In addition to the mythological stories of birth of Lord Ganesha and the story of Ganesha and the curse of moon, there are few other popular stories of Lord Ganesha which are interesting to know and read.
The two divine brothers are well known for their wisdom and intelligence and the divine couple loved their children very much. The brothers too have great respect for their parents and are devoted to their parents. When the two divine brothers were young, Lord Shiva wanted to entrust one of his sons with the post of Ganadhipati or the leader of the Ganas for which he wanted to test the intelligence of both his sons.
Lord Shiva called his sons and said, "Dear ones, I want to test both of you and the one who proves oneself to be wiser than the other, will be the fittest candidate for the Ganadhipati post.
"Sure, Pitamah (father). We are ready to take the test", said Ganesha and Kartikeya.
"The one who travels round the world and return first to Kailash (the abode of Lord Shiva) will be considered the competent of the two. Do you both agree for this race", said Shiva.
"I am ready for the around the world race", said both the brothers and without wasting a second Kartikeya mounted his peacock and set for his journey. Kartikeya, being slim figured and having a bird as his vehicle was too confident of his winning the race. While Lord Ganesha who was short and bulky figured with a small mouse as his vehicle got depressed and thought that this task is impossible for him and he is sure to lose the race. He sat in a corner and started thinking deeply. Suddenly, he jumped up in excitement as he got a wonderful idea of going round the world and winning the race.
The divine couple were observing all this and were wondering how could their dear son Ganesha prove himself to be wiser than Kartikeya. Slowly yet steadily and confidently Lord Ganesha neared his parents who were seated in their place.
"Pranam Mata, Pranam Pitah (Salutations Mother, Salutations Father)", said Ganesha. He bowed down before his divine parents and spoke slowly, "parents are the living Gods and doing Pradakshina (circling round) to one's parents is equivalent to traveling round the world. I seek your blessing for this around the world race and I will do Pradakshina thrice to you".
Thus he spoke out to his parents, got their blessings and mounted his little vahana (vehicle) - mushika. He folded his palms in the form of Namaskara, closed his eyes, concentrated on his divine parents and ordered his mushika (mouse) to circle round his divine parents. Thus, he could slowly and steadily make three circles round his parents and complete the round the world travel race.
Mean while, Kartikeya who physically visited all the Holy places on the Earth was much surprised to see that his elder brother Ganesha was ahead of him in all the places he visited. It so happened that while Kartikeya was landing a place on his peacock, he could see his elder brother Ganesha taking off from the place on his mushika after visiting the place. As Lord Ganesha completed his 3rd round of circling round his parents, Kartikeya arrived the place and was even more surprised to see his elder brother already on the spot.
Kartikeya bowed down to his parents and spoke humbly, "Pitah, elder brother Ganesha is the competent person for the post of Ganadhipati as he proved himself wiser than me". Saying so, Kartikeya bowed down to his brother and asked his doubt on how could he and his mushika fly swifter than his own peacock.
Lord Ganesha said, "It's the blessing of their parents round whom he circled thrice and thus prove himself wiser." Kartikeya felt sorry for he could not realize the truth that parents are the living gods.
Lord Shiva and Parvati were too happy with their children and thus appointed Ganesha as the Adhipati of the Ganas. Thus Ganesha came to be known as Ganadhipati.
No one could dare to take up this difficult project which involves scripting of voluminous work. Finally Lord Brahma (the Creator), recommended Lord Ganesha for the task and when Veda Vyasa approached Ganesha and put forth the project of non-stop scripting of the great epic while he dictates. On knowing about this condition of non-stop writing laid by Veda Vyasa, Ganesha agreed to undertake the task on one condition that while he writes the great epic without a halt, so also Veda Vyasa too should dictate the same without taking a break lest he should quit the job.
Veda Vyasa too agreed for this condition and thus the great task of writing the voluminous work went on successfully without any obstacles as Ganesha who is known for removing obstacles, himself scripted the great epic of Mahabharata.
Ganesha travels around the world
Lord Ganesha is the elder son of the divine couple, Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati and Kartikeya / Muruga / Subramanya is the second son of the divine couple. These two brothers are quite opposite in their physical appearance. While Ganesha has a short and heavy figure with an elephant's head and short legs, Kartikeya on the other hand is slim figured and very handsome personality. While a small mouse (mushika) is the vahana (vehicle) of Lord Ganesha, Kartikeya has a swiftly flying peacock as His vehicle.The two divine brothers are well known for their wisdom and intelligence and the divine couple loved their children very much. The brothers too have great respect for their parents and are devoted to their parents. When the two divine brothers were young, Lord Shiva wanted to entrust one of his sons with the post of Ganadhipati or the leader of the Ganas for which he wanted to test the intelligence of both his sons.
