was surprised, but promised to take her there. They soon set off to Nandankanan. Parvati was amazed to see many varieties of beautiful trees and flowers growing in the grove. Among them, there was one particular tree
Demon Pralamb had escaped being killed in the battle between the gods and the demons, and ran away to Patal, the world beneath the earth’s surface. When Pralamb reached Patal, he saw that Vasuki, the king of the snakes, was away visiting Karttikey. Pralamb took that opportunity and terrorised the smaller snakes that lived in
After Tarakasur’s slaying, Karttikey learnt that three of Tarak’s followers, Banasur, Kraunch, and Pralamb who had fled after the war, were hounding people around the mountains. Karttikey shot arrows from where he was standing and killed them. Now the gods were in high spirits. But, among those three demons, Pralamb was still alive. The rejuvenated
Tarakasur organised a huge army and set off to attack the gods. When he reached the battlefield, he was amazed to see a child leading the gods’ army. Demon Tarak immediately knew that it was Shiva’s son coming to kill him. He shuddered, but he did not want to show his fear. “Ha! ha! ha!
Karttikey, sitting on his peacock mount and wielding a spear, led a huge army of the gods against Tarakasur. The sounds of drums, the valiant war cries of the soldiers and the rattling of armour and weapons reverberated through the battlefield. Before proclaiming war, it was an age-old custom to send word to the enemy
All the gods were happy at the birth of Karttikey. They began to urge Shiva to appoint the young Karttikey as the head of their army. Karttikey was made the chief of the gods’ army (senapati) at a grand ceremony. The gods equipped him with various weapons and special powers. His mother Parvati too gifted