On the eve of Ganesha Chaturthi, here are some of the interesting stories about Lord Ganesha.

How he became Ekdant

Brahmavart Puran states that  when Parshuram went to Kailash Mountain to meet Shiva, he was meditating. Lord Ganesha did not allow Parshuram to meet Shiva. Parshuram got angry and attacked Ganesha.

The weapon he used to attack Ganesha was given to him by Lord Shiva only. Ganesha did not want the attack to go waste as it was his father’s weapon, so he took the attack in his teeth and thus lost one of his teeth. Since then he is known as Ekdant.

Lord Ganesha’s family

Lord Ganesha has two wives Ridhhi (representing Prosperity) and Sidhhi (representing Intellectual Enlightenment). Furthermore, he had two sons – Ridhhi bore him Subha (representing Auspiciousness) while Sidhhi bore him Labha (representing Profit).

Writing of Mahabharat

Lord Ganesha and Sage Vyasa wrote the entire Mahabharata epic. The great sage requested Ganesh to write the poem as he dictated, knowing this would be a arduous task . Ganesha agreed on one condition, Vyasa must recite the entire poem un-interrupted, without pausing or taking a break. The great sage agreed to this request however found a way to give himself a break. When struggling to go ahead, he would give Ganesh incredibly difficult complex passage to write. Ganesh would be forced to ask questions giving the tricky Vyasa the time to rest when needed.

Ganesha is elder or Kartikeya

According to Shiva Purana, Lord  Kartikeya is the elder son of Shiva. He is the senapati of the army of Gods. Some people believe that Ganesha is the elder son. This could be because of the practice of worshipping him first, as he is Prathampoojy (the first worshipped due to a boon of Shiva ) which may have been mistaken for ‘first born’. This is just one of the many explanations given. However, many traditions worship Ganesha as the elder son.

However, it is difficult to say that who is older.

Lord Ganesha’s image is printed on Indonesia’s note

Yes, he is not confined to India. He is famous in Indonesia and appears on their currency.