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In the snow-wrapped palace on Kailash, a small conversation began one day, and see how, out of that small conversation, the birth of the remover of obstacles came forth. It happened like this. Parvati’s dear companions Jaya and Vijaya came and sat beside the mother of the worlds and gently opened a subject. “Friend,” they said, “just think about it. Every one of these ganas belongs to Rudra. Nandi and Bhringi, who are said to be ours, spend their days in Shiva’s service as well, and among the countless Pramatha ganas there is not one who is truly our own. They are counted as ours too, yet if you ask the honest truth, our hearts do not meet theirs. You ought to fashion a gana of your own.”
Parvati found the counsel sound, and it settled deep in her mind. Then one day the resolve grew firm. The goddess was bathing when Sadashiva, scolding and berating Nandi, walked straight into the inner chambers. Startled, the mother of the worlds rose in a rush from her bath, flushed with embarrassment. In that very moment her companions’ words came back to her. She resolved within herself: I must have a servant of my own, one wholly auspicious, skilled in his work, ready for my command alone, who will not waver from it in the slightest.
A son molded from her own body
Then, from the paste of her own body, the goddess shaped a living being. He was endowed with every auspicious mark, each limb beautiful and without flaw, his frame tall and richly resplendent, brimming with strength and valor. The goddess clothed him and adorned him, blessed him to her heart’s content, and said, “You are my son, my very own. There is no one here as dear to me as you.”
The boy folded his hands and asked, “Mother, what task has fallen to you today? Tell me, and I will see it done.” The mother said, “Listen, son. From today you are my doorkeeper. Without my leave, let no one force his way and set foot inside my house, no matter where he comes from, no matter who he is. I have told you the plain truth.”
With these words the goddess placed a stout staff in her son’s hand, kissed his face lovingly, held him to her breast, and, having seated the staff-bearing lord of ganas at the door, went off to bathe with her companions. The boy, for his part, took up his staff and stood guard. His mother had commanded it, after all.
The standoff at the door
Now listen. At that very moment the ever-playful Lord Shiva arrived at the door. The boy did not know him. He raised his staff and said, “Lord, without my mother’s leave you may not go in just now. My mother has sat down to bathe. Turn back from here for the present.”
Shiva snapped at him, “You fool, whom do you think you are stopping? Does he not recognize us? There is no one but Shiva standing here.” Still the boy would not budge. Then Maheshvara’s ganas came to reason with him. “Listen. We are the chief ganas of Shiva, the doorkeepers of this place, and we have come at the command of all-pervading Shankara to move you aside. We took you for a gana as well, and so we have not yet raised a hand against you; had we done so, you would have been slain long ago. It is best that you step aside of your own accord. Why call your own death upon yourself for nothing?”
The son of Girija stood unafraid, rebuked the ganas, and did not leave the door. When the ganas returned and told the whole tale, Maheshvara, the master of wondrous play, rounded on them instead. “Who is this that speaks up so boldly, like an enemy? Drive that new doorkeeper far off. What good is it to stand here reciting his story to me?” The ganas went back, and again the boy stopped them. When inquiries were made, it came out that he was the son of Sri Girija, appointed as her doorkeeper. Now Shankara resolved on a strange piece of play, and with it he meant to melt the pride of his own ganas. He summoned the ganas and the gods, and a terrible battle broke out, yet no one could defeat Ganesha. At last Maheshvara himself, the trident-bearer, came forward, and by his own trident Ganesha’s head was cut off and fell. Keeping guard over his mother’s command to the very end, the boy gave up his life and never left the door.
Brahma tells Narada that the tale in which the head is severed by the gaze of Shani belongs to another kalpa (world-cycle); in this kalpa it was Shiva himself who staged this play.
A mother’s wrath
When the news reached Parvati, she filled with rage. She brought forth a great host of shaktis (powers) and gave the order that, without a second thought, a deluge of destruction be unleashed. That was all it took; the shaktis fell upon the world. Their blazing radiance began to scorch every direction. Shiva’s ganas fled in terror and took up a stand far off.
At that moment the divine sage Narada arrived. He and the gods bowed to Shankara and agreed that all should take counsel together over this calamity. It was settled that until the goddess Girija showed her grace, there would be no road to peace. So all the gods and sages went to the goddess Girija and, with folded hands, began to praise her. “Wife of Shiva, we bow to you. Chandika, Amba, you alone are the primordial power; you alone create, sustain, and dissolve the worlds. Mistress of the gods, the whole of the three worlds is in torment from your wrath. Be pleased now; let your anger grow still.”
The supreme goddess only looked at them with wrath-filled eyes and said nothing. The sages bowed again at her feet. “Devi, destruction is now upon us. Forgive us, forgive us. Amba, your own lord Shiva stands here too; turn your eyes toward him for a moment. These gods, Brahma and Vishnu and the rest, and all your creatures, are yours, and they stand before you with anxious, folded hands. Supreme goddess, pardon the offense of them all and grant them peace.”
At this humble pleading Chandika’s heart softened, and compassion welled up within her. She said, “If my son comes back to life and is held worthy of worship among you all, then there will be no destruction. The day you grant him the office of chief over all, that day peace will come to the worlds; short of that, there will be no relief.”
