Gat:lapati or Gat:leSa, also known as Vinayaka, is perhaps, the most popular of the Hindu deities worshipped by all sections of the Hindus. No undertaking, whether sacred or secular, can get started without first honouring and worshipping him. This is understandable and highly desirable, since he is said to be the lord of obstacles (VighneSvara or Vighnaraja). However, what is not under¬standable and certainly not very agreeable is his repulsive origin and grotesque form! Even fo~ those who admire Lord Siva's skill in the surgical art of head-transplantation, it becomes rather difficult to admire the end product! Once we successfully manage to delve into the mysteries of this symbolism our repugnance will give rise to ,respect and respect to reverence and worship.
Notwithstanding the fact that the Gat:lapati referred to in the famous Rgvedic mantras, 'gat:lanam gat:lapatim havamahe...' (2.23.1) and 'vi~u sIda gat:lapate...' (10.112. 9) and the Gat:lapati we worship today are strangers to each other, all unbiased scholars agree that the seeds of the Gat:lapati concept are already there in the 1j.gveda itself. In the subsequent centuries, this concept has passed through the mills of the epics and the Purat:las to produce the Gat:lapati as we know him today. In any community, the development of the concept of God and the modes of His worship are as much the products of geographical, histori¬cal and cultural factors as of mystic experience and spiritual realizations of the highly evolved persons. It is quite reasonable to suppose that the 'Gat:lapati-Brahmat:la-spati' of the Rgveda gradually got metamorphosed into the deity, 'Gajavadana-Gat:lesa- Vighnesvara.'
The Rgvedic deity 'Gat:lapati-Brahmat:laspati'-also called as Brhaspati and Vacaspati-manifests himself through a vast m~ss of light. He is golden-red in colour.
The battle axe is an important weapon of his. Without his grace no religious rite can succeed. He is always in '
the company of a group (gaI)a=a group) of siq,gers and dancers. He vanquishes the enemies of gods, protects the devoted votaries and shows them the right
way of life. .
Another class of ~gvedic deities, known as the Maruts or Marud-gaI)a, described as the children of Rildra, also have similar characteristics. In addition, they can be malevolent towards those who antagonise them and can cause destruction like the wild elephants. They can put obstacles in the path of men if displeased and remove them when pleased. They are independent, not subject to any one's sovereignty (Arajana=Vinayaka).
A perusal of these two descriptions will perforce lead us to the obvious conclusion that GaI)apati is the metamor¬phosed form of the Brhaspati-MarudgaI)a deities. There is nothing strange in this, especially if we can recognize the transformations that have taken place among the various Vedic deities, as they were gradually absorbed among the gods of the later Hindu pantheon. The once all-important and all-powerful Indra was demoted to the rank of a minor deity ruling over one of the quarters. His lieutenant Vi~I)u was elevated to the central place in the Trinity. Rudra, the terrible, became Siva the auspicious. Many other deities like Dyaus, Aryaman and Pu~an were quietly despatched into oblivion!
Despite the fact that GaI)apati is a highly venerated
and all-important deity, his 'head' has often been a mystery
, for others. No doubt, our PuraI)as have easily 'solved' this
problem, each in its own way. But this has satisfied neither the layman nor the scholar.
It will be extremely interesting to bring together, though in brief, all the stories about the origin of this wondrous deity:
(1) At the request of the gods who wanted a deity capable
of removing all obstacles from their path of action and fulfilment, Siva himself was born of the womb of ParvatI as Gajanana.
(2) Once ParvatI, just for fun, prepared an image of a child with an elephant's head, out of the unguents smeared over her body and threw it into the river Ganga. It came to life. Both Ganga, the guardian deity of the river and ParvatI, addressed the boy as their child. Hence he is known as Dvaimatura, 'one who has two mothers'.
(3) ParvatI prepared the image of a chilp out of the scurf from her body, endowed him with life and ordered him to stand guard before her house. When Siva wanted to enter the house he was rudely prevented by this new gatekeeper. Siva became 'Rudra' and got him beheaded. Seeing that ParvatI was inconsolable owing to this tragedy that befell her' son' and not finding the head of the body anywhere-meanwhile one of the goblins of Siva had gourmandized it!-he got an elephant's head, grafted it on to the body of the boy and gave him life. To make amends for his 'mistake', Siva appointed this new-found son as the head of all his retinues, who thus became 'GaI}apati'.
(4) He sprang from Siva's countenance which represents
the principle of ether (Akasatattva). His captivating
splendour made ParvatI react angrily and curse him, resulting in his uncouth form!
(5) GaI}eSa was originally Kr~I:la himself in the human form. When Sani, the malevolent planet spirit gazed at him, his head got separated and flew to Goloka, the world of Kr~I:la. The head of an elephant was subse¬quently grafted on the body of the child.
