Tracing the journey and many forms Ganesha, the omnipresent

From the cutesy forms displayed in souvenir shops to the ones in the pandals that constrict the already narrow streets to the pilgrimage shrines dedicated to the muse of all beginnings, there is no getting away from Ganesha. At least not on this subcontinent and its surrounding regions. This is because the journeys of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism have ensured the elephant-headed God is found across Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, in South East Asian countries like Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and in China and Japan in Eastern Asia.

But did Ganesha always enjoy the pride of place in the Hindu pantheon? "Gananam tva Ganapatigum Havamahe," chants Dr S Shrinivasa Rao, a Sanskrit scholar based in Harihar, at Davangere district, Karnataka. This rationalist on Hindu iconography explains how Ganesha is invoked in the second book of the RigVeda. "He is the chief of the ganas, the leader of the group (hence, Ganpati), a seer among seers, and the Lord of mantras. It's one of the earliest references to Lord Ganesha found."

Mix of many

According to Rao, the Ganesha we worship now is a manifestation of attributes that have come from several similar deities, handed down from Vedic and pre-Vedic times. "By the end of the 2nd millennium BCE, the prose mantras of Yajur Veda were compiled. Here, the mythical and often grotesque-looking beasts and ghouls that guard Shiva are called ganas or Rudrasya Ganpatyam and the text clearly calls Shiva too as a Ganpati or Lord of the ganas. Variants like Pashupati or bhootnath are still used."

Rao also uses Atharva Veda references to explain how the God came to acquire this association with the elephant. "The Vedic god Brihaspathi, a forerunner of Ganpati, was described as elephant-like in nature. It is uncertain, though, whether this led to Ganesha being created with elephant features."

The tantrik connection

For over four centuries from 320CE onward, in the Gupta period, Ganesha was seen as angry and violent. "His association to tantrik worship with the Ganpatya Sampradaya almost banished him into the legion of gods to be feared and revered from afar. Worshipped by unorthodox rituals, which involved blood and sacrifice, he would often be depicted with a nude consort, in an erotic style," says Rao.

Protection from pachyderms

More than 670km away, in the town of Ahmednagar, historian Vidyesh Kulkarni echoes what Dr Rao says. This acolyte of the late historian Suresh Joshi, who devoted his life to collecting Ganesha idols, literature and puja accessories, says, "Ganesha worship found a lot of following in what was actually the elephant corridor of yore, such as in the Western ghats and the mountains of the South. Early literature makes it clear that pachyderms roamed the countryside even in central and east India. While they are still found in the east, both they and their habitats have been all but wiped out across central India and what is now Maharashtra."

Kulkarni explains how Ganesha worship then became a way of tackling elephant menace. "Blood covered idols at the end of the village limits beyond the garbage dumps would revulse marauding elephant herds to stay away."

The 17th-century saint-poet Samarth Ramdas, who inspired youth to fight invaders, had set up Hanuman temples and vyayamshalas across India. He asked villagers to place the Ganesha idols in the Hanuman temples instead of leaving them outside villages. "That began a process of gentrification of Ganesha and the way he was worshipped became increasingly Brahminical. Sacrifices and blood were eschewed in favour of sweets, incense and flowers."

The reign of the Peshwas saw the creation of a pilgrimage to eight Ganesha shrines—Morgaon, Siddhatek, Pali, Mahad, Theur, Lenyadri, Ozar and Ranjangaon. "There are claims that few of these shrines were originally Jain/Buddhist appropriated by the dominant religion [Hinduism] as its own," says Kulkarni. "The earliest literary reference to Ganesha in Jainism is in Hemachandra's 12th-century compilation, Abhidhanacitamani. It refers to Ganesha as Heramba, Ganavignesa and Vinayaka and visualises him as elephant-headed and pot-bellied, who uses a mouse as vehicle. Later, this imagery remained part of Jain worship only among traders dealing with followers of Hinduism."

The historian admits that, with regard to Ganesha, Buddhism has more widespread variance, both in form and worship, as compared to Jainism. "Buddhist texts often portray a dancing Ganesha with a leg raised, striking a delicate balance, despite his ample girth. While he is part of a powerful trinity (mar chen kor sum or the three fiery red deities), he is also seen as being trampled by Mahakala in several Tibetan thangka paintings." By the time Ganesha crosses the waters of the Pacific into Japan, as Kangiten, as part of Shingon Buddhism, his red tone gets an even more fiery hue, says Kulkarni. "Again, his connection with the erotic sees him worshipped by youth who seek his blessings to court and seduce."

Priests at the Ballaleshwar temple in the Pali town of Maharashtra's Raigad district also tell us how installing the end-of-monsoon Ganesha idol was not a traditional practice to begin with. "The idols were brought only for a day and kept overnight. But this was a winter feature in January (Maagh month in the Hindu calendar). It was Bal Gangadhar Tilak's brainwave to defy the British ban on public gatherings we have to thank, for the creation of the monsoon version. While there are few who still follow the older Maaghi Ganpati, the August-September version seems to be getting bigger, louder and more commercial each year."

And long before KJo-style wedding sangeets crossed over from the Punjabi silver-screen families to regions South of the Vindhyas, Bollywood had already popularised Ganpati idol installation for 1.5, 5, 7 and 10 days in its films and songs. "What was originally a practice in Pune and the Konkan has become pan-India. It even extends to the Northeast and Odisha, which did not have a Ganesha worshipping tradition. Sadly, it's also the loud style of worship that is being replicated."

Money talks

From politicians who use funding of the pandals as a stop-gap measure which will deflect voters from bijli-sadak-paani issues, to underworld dons such as Amar Naik and Vardarajan Mudaliar who fund pandals on the sly, to the swash-buckling, swish affairs organised by filmi-folk (RK Studios and the one at Salman Khan's house), Ganesha festivals see competitive spending on decoration and progressively larger idols. Many, like sociologist Mrinalini Karambelkar, lament about "the crass commercialisation of the festival." This central-Mumbai resident speaks of how the skyline in her area once punctuated with mill chimneys is now dotted with towers and malls. "And even if the mill land, which they put their blood and toil into, is largely trying to push them out, the same real estate biggies turn out in big numbers to sponsor Ganesha pandals. With such lavish budgets, the very character of the festival is changing," she complains.

The little Ganesha, reclined over a pillow in her showcase, seems to be all ears. Is he smiling?