LORD GANESHA’S FEAST OF LAUGHTER

Meera Uberoi writes stories and poems for children. Her previously

published books include The Mahabharata, Leadership Secrets from the

Mahabharata, Tales from the Panchatantra and Indian Tales for Children.

She lives in New Delhi.

Lord Ganesha’s Feast of Laughter

MEERA UBEROI

Illustrations byAGANTUK

PUFFIN BOOKS

PUFFIN BOOKSPublished by the Penguin GroupPenguin Books India Pvt. Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi110 017, IndiaPenguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USAPenguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario,M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, EnglandPenguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of PenguinBooks Ltd)Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Aus-tralia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)Penguin Group (NZ), cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310,New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)Penguin Group (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

First published in Puffin by Penguin Books India 2006

Text copyright © Meera Uberoi 2006Illustration copyright © Agantuk 2006

All rights reserved

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN-10: 0143 335243ISBN-13: 9780143335245

Typeset in AGaramond by Eleven Arts, New DelhiPrinted at Pauls Press, New Delhi

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or other-wise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s priorwritten consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is pub-lished and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on thesubsequent purchaser and without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above,no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a re-trieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of boththe copyright owner and the above-mentioned publisher of this book.

Contents

Introduction vii

1. How Ganesha Got His Elephant Head 1

2. How Ganesha Got His Mount 6

3. The Bowl of Laddoos 11

4. Why Ganesha Has a Pot Belly 14

5. Ganesha and the God of Wealth 16

6. The Pot of Kheer 24

7. How Ganesha Won His Brides 30

8. How Ganesha Got His Rat 35

9. Ganesha and Vyasa 39

10. Ganesha Writes the Mahabharata 42

11. Why the Moon Waxes and Wanes 47

12. The Remover of All Obstacles 52

13. Ganesha and Kaveri 56

14. How the Tabla Was Created 62

15. The Wish-Fulfilling Gem 64

16. The Frog Devotee 69

17. The Clever Girl 73

18. The Bride and the Rats 78

19. How Ganesha Made the Poor Man Rich 83

20. Ganesha and Little Nambi 92

21. The Rich Merchant’s Son 99

22. Ganesha and Vishnu’s Conch 102

23. Ganesha Tricks Ravana 106

vi Con t en t s

Introduction

Ganesha, the elephant-headed, pot-bellied god riding a rat,

is one of the best-loved Hindu deities. He is known by a

thousand names: Ganapati (lord of the ganas—the attendants),

Vakratunda (the one with the curved trunk), Lambodara (big-

bellied), Vinayaka (a distinguished leader), Vighnaharta

(remover of obstacles) . . . and more.

Tales about Ganesha are hard to find and many of them

have more than one version. For instance, there are many tales

of Ganapati’s birth, some in the ancient texts and some in folk

tradition. In the Uttara Ramayana, Shiva and Parvati take

the form of elephants and Parvati bears a son with an elephant’s

head. The Puranas contain two different versions—one, the

first tale in this book, and the other, where Shani burns the

head of Parvati’s son with a baleful glance and it is replaced

with an elephant’s head. Similarly, there are two views about

who was Parvati and Shiva’s elder son—Ganesha or Skanda,

and also how the rat became Ganesha’s mount.

This book brings together some of the most fascinating

and exciting stories of Ganesha—the god of wisdom, of

beginnings, of writing, and of a thousand wonderful things.

Lord Ganesha’s birthday—Ganesh Chaturthi—is

celebrated in the Hindu calendar month of Bhadra (August–

September).

viii In t r odu c t i on

Shiva’s wife Parvati, daughter of Himalaya with its sparkling

streams, was pretty easy-going but disliked being disturbed

when she was bathing. And Shiva never seemed to remember

that. He strode in whenever he wished, cool as you please, and

this really annoyed Parvati.

One day when Shiva was away meditating in the forest,

Parvati went into her bathing chamber with a determined little

smile on her lips. ‘Today I will not be disturbed,’ she thought as

she rubbed her body with jasmine oil and a paste of sandalwood

and sweet aloes. ‘He’s not going to barge in this time.’

Picking up a flat wooden knife she scraped the scented

paste off her body and kneaded it into a lump. When it was

firm enough, she fashioned the figure of a boy, perfect in every

limb. Then she held it up to her face and poured her life’s

breath into him. In the twinkling of an eye, a young boy stood

How Ganesha Got HisElephant Head

2 Lord Gane s ha ’ s Fea s t o f Laugh t e r

before her, handsome, alive, eyes bright with love. The boy

gazed into his mother’s face and bowed.

