One of the most revered deities is Lord Ganesha as he is the supreme power and is the remover of obstacles. According to the religious hindu scriptures; Lord Ganapati has been given a boon by the trinities that he would be the one who will be worshipped at the beginning of any puja. So, he is also referred to as ‘Prathama Vandita’ or ‘Agra pujita’. Lord Ganesha is also known by other names such as Lambodara, Ekadanth, Vakratunda, Vigneshwar, Balachandra, Vinayak, Gajanana, and so on.

As legends state, Maa Parvati made an idol of Ganapati with the dirt of her hands and put life into it. One day, Goddess Parvati appointed Ganapati as her guard while she went for a bath. She had instructed Ganapati not to allow anybody inside and while he was doing his work sincerely there appeared Lord Shiva. Shivji wanted to meet his consort Parvati but Ganeshji did not allow it. Lord Shiva got angry and amputated Ganeshji’s head with his powerful weapon.

At the same time Maa Parvati arrived there and saw that her son was lying in a pool of blood and his head was separated from his body. She got furious and asked Lord Shiva to give back her son. Lord Shiva ordered his disciple Nandi to go and get the head of an animal which would be sleeping with its head facing towards the north direction. Nandi went in search of the same but could not find anything for a long time. Later, Nandi found an elephant which was sleeping with its head facing the north direction so he cut the head of the elephant and brought it to Kailasa.

Lord Shiva fixed the head of the elephant to Ganapati and gave back life to him and from that day Ganapati is also called as Gajavadana where Gaja means elephant and vadana is the face.

There are many other mythological stories behind every name of Lord Ganapati but this divine deity is highly worshipped as Vighnaharta Ganapati. Devotees organise Vighnaharta Ganpati Anushthan where powerful Ganesh Mantra are chanted seeking protection from all sorts of hindrances in the path of their success.

Worshipping Lord Ganapati with complete faith and dedication especially on Tuesdays and Chaturthi will fill one’s life with peace, prosperity, happiness, wisdom, and the soul is also purified. It is stated in the religious texts that Lord Ganapati can be appeased by offering red flowers, durva grass and modak.