DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.75620#0035
SRI GANESAYA NAMAH
CHAPTER I
INDIA: ORIGIN OF GANESA. GANESA IN INDIAN
LITERATURE
GANESA, Lord of the Ganas,1 although among the latest deities to be admitted
r to the Brahmanie pantheon, was, and still is, the most universally adored of all
the Hindu gods, and his image is found in practically every part of India. The
popularity of Ganesa extended to Nepal and Chinese Turkestan and crossed the
seas to Java, Bali, and Borneo, while his worship was not unknown in Tibet, Burma,
Siam, China, Indo-China, and Japan.
Certain authorities believe that Ganesa was originally a Dravidian deity wor-
shipped by the aboriginal populations of India who were sun-worshippers ; and that
Ganesa on his vdhana, the rat, symbolized a sun-god2 overcoming the animal, which,
in ancient mythology, was a symbol of the night.3
Others are of the opinion that his elephant-head and his mount, the rat, indicate
that, although he may have been taken over from indigenous mythology, he belonged
originally to an animal cult.4 This seems a plausible theory, since his image is found
in Hindu temples worshipped in company with the animal avatars of Visnu.
It is not known whether Ganesa is to be looked upon as an original or a derivative
deity; but it is probable that he was primarily the totem of a Dravidian tribe. The
primitive effigies were often animal-headed; and the elephant, being the largest
animal in India as well as the shrewdest, would assuredly have figured among them.
We do not know what was his ancient Dravidian epithet; but if we judge from
the earliest sanskrit name that is known to us, Ekadanta, he was probably designated
as He of One Tusk. The Dravidian words pallu and pella both signify tooth, tusk
of the elephant.5 It therefore seems possible that his Tamil name, Pillaiyar, is a
corruption of his ancient Dravidian title although, in its present form, there is no
meaning of 'tusk'. Pille is the Tamil word for child and Pillaiyar means 'noble
child'; but Bagchi is of the opinion that pille originally meant the 'young of the
elephant', for the Pali word pillaka has the significance of 'a young elephant'.6
In a collection of Vedic mantras in the Taittiriya-dranyaka,7 there is a mystic
prayer addressed to a god, Dantin, He of the Tusk (danta), which seems to refer to
the Elephant-faced god, for the mantra comes in a suite of mantras addressed to two
1 The 'troops' of demi-gods, attendants of Siva.
2 There is a form of Ganesa in Nepal called
Siirya-Ganapati; v. p. 39. In India he was some-
times represented accompanying the god Surya ;
p. 31.
3 Zoological Mythology, Gubernatis, p. 68, II.
4 P.R. and F.N.I., by W. Crooke, p. 287.
4255
5 Notes sur des Villes Indiennes, Przyluski, B.
de la S. d. L. d. P., tome 27, fasc. 111, no. 83.
6 'Some Linguistic Notes', The Ind. Hist.
Quart., vol. ix, no. I, March 1933.
7 tatpurusdya vidmahe vakratuyddya dhimahi
tan no Dantih pracodaydt (Taitt.-dr. x. 1. 5), kindly
translated by Mr. Sylvain Levi.
B
CHAPTER I
INDIA: ORIGIN OF GANESA. GANESA IN INDIAN
LITERATURE
GANESA, Lord of the Ganas,1 although among the latest deities to be admitted
r to the Brahmanie pantheon, was, and still is, the most universally adored of all
the Hindu gods, and his image is found in practically every part of India. The
popularity of Ganesa extended to Nepal and Chinese Turkestan and crossed the
seas to Java, Bali, and Borneo, while his worship was not unknown in Tibet, Burma,
Siam, China, Indo-China, and Japan.
Certain authorities believe that Ganesa was originally a Dravidian deity wor-
shipped by the aboriginal populations of India who were sun-worshippers ; and that
Ganesa on his vdhana, the rat, symbolized a sun-god2 overcoming the animal, which,
in ancient mythology, was a symbol of the night.3
Others are of the opinion that his elephant-head and his mount, the rat, indicate
that, although he may have been taken over from indigenous mythology, he belonged
originally to an animal cult.4 This seems a plausible theory, since his image is found
in Hindu temples worshipped in company with the animal avatars of Visnu.
It is not known whether Ganesa is to be looked upon as an original or a derivative
deity; but it is probable that he was primarily the totem of a Dravidian tribe. The
primitive effigies were often animal-headed; and the elephant, being the largest
animal in India as well as the shrewdest, would assuredly have figured among them.
We do not know what was his ancient Dravidian epithet; but if we judge from
the earliest sanskrit name that is known to us, Ekadanta, he was probably designated
as He of One Tusk. The Dravidian words pallu and pella both signify tooth, tusk
of the elephant.5 It therefore seems possible that his Tamil name, Pillaiyar, is a
corruption of his ancient Dravidian title although, in its present form, there is no
meaning of 'tusk'. Pille is the Tamil word for child and Pillaiyar means 'noble
child'; but Bagchi is of the opinion that pille originally meant the 'young of the
elephant', for the Pali word pillaka has the significance of 'a young elephant'.6
In a collection of Vedic mantras in the Taittiriya-dranyaka,7 there is a mystic
prayer addressed to a god, Dantin, He of the Tusk (danta), which seems to refer to
the Elephant-faced god, for the mantra comes in a suite of mantras addressed to two
1 The 'troops' of demi-gods, attendants of Siva.
2 There is a form of Ganesa in Nepal called
Siirya-Ganapati; v. p. 39. In India he was some-
times represented accompanying the god Surya ;
p. 31.
3 Zoological Mythology, Gubernatis, p. 68, II.
4 P.R. and F.N.I., by W. Crooke, p. 287.
4255
5 Notes sur des Villes Indiennes, Przyluski, B.
de la S. d. L. d. P., tome 27, fasc. 111, no. 83.
6 'Some Linguistic Notes', The Ind. Hist.
Quart., vol. ix, no. I, March 1933.
7 tatpurusdya vidmahe vakratuyddya dhimahi
tan no Dantih pracodaydt (Taitt.-dr. x. 1. 5), kindly
translated by Mr. Sylvain Levi.
B