Equally interesting are the other myths about his adventures: He lost one of his tusks in a fight with Parasu¬rama, which he successfully used as a stylus to write the epic Mahabhzirata dictated by the sage ~yasa. He tactfully won the race against his brother Skanda by circumambu¬
lating his parents and declaring that it was equivalent to going round the worlds. He thus won the hands of two damsels ~ddhi and Siddhi. He cursed the moon to wax and wane, since the latter derisively laughed at him when he was trying to refill his burst belly with the sweets that had spilled out. He vanquished the demon Vighnasura and successfully brought him under his subjugation.
There is no gainsaying the possibilities of man deve¬
loping the concept of God and faith in Him as a result of his experiences through the various vicissitudes of life
which prove his helplessness. He often disposes, what he proposes. Such a God must needs be allpowerful. If he is
pleased, all the obstacles in our path will be removed. If displeased He may thwart our efforts and make them. infructuous. Hence the paramount need to appease Him and please Him.
What could be the form of this almighty God? For a simple aboriginal living in a group (=GaI:la) near a forest or

a mountain, the mighty elephant might have provided the clue. This might have led to the worship of an elephant-like God. He being the Pati (=Lord) of the Gal)a (clan or group) might have obtained the name Gal)apati. As the group became more refined and cultured, this Elephant God might have been transformed into the present form.
However plausible or attractive this hypothesis may be, it is at best a guesswork, if not an invention! Since
Gal)apati had gained de facto recognition in the hearts of millions of votaries, over several centuries, the Pural)as rightly struggled to make it de jure! True, they have given very confusing accounts. Nevertheless they have succeeded
in fusing together the votaries by giving them a scriptural or authoritative base. There is certainly no contradiction or confusion in the accounts as far as the worship and its result are concerned.
It is a favourite pastime of some western scholars and their Indian counterparts to 'discover' a DraviQian base for many interesting developments in our cultural and religious life and then to 'unearth' the further fact of the white¬skinned Aryan 'conquerors' graciously and condescend¬ingly absorbing these, tactfully elevating the same to
'higher' levels all the while. This has naturally led to a vigorous reaction and these 'reactionaries' go the whole hog to 'prove' it the other way round! When our Gal)apati is caught in the web of such controversies one may be driven to the ridiculous conclusion that he is not an Aryan deity at all, but, most probably, imported from Mongolia! It is therefore better to play safe, rescue our deity from
embarrassing situations and get the best out of him for our spiritual life.
The most commonly accepted form of Gal)apati depicts him as red in colour and in a human body with an elephant's head. Out of the two tusks, one is broken. He has four arms. Two of the arms hold the PilSa (noose) and Ailkusa (goad). The other two are held in the Abhaya and Varada Mudras. The belly is of generous proportions and is decorated with a snake-belt. There is also a Yajfiopavita (sacred Brahminical thread), either of thread or of serpent. He may be seated in Padmasana (lotus-posture). When the belly does not permit this, the right leg may be shown bent and resting on the seat.
Apart from beautiful robes and ornaments, he wears a
lovely carved crown.
The trunk may be turned to the left or to the right.
He is normally seen helping himself to liberal quan¬
tities of Modaka (a kind of sweet).
A mouse, of ridiculously small proportions, is seen near him, nibbling at his share of the sweets, hoping perhaps, to gain enough strength to carry his master!
A third eye may sometimes be added on the forehead,
in the centre of the eyebrows. The number of heads may
be raised to five. The arms may vary from two to ten. Lotus, pomegranate, water-vessel, battle-axe, lute, broken tusk, sugarcane, ears of paddy, bow and arrow, thunderbolt, rosary, book-these are some of the other objects shown in the hands. His Sakti is often shown with him as sitting on his lap. Sometimes two Saktis, B.ddhi* and Siddhi, are also shown.

Let us now make an attempt at unravelling this symbology.
'GaJ).a' means category. Everything that we perceive through our senses or grasp through our mind can be expressed in terms of kind, of category. The principle from which all such categories have manifested themselves is GaI).apati, the Lord of categories. In effect, it means the origin of the whole creation, God Himself.
A common Sanskrit word to denote the elephant is 'Gaja'. Hence the name Gajanana or Gajamukha ('elephant-faced') for GaI).apati. But the word 'Gaja' has a much deeper connotation. 'Ga' indicates 'Gati,' the final goal towards which the entire creation is moving, whether knowingly or unknowingly. 'Ja' stands for 'Janma,' birth or origin. Hence 'Gaja' signifies God from whom the worlds have come out and towards whom they ate progressing, to be ultimately dissolved in Him. The elephant head is thus purely symbolical and points to this truth.