The first creature to the north
The sages carried this condition to the gods, and the gods carried it to Shiva. Shiva said, “So be it; do whatever will bring peace to all the three worlds. Go toward the north, and the first creature you meet, cut off its head and join it to this boy’s body.”
The gods washed and wiped the child’s body, worshipped it, and set out to the north. The very first creature they met was an elephant, one with a single tusk. They brought back its head and joined it to the boy’s body. Then all the gods, Brahma and Vishnu among them, folded their hands to Shankara in his formless aspect and said, “Lord, may that same radiance of yours, from which all of us were born, enter this boy.” Together they consecrated water with Vedic mantras, called Shiva to mind, and sprinkled that water over the boy’s body. At its touch the boy filled with consciousness and sat up as though waking from sleep.
An elephant’s face, a glowing body, a happiness playing across his features, a graceful form, and a lovely light spreading all around. Wherever anyone stood, he was steeped in bliss, and every sorrow dissolved in an instant. Overcome with joy, the gods carried the boy to Parvati. Seeing her son alive, the mother was overwhelmed with delight.
The boon of first worship
Then the elephant-faced one was anointed. In her overflowing joy, Parvati took her son in both hands and pressed him to her breast, and gave him many garments and ornaments. The Siddhis worshipped him according to the proper rites, and the mother stroked his limbs with her own hand that takes away all sorrow. Kissing his face, she gave him a boon. “Son, this time you have suffered greatly, yet now you are fulfilled, now you are blessed. From today your worship will come first among all the gods, and you will never have to know sorrow. At this moment sindur (vermilion) glows on your face, and so let people always worship you with sindur. Whoever worships you duly with flowers, sandal, fragrance, food-offering, a lovely arati (lamp offering), betel, gifts, circumambulation, and salutation, all their attainments will be secured and every obstacle will be cut away, of this there is no doubt.”
Then Indra and the other gods, wishing for the welfare of the three worlds, led the boy away and seated him in Shiva’s lap. Shiva passed his lotus hand over the boy’s head and said, “This is my second son.” Ganesha rose and bowed at Shiva’s feet, then bowed to Parvati, Brahma, Vishnu, Narada, and all the rest, and said with humility, “Pride is the very nature of a person, so may you all forgive my offense.” Then Brahma, Vishnu, and Shankara together, with love, gave a boon. “As the three of us gods are worshipped throughout the three worlds, so let everyone worship this Ganesha as well. Let people worship him first and us after, and only then will our worship be complete. Whoever worships any other god without first worshipping him, the fruit of his worship will be destroyed.”
Then Shiva said to the son of Girija, “Without doubt we are supremely pleased with you, and when we are pleased, know that the whole world is pleased. Now no one can oppose you. You are the son of Shakti, and so you are radiant beyond measure. Though only a child, you displayed great valor, and so you will always be happy. In the work of removing obstacles your name will stand above all others. You are worthy of everyone’s worship, so become now the chief of all our ganas.”
With great affection he added one more boon. “In the hour when your form first appeared in Girija’s beautiful mind, it was the chaturthi, the fourth day, of the dark fortnight of Bhadrapada; the moon had risen auspiciously, and the first watch of the night was passing. So let your finest vrata (vow) be kept on that very date; it will be most gracious and will grant every attainment.” Then he recited the full method of the vrata: on the dark chaturthi of Margashirsha, one fashions an image of metal, of coral, or of white madar, gives it the consecration of life, worships it with fragrance, sandal, and flowers; when the first watch of the night has passed, one honors it with one hundred and one or twenty-one blades of durva grass, each twelve fingers long and having three knots, with incense, lamp, food-offering, and betel; then one worships the young moon, feeds the brahmins sweet food and oneself takes sweet unsalted prasad; and when the year is complete, one performs the concluding rite by feeding twelve brahmins. He said also that people of all varnas, women especially, and kings who desire prosperity should certainly keep this vrata; whatever the observer wishes for, he will surely obtain it.
All the gods, the sages, and Shiva’s beloved ganas said “so be it” in support and worshipped the lord of ganas with elaborate rites. Brahma says that the joy Girija felt at that moment cannot be told even by our four mouths. Kettledrums sounded, apsaras danced, gandharvas broke into song, and flowers rained down. A great festival was held at this installation to the rank of lord of ganas; peace spread across all the worlds, and every sorrow departed. As the gods and sages returned to their own realms, all along the way they kept saying to one another, “What a wondrous battle that was!” Meanwhile Girija’s anger was stilled, Shiva took up his gladdening work for the good of the worlds as before, and that boy was now the first-worshipped lord of ganas of all, without whose first worship the fruit of no worship is made complete.
It is said that whoever listens to this most auspicious tale with senses held in check becomes a partaker of every blessing. The sonless gain a son, the poor gain wealth, the sick gain health, and a person sunk in an ocean of grief is set free of grief by the mere hearing of it.
Source: Shiva Purana (Gita Press, abridged Shiva Purana edition), Rudra Samhita, Kumara Khanda