Animal Tales From Indian Mythology - 1

GANESHA’S TUSKGanesha is one of the most widely worshipped gods in the Hindu pantheon of deities. His name is invoked at the beginning of any auspicious endeavour in India, whether it is an exam, a journey, a housewarming, or a wedding. Millions of people revere this wise and playful god of success, wisdom, knowledge, and prudence. Charming Ganesha has an elephant’s head, pot belly, and four arms. He has one hundred and eight names, and one of them is ‘Ekadanta’ or ‘one with a single tusk’. Have you ever wondered why Ganesha is always depicted as having only one whole tusk? Well, there is more than one story in Hindu mythology that explains how Ganesha lost his tusk. Each story has a different setting, and is centred around one of Ganesha’s many attributes. One is woven around the god’s legendary love for sweets. A second story portrays Ganesha as a warrior, and a third tale as a scribe and profound thinker. All these varying versions only add to the mystic and charm of a beloved god, who is worshipped throughout the world. Ganesha loved modaks, or sweet dumplings. On the night that this story began, it was Ganesha’s birthday, and all his adoring devotees had given him plates heaped with modaks. After gobbling them to his heart’s content, Ganesha happily climbed on his mouse vahana, Mushika, to go home. But as he was going on his way, a snake suddenly darted into his path and frightened little Mushika, who stumbled. Ganesha was thrown off his mount, and he fell to the ground with a thud! His pot belly full of modaks burst open. All the modaks poured out, and rolled in every direction. He immediately scrambled to his feet and scurried about gathering them up. Then, the greedy Ganesha quickly stuffed all the sweets back into his tummy. As he was doing this, he spied the snake that had caused him to fall down. He dashed after it at once and caught it. Then he wound the long thin reptile around his enormous belly like a girdle. “Since you made me fall, I will use you to hold my full belly in place,” he said to the wriggling snake. As he climbed back on Mushika, he heard the sound of a loud laughter in the sky. He looked around in surprise and saw the beautiful moon, Chandra, with his glowing silvery face, in peals of laughter. “What are you laughing at Chandra?” Ganesha asked crossly, with a big frown creasing his brow. “You looked so funny when you fell down,” giggled Chandra, “and all your modaks burst out of your tummy! And you look even funnier now with that snake securing your belly!” As Chandra continued to laugh heartily at Ganesha, the stout elephant-headed god became very offended indeed. “How dare you laugh at me?” Ganesha exclaimed. In a rage, he tore off his right tusk and hurled it at Chandra. “That’s for making fun of me!” he cried. As Ganesha’s tusk hurtled through the sky, Chandra ran away in fear and hid in his palace. Even the frightened stars scattered in the sky. Without the silvery light of the moon, the earth was soon plunged into complete darkness. All the animals and plants on earth were very frightened when this happened because the very balance of nature had been altered. They pleaded with Ganesha to forgive Chandra: “Otherwise, we will all be in trouble,” they said. Chandra, who by this time was rather nervous about what he had done, also peered out warily from his palace. He apologised to Ganesha for being rude. Ganesha, who was very kind-hearted, finally relented and agreed to let Chandra come back into the sky. But he cursed him saying: “You hid in your house like a thief, after teasing me! Therefore, anybody who sees you on my birthday will be accused wrongly as a thief! So, no one will ever gaze upon your face on my birthday! And since you made fun of me because of your vanity, I ordain that you will never smile in the sky as before. Instead, you will slowly wax and wane, growing bigger and smaller for all time. As people watch you waxing and waning, they will be warned never to make fun of the mighty Ganesha!” And that is why, till today, people do not look at the moon on Ganesha’s birthday on Ganesh Chaturthi, and the moon waxes and wanes every month. And that’s also why Ganesha has only one tusk on his face. There once lived a fearsome asura called Gajamukha. Although possessed of enormous strength and might, the greedy asura was still not satisfied – he wanted unlimited power. He began to pray to Lord Shiva so that the great god would grant him a boon. The scheming Gajamukha had decided that he would use this boon to further his own evil ends. After Gajamukha had fasted and prayed for thousands of years, Lord Shiva appeared before him. “You have pleased me with your devotion,” Lord Shiva said, “so ask me for a boon!” Gajamukha was ready with his request. “I ask that I may never be killed by any weapon of war!” Lord Shiva granted this request at once and went back to his home atop Mount Kailash. Gajamukha immediately began to use the power granted to him to torment the people around him. He assaulted sages and pilgrims and sometimes even killed them. He bullied the devas too, and when they could stand no more, they went to Lord Shiva. They begged him to take back the boon he had given Gajamukha, as it was being misused. Lord Shiva replied, “I cannot take back a boon once it is