Lord Shiva called his sons and said, "Dear ones, I want to test both of you and the one who proves oneself to be wiser than the other, will be the fittest candidate for the Ganadhipati post.
"Sure, Pitamah (father). We are ready to take the test", said Ganesha and Kartikeya.
"The one who travels round the world and return first to Kailash (the abode of Lord Shiva) will be considered the competent of the two. Do you both agree for this race", said Shiva.
"I am ready for the around the world race", said both the brothers and without wasting a second Kartikeya mounted his peacock and set for his journey. Kartikeya, being slim figured and having a bird as his vehicle was too confident of his winning the race. While Lord Ganesha who was short and bulky figured with a small mouse as his vehicle got depressed and thought that this task is impossible for him and he is sure to lose the race. He sat in a corner and started thinking deeply. Suddenly, he jumped up in excitement as he got a wonderful idea of going round the world and winning the race.
The divine couple were observing all this and were wondering how could their dear son Ganesha prove himself to be wiser than Kartikeya. Slowly yet steadily and confidently Lord Ganesha neared his parents who were seated in their place.
"Pranam Mata, Pranam Pitah (Salutations Mother, Salutations Father)", said Ganesha. He bowed down before his divine parents and spoke slowly, "parents are the living Gods and doing Pradakshina (circling round) to one's parents is equivalent to traveling round the world. I seek your blessing for this around the world race and I will do Pradakshina thrice to you".
Thus he spoke out to his parents, got their blessings and mounted his little vahana (vehicle) - mushika. He folded his palms in the form of Namaskara, closed his eyes, concentrated on his divine parents and ordered his mushika (mouse) to circle round his divine parents. Thus, he could slowly and steadily make three circles round his parents and complete the round the world travel race.
Mean while, Kartikeya who physically visited all the Holy places on the Earth was much surprised to see that his elder brother Ganesha was ahead of him in all the places he visited. It so happened that while Kartikeya was landing a place on his peacock, he could see his elder brother Ganesha taking off from the place on his mushika after visiting the place. As Lord Ganesha completed his 3rd round of circling round his parents, Kartikeya arrived the place and was even more surprised to see his elder brother already on the spot.
Kartikeya bowed down to his parents and spoke humbly, "Pitah, elder brother Ganesha is the competent person for the post of Ganadhipati as he proved himself wiser than me". Saying so, Kartikeya bowed down to his brother and asked his doubt on how could he and his mushika fly swifter than his own peacock.
Lord Ganesha said, "It's the blessing of their parents round whom he circled thrice and thus prove himself wiser." Kartikeya felt sorry for he could not realize the truth that parents are the living gods.
Lord Shiva and Parvati were too happy with their children and thus appointed Ganesha as the Adhipati of the Ganas. Thus Ganesha came to be known as Ganadhipati.
Ganesha writes Mahabharata while Veda Vyasa dictates
Mahabharata is one of the greatest and holiest texts of the Hindus. Once while Veda Vyasa was in deep meditation in the Himalayan region, he got the vision of the happening of Mahabharata. The great sage intended to undertake the great task of scripting the great happening for the welfare of the society but found it difficult to write it down himself as he needs to close his eyes and concentrate on the vision and thus could not script it with closed eyes. So, he went in search of the right candidate who could script it non-stop or without taking a break and write down the great epic continuously while Veda Vyasa dictates by visualizing the same with closed eyes.No one could dare to take up this difficult project which involves scripting of voluminous work. Finally Lord Brahma (the Creator), recommended Lord Ganesha for the task and when Veda Vyasa approached Ganesha and put forth the project of non-stop scripting of the great epic while he dictates. On knowing about this condition of non-stop writing laid by Veda Vyasa, Ganesha agreed to undertake the task on one condition that while he writes the great epic without a halt, so also Veda Vyasa too should dictate the same without taking a break lest he should quit the job.
Veda Vyasa too agreed for this condition and thus the great task of writing the voluminous work went on successfully without any obstacles as Ganesha who is known for removing obstacles, himself scripted the great epic of Mahabharata.