Mangalore : Ganesha, son of Gowri and Mahashiva, has a distinct identity in the echelon of deities in Hindu worship. He is named ‘Vakra-tunda’ which means a deformed face.
Obviously, he has an elephant head over a human body, but his glory and capacity are limitless.
All ever India, in any temple, there is a small shrine for Ganapathi, the lord of Siva’s army of deformed spirits on a burning ghat. He was made of mud that was sticking on Parvathis arms, even in a cold place like Kailas. The head came later on, when Shiva cut it out and an elephant’s head was enjoined on the human child by father Shiva.
The elephant looks sideways but is very smart the brain is very fast and the trunk is a feature of the elephantine omkara face.
Parvathi being unhappy on the death of her foster son made of mud, had to be made happy by Lord Shiva, giving all the best gifts that can be offered to a rejuvenated son Ganesha. He was even superior to the natural son, Kumara Karthikeya, who rode a peacock. The hefty weighty Ganapathy moves on a small mouse, but writes like a Pitman’s fast short and writer, when he takes dictation from guru VedaVyasa on writing Bhagavad-Gita in 18 chapters. Ganesha is a very kind and quite a benevolent God, the darling of youngsters under 20. He is very playful, and removes all the hurdles to happiness, He is recalled daily.