Human beings often find a mismatch between their wants and desires and the world around them, where they feel a lack of control and where the odds are stacked against them. A god like Ganesha offers the all-important promise of a good beginning. Child of the divine couple, Parvati and Shiva, Ganesha's creation story is entertaining enough to have been recounted to generations of children by family story-tellers. The most popular version is Parvati to stand guard as she bathed. So diligent is the clay-child in carrying out his duty that he fails to recognise Shiva, the all-powerful Lord of the universe, and bars him from entering his own home. An enraged Shiva, too, fails to recognise the child created by his wife, and beheads him in one fell swoop. A distraught Parvati begs him to return the child to life, which the Lord does by transplanting an elephant calf's torso. And hence is born a beloved deity whose myth and cult have transcended boundaries and continue to grow with each passing Ganesha Chaturthi. Not only is he charged with good beginnings; to ensure them, he has the agency to remove obstacles, and create them where needed.
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