Friday 15 March 2013

The History Of Indian God

ABOUT SHREE GANESHA :
      Ganesha is a popular figure in Ind Unlike those of some deities, representations of Ganesha show wide variations and distinct patterns changing over time. He may be portrayed standing, dancing, heroically taking action against demons, playing with his family as a boy, sitting down or on an elevated seat, or engaging in a range of contemporary situations.

                                Shreee  Ganesha  is a also spelled Ganesa and Ganesh,also known as  Ganpati Vinayaka,Vighnavinashaka, Gajanana, Ekadantha, Vigneshwara and Pillaiyar is one of the best-known and most widely worshipped deities in the Hindu Pantheon. His image is found throughout The India  and Nepal .Hindu Sects worship him regardless of affiliations. Devotion to Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to jains Buddhists and beyond India 



                                           Ganesha's elephant head
            
Although he is known by many other attributes, Ganesha's elephant head makes him particularly easy to identify.Ganesha is widely revered as the Remover of Obstacles and more generally as Lord of Beginnings and Lord of Obstacles.



 The Lord Ganesha is patron of arts and sciences, and the DEVA  of intellect and wisdom.He is honored at the beginning of rituals and ceremonies and invoked as Patron of Letters during writing sessions. Several texts relate mythological anecdotes associated with his birth and exploits and explain his distinct iconography.



 GANESHA PURANA                                             
Ganesha emerged as a distinct deity in clearly recognizable form in the 4th and 5th centuries CE, during the Gupta Period although he inherited traits from  pre-Vedic precursors. His popularity rose quickly, and he was formally included among the five primary deities of Smartism (a Hindu denomination) in the 9th century. A sect of devotees called the GANAPATYA, who identified Ganesha as the supreme deity, arose during this period. The principal scriptures dedicated to Ganesha are the GANESHA PURANA, the MUDGALA PURANA, and the GANAPATI ATHARVASHIRSA.

Ganesha has many other titles and epithets, including Ganapati and Vighneshvara. The Hindu title of respect Shri (श्री), also spelled (Shree) is often added before his name. One popular way Ganesha is worshipped is by chanting a Ganesha Sahasranama  a litany of "a thousand names of Ganesha". Each name in the Sahasranama conveys a different meaning and symbolises a different aspect of Ganesha. At least two different versions of the Ganesha Sahasranama exist; one version is drawn from the Ganesha Purana, a Hindu Scripture venerating Ganesha.

The name Ganesha is a Sanskrit compound, joining the words gana, meaning a group, multitude, or categorical system andisha meaning lord or master. The word gaņa when associated with Ganesha is often taken to refer to the gaņas, a troop of semi-divine beings that form part of the retinue of Shiva. The term more generally means a category, class, community, association, or corporation. Some commentators interpret the name "Lord of the Gaņas" to mean "Lord of Hosts" or "Lord of created categories", such as the elements. Ganapati (गणपति), a synonym for Ganesha, is a compound composed of gaṇa, meaning "group", and pati, meaning "ruler" or "lord". The Amarakosha, an early Sanskrit lexicon, lists eight synonyms of Ganesha : VinayakaVighnarāja (equivalent toVighnesha), Dvaimātura (one who has two mothers), Gaṇādhipa (equivalent to Ganapati and Ganesha), Ekadanta (one who has one tusk), Heramba,Lambodara (one who has a pot belly, or, literally, one who has a hanging belly), and Gajanana having the face of an elephant).


Vinayaka in snskrit (विनायक) is a common name for Ganesha that appears in the Purāṇas and in Buddhist Tantras. This name is reflected in the naming of the eight famous Ganesha temples in Maharashtra known as the Aṣṭavināyaka. The names Vighnesha (विघ्नेश) and Vighneshvara (विघ्नेश्वर)(Lord of Obstacles) refers to his primary function in Hindu mythology as the master and remover of obstacles (vighna).          IMaharashtra 

        In Tamil 
A prominent name for Ganesha in the Tamil language is Pille (பிள்ளை) or Pillaiyar (பிள்ளையார்) (Little Child). A. K. Narain differentiates these terms by saying that pille means a "child" while pillaiyar means a "noble child". He adds that the words pallupella, and pell in the Dravidian family of  languages  signify "tooth or tusk", also "elephant tooth or tusk". Anita Raina Thapan notes that the root word pille in the name Pillaiyar might have originally meant "the young of the elephant", because the Pali  word pillaka means "a young elephant".


                                              In Thailand 
In the Burmese  language, Ganesha is known as Maha Peinn, derived from Pali  Mahā Wināyaka,  The widespread name of Ganesha in Thailand is Phra Phikhanet or Phra Phikhanesuan, both of which are derived fromVara Vighnesha and Vara Vighneshvara respectively, whereas the name Khanet (from Ganesha) is rather rare.
In Sri lanka in the North Center  and North Western areas with pre dominantly Buddhist population, Ganesha is known as Aiyanayaka  Deviyo while in other Singhala buddhist areas he is known as Gana deviyo.