AFVOA Newletters of Year 2003

Page 90 of 170 Viparanam daivatam Sambhuh Kshatriyanam tu Madhavah Vaisyanam tu bhaved Brahma Sudranam Gananayakah!! The above verse means that Shiva is the god of the Brahmans, Vishnu of the Kshatrivas, Brahma of the vaisyas, and Ganesh of the Sudras. This is a most fanciful verse, which is not at all corroborated by any other authority. If any regard is to be paid to this couplet, then no Brahman can worship Vishnu and no Vaisya can worship Shiva, facts which are absurd on their very face, as testified by both the ancient and modern ways of Hindu faith. Ganesh worship is a prehistoric one and it goes without saying that the couplet sometimes quoted as an authority that Ganesh is the god of the Sudras is unfounded. On the other hand, he is worshipped by the highest class of Brahmans. There are also special sects who are called Ganapatiyas, whose sole devotion is to this deity. Vinayaka is the deity that rules over good and bad alike-controlling the evil in every case and preventing hindrances to success. He controlled all those qualities which overcame hindrances in every undertakings with their usual accompaniments-good living, plenty, prosperity, and peace. This is the one great and real reason for the popularity of the worship of this deity. There is always a small shrine of Vigneswara, attached to all Shiva temples. In the Vishnu temples too he is worshipped as Tumbikkaialvar - the sage of the elephant’s trunk - and as Vishvaksena. Sometimes he has his own temples too. As he is the favourite son of Shiva, he receives honours equal to Shiva. His image is with sincere devotion adored by men and women alike. He is supposed to represent the several personifications of sagacity, shrewdness, patience, and learning. As a test of his wisdom, it is related that when he was a child and playing in company with his brother Subrahmanya, Shiva promised to present a mango to him who made a circuit round the world and returned first. Subrahmanya summoned his peacock, mounted it and was ready for the journey. But Ganesh calmly went round Shiva, his father, and demanded the fruit. “But you never went round the world,” said Shiva. “What is the world, but your own holy self? I went round you. Ergo, I went round the world,” was Ganesh’s wise reply. Shiva was of course convinced, praised Ganesh for his shrewdness, and gave him the promised fruit, which however he shared with Subrahmanya. The peculiarity of this deity is that his worship is combined as it were with that of every other God. All sects unite in claiming him as their own. It is for this reason that his shrines are found generally associated with those of other deities - Shiva and Vishnu. The largest temple built solely in honour of Ganesh in India is the Uchchippillaiyar temple on the top of the famous and beautiful rock at Tiruchirapalli. Though this god is invoked on several occasions during the years, there is a special