granted. But I will, instead, send my own son Ganesha to settle scores with Gajamukha. He will bring him to book.” Soon the valiant Ganesha, armed with his axe, trident, goad, and noose, set out to meet Gajamukha. The demon roared with laughter when he saw Ganesha advancing towards him holding up his sharp trident, or three-pronged spear. Ganesha hurled the trident at Gajamukha, but it just bounced off the demon’s stout chest. Ganesha took a deep breath and reached for his heavy axe. He rushed at the asura again, and brought its sharp thick blade down on his head. But to the little elephant god’s dismay, the handle of his axe broke instead of Gajamukha’s head! As the demon’s maniacal laughter filled the air, Ganesha realised that none of his conventional weapons would ever be able to bring Gajamukha down. Then Ganesha had a brainwave – he had the best weapon to impale the tyrannical Gajamukha! He broke off his long, curving elephant tusk and hurled it at him. When Gajamukha saw Ganesha’s white tusk hurtling towards him, he let out a cry of fear! He realised in a flash that Ganesha’s tusk was no conventional weapon of war, and so, could kill him with its sharp point. A terrified Gajamukha quickly turned himself into a tiny black mouse just as Ganesha’s tusk reached him. Gajamukha thought he had outwitted Ganesha once more, because the elephant god’s tusk was much too big to impale a tiny mouse. But Ganesha was too quick for the evil demon. As the mouse scurried away, he threw his noose at it and lassoed the little rodent. “Please don’t kill me,” the mouse squeaked in terror, looking up at Ganesha, imploringly. “I’ll serve you in whatever way you wish.” “Very well,” said Ganesha, “you can be my vahana and carry me wherever I wish to go.” And that’s how Ganesha lost his tusk, and always rides around on a little black mouse! Sage Vyasa was one of the few people who had actually witnessed the Mahabharata war. Some years after the war had ended, Brahma said to Vyasa, “I want you to write down the story of the Mahabharata. You knew all the men and women, who lived through those heroic times. You watched their deeds, and saw spectacular and unbelievable events unfold before your eyes! You must narrate the story of the great war, so that future generations will have a record of it.” “That’s an excellent idea, but I will need someone who can take down the story as I dictate it. My thoughts flow very fast, so my scribe must be very quick and learned. Where can I find someone with these rare attributes?” Brahma thought for a while, and then he smiled. “We’ll ask little Ganesha,” he said to Vyasa. “He is clever and wise, and has great mental agility. I will persuade him to accept this task.” Brahma hurried to Ganesha, and told him of the great task that he had assigned to him. Ganesha agreed to help Vyasa, in writing down the story of the great Mahabharata war, but said that he would have to speak to the learned sage himself before he started work. Ganesha then climbed onto his mouse, Mushika, and went to Sage Vyasa’s ashram. “Lord Brahma has asked me to take down your words as you narrate the story of the Mahabharata,” he said to the sage, “but before I start, I have one condition. You must not stop the narration of the story even once after you begin. Your words must flow smoothly, without any gaps and pauses, just as my pen flows. If you stop even once, I will abandon the task and leave…” Now, although Sage Vyasa was a very learned man, he knew that this condition was not going to be easy to comply with. But Vyasa was infinitely wiser. He bent his head quietly and said, “I agree to your condition, but have one of my own, that you too must comply with. You must understand every word and stanza that I dictate to you. You must write my words only after you have fully understood their meaning.” Ganesha accepted this condition readily. Then Vyasa began to compose the Mahabharata, which is the longest epic poem in the world. As he uttered each stanza, the quick-witted Ganesha wrote it down, and then looked expectantly at Vyasa, willing him to go on. Vyasa did not like to be hustled in this way, but since he had promised not to pause as he composed the great epic, he thought of a clever tactic. Whenever he needed a little time to think, he composed a rather difficult and erudite stanza that Ganesha needed some time to figure out. By the time the chubby elephant-headed god comprehended the meaning of the words he was writing down, Vyasa would have enough time to gather his thoughts and go on to the next stanza! So, when you read the Mahabharata, you will find that some difficult stanzas follow some easy ones – these are the ones that Ganesha had to pause, and think about! They are called ‘Vyasa Rahasya’. While Ganesha was writing down the words, which flowed from Vyasa’s lips, his pen broke. He could not get up to fetch another one as he, too, had promised to write without stopping. So, the resourceful and dutiful god pulled out one of his own ivory tusks, dipped it in ink, and continued his task. Since the Mahabharata is the longest book in the world, Ganesha’s tusk was worn down by the time his job was over. Instead of being long and curving, it was just a blunt little stump. And that is how it has ever been since.

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