Ganesha

Vighnesha, remover of obstacles

The elephant-headed son of Shiva and Parvati, invoked first before any undertaking as the lord and remover of obstacles.

A quick reference entry. For the full account, follow the guides below.

Guides and journal

What is Ganesh Chaturthi? Worship
The god who clears the road Ganesha is the elephant-headed son of Shiva and Parvati, worshipped across the Hindu world as Vighnaharta , the remover of obstacles, and as Vinayaka , the foremost leader.
Who is Ganesha? Deities
The verse that everyone quotes Open almost any popular account of Ganesha and you will find the claim that he is Vedic, ancient beyond reckoning, present at the dawn of Sanskrit scripture.
Who is Shiva? Deities
Shiva is the supreme reality for the Shaiva traditions, and, by one widely cited estimate, for something like a quarter of all Hindus, though such figures are rough…
The Clay and the Harvest Treatise
Ganesha is the remover of obstacles, the lord of beginnings, the one invoked before any undertaking, the god whose name opens a venture and clears its road.
Kin and cousins Treatise
Ucchishta Ganapati belongs to a wide family of deities who work the same logic. His closest parallel is the Mahavidya Matangi, the outcaste goddess offered the…
From the margins to the Lord of beginnings Treatise
A god has to come from somewhere. Ganesha came from the edges.
The many faces Treatise
He multiplies, and the way a tradition multiplies its god is a map of what it needs from him. Ganesha multiplied more than most.
Reading the body Treatise
The pasha , the noose, and the ankusha , the goad, travel together through Ganesha's iconography and carry a single paired meaning.
How Shiva lost his city Treatise
He sends Ganesha , the elephant-headed remover of obstacles, who is subtler than all the rest.
A city made of gods Treatise
… outermost wards are the fifty-six Vinayakas , the fifty-six forms of Ganesha, the remover of obstacles, set in ring after ring around Kashi so that no evil crosses into the sacred field without passing the ele…
Why is a coconut broken in Hindu ceremonies? Journal
…e threshold, the start of the worship itself, very often addressed to Ganesha, the remover of obstacles, before anything else can proceed.