Ganesha

Tallest Ganesha idol in India : 45 feet This Ganesha idol is believed to be the tallest in India. from Khairatabad, Hyderabad Image by Freebird (Bobinson KB) via Flickr

Often regarded as the son of Siva and Parvati,¹ Ganesha (or Ganesh) is a widespread Hindu god that’s been worshipped from about 400 CE to the present.

Literally losing his head after a burning glance from Sani, it was replaced with that of an elephant, as it remains today.

The Mahabharata mentions Ganesha as the scribe who wrote down that epic according to Vyasa’s dictation. And he’s said to embody the apparently primal sound of the AUM mantra.

Ganesha is also important to Jains and has a significant role in Asian Buddhism and Indian art in general.

To many monotheists, the idea of worshiping some kind of mix of animal and human god is difficult to understand. Some defenders of the practice, however, note that animals are held to be sacred in many spiritual traditions—for instance, in Shamanism. So the idea is not just particular to Asian religion.

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¹ http://earthpages.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/ganesha/#comment-9447

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