Parvati hugged him. ‘You are beautiful, my son,’ she said

with a silvery laugh. ‘Now look, I want you to do something

for me. I’m going to have a bath and no one, that means no

one, is to enter this chamber.’

The boy bowed, hands folded. ‘It shall be as you wish,

Mother.’ Parvati went in and shut the door. The boy posted

himself outside and stood with legs apart, hands folded.

Shiva returned to Kailasha, looked around for Parvati and

when he didn’t see her, made straight for the bathroom. Then

he came to an abrupt halt. In front of the door, blocking his

passage, stood a strange young boy. Shiva moved forward

purposefully, but the boy didn’t budge.

‘Out of my way, boy,’ Shiva said, eyes snapping with anger.

‘No,’ came the quiet but firm answer.

‘Step aside, now!’ Shiva thundered.

‘I will not,’ said the boy coolly, without a trace of fear. ‘My

mother said no one must enter, so no one will—not until she

says so.’

‘I’m not interested in what your mother said. Move

out of my way!’ The crescent moon on Shiva’s head glowed

red with anger and Ganga raged as she poured out of

4 Lord Gane s ha ’ s Fea s t o f Laugh t e r

his matted locks. But the boy stood right where he was.

‘How dare you stop me!’ Shiva roared and his terrible anger

erupted. In a flash his sword was out and fell on the boy’s

tender neck.

‘Mother!’ the boy cried as he fell and his severed head rolled

on the ground.

Parvati sprang up and flung the door open. Her eyes

widened in pain and anguish when she saw the headless body

of her son. She turned on Shiva like a mountain lioness, angry

tears pouring down her face. ‘You’ve killed my son, you heartless

brute,’ she stormed. ‘How could you kill a young boy unequal

in strength and years? And they call you Mahadeva—the Great

God! Some Great God you are! I’ll never forgive you for this.’

Shiva looked at her in blank astonishment. ‘Your son? How

on earth was I to know he was your son?’ he asked reasonably.

‘You should have known,’ Parvati bit out, wiping away

her tears. ‘You are Mahadeva, after all.’

‘I’m truly sorry, my dear, just don’t be angry with me,’

Shiva soothed in his most calming voice. ‘Look, I’ll bring

him back to life.’

Parvati threw him a smouldering look and turned away.

Shiva thought of his ganas and the faithful attendants

appeared promptly. ‘Bring me the head of the first living

creature you see,’ Shiva ordered. ‘And make it snappy.’

The ganas left and almost immediately saw an old tusker

shuffling down the path. They cut off its head and took it

to Shiva.

Shiva knelt down by the headless body of the boy and

placed the elephant’s head on the raw, bleeding neck. The head

merged seamlessly into the torso of the boy and a moment

later the little eyes flickered open.

Shiva raised him up and embraced him. ‘You, my son,

will be the leader of my ganas and the world will know you as

Ganapati,’ he pronounced with a loving smile. ‘No god or man

will dare begin a venture without first invoking you. In you,

my son, shall be the power to remove every obstacle in the path

of man and in you shall lie the wisdom of the ages.’

Shiva then turned to Parvati. ‘Happy now?’ he asked with

a smile. Parvati’s displeasure was the only thing that put the

Great God into a quake.

Parvati smiled but her eyes still crackled. ‘It will do,’ she

said as she held her son close.

‘Come, my son, I want you to meet your brother Skanda.

He is the commander of the heavenly armies.’ She led him

away and Shiva followed with a rueful smile on his lips. ‘Whew!

That was a close call,’ he thought, gazing fondly at them.

How Gane s ha Go t Hi s E l e phan t Head 5

8+Twenty-three lively stories about the

lovable elephant-headed god

Ganesha has an elephant’s head, a pot belly and a rollickingsense of fun. Full of mischief, he fools around with gods

and humans alike. He is also wise and shrewd, gentle and compassionate.

These tales of Lord Ganesha include old mythological favourites, like the stories about his birth

and how he got his elephant head. Alongside are little-known tales dug up from ancient texts—how Ganesha created the tabla, how he stopped Ravana

from becoming all-powerful, how he won a race around the world without moving an inch, and how

he swallowed Vishnu, Brahma and Lakshmi in one big gulp! Each illustrated tale is told

with sparkling wit—to match that of the boisterous god.

Cover illustration by Agantuk