Another factor we observe in creation is its two-fold manifestation as the microcosm (Suk~maI).qa) and the Macrocosm (BrahmaI).qa). Each is a replica of the other. They are one in two and two in one. The elephant head stands for the macrocosm and the human body for the microcosm. The two form one unit. Since the macrocosm is the goal of the microcosm, the elephant part has been given greater prominence by making it the head.
Perhaps, the boldest statement concerning philosophi¬cal truths ever made is contained in that pithy saying of the Chandogya Upanisad: 'tat-tvam-asi,' 'That thou art.' It

simply means: 'You, the apparently limited individual, are, in essence, the Cosmic Truth, the Absolute.' The elephant¬human form of GaI).apati is the iconographical representa¬tion of this great Vedantic dictum. The elephant stands for the cosmic whereas the human stands for the individual. The single image reflects their identity.
Among the various myths that deal with GaI).apati' s origin, the one that attributes it to the scurf or dirt taken out of her body by Parvati: seems to be the most widely known, and considered as odd and odious. It is therefore worth¬while to delve a little deeper into this mystery.
One of the epithets by which GaI).apati is well known and worshipped is 'Vighnesvara' or 'Vighnaraja' ('The Lord of obstacles'). He is the lord of all that obstructs or restricts, hinders or prevents. With the various grades and shades of the powers of obstruction under his control, he can create a hell of trouble for us if he wantst In fact, according to the mythological accounts, the very purpose of his creation was to obstruct the progress in the path of perfection!
How does he do it? If he is not appeased by proper worship, all undertakings, whether sacred or secular, will meet with so many obstacles that they will simply peter out. This is to show that nothing can succeed without his grace. If he is pleased by worship and service, he will tempt his votaries with success and prosperity (Siddhi and ~ddhi) the very taste of which can gradually lead them away from the spiritual path. Why does he do it? To test them thoroughly before conferring upon them the greatest spiritual boon of Mok~a. Being the master of all arts and

sciences, and the repository of all knowledge, he can easily confer success or perfection in any of these. However, he is unwilling to give spiritual knowledge leading to the highest spiritual experience, lest it should appear easy of achieve¬ment in the eyes of men. Hence the severity of the test. The
'- path of the good is fraught with innumerable obstacles, 'sreyarhsi bahuvighnani.' Only the very best of heroes, who can brave the roughest of weathers, deserve to be blessed with it. Human beings by nature are inclined towards the enjoyments of the flesh and intoxications of power and pelf. It is only one in a million that turns towards God. Among many such souls, very few survive the struggles and reach the goal. (vide GUll 7.3)
When compared to the highest spiritual wisdom, which alone is really worth striving for, even ~ddhi and Siddhi (success and prosperity) are like impurities, Mala, as it were. Since GaI:lapati' s consorts are ~ddhi and Siddhi (personifications of the powers of success and prosperity), he, their spouse, has been described as created out of Parvatt's bodily scurf.
Again, the word 'Mala' need not have any odium about it. If Siva represents Paramapuru~a, the Supreme Person, Parvatt stands for Parama Pralq1i, Nature Supreme, considered as His power, inseparable from Him. She is, in the language of philosophy, Maya-pralq1i, comprising the three GUI:las~Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. Sattva is stated to be pure and, as compared to it, Rajas and Tamas are said to be 'impure'. Since creation is impossible out of pure Sattva, even as pure gold does not lend itself to be shaped into ornaments unless mixed with baser metals, it has
got to be mixed with Rajas and Tamas to effect it. This seems to be the import of the story of the 'impure' sub-stances being used by Mother Parvatt to shape GaI:lapatI.
Let us now try to interpret the other factors involved in the symbology of this god. His ears are large, large enough to listen to the supplications of everyone, but, like the winnowing basket, are capable of sifting what is good for the supplicant from what is not. Out of tbe two tusks, the one that is whole stands for the Truth, the One without a second. The broken tusk, which is imperfect, stands for the manifest world, which appears to be imperfect because of the inherent incongruities. However, the manifest universe and the unmanifest unity are both attributes of the same Absolute. The bent trunk is a representation of
01'1kara or PraI:lava which, being the symbol of Brahman, the Absolute, is declaring as it were that GaI:lapati is Brah¬man Itself. His large belly indicates that all the created worlds are contained in him.
The Pasa (noose) stands for Raga (attachment), and the Ailkusa (goad) for Krodha (anger). Like the noose, attachment binds us. Anger hurts us like the goad. If God is displeased with us, our attachments and anger will increase, making us miserable. The only way of escaping from the tyranny of these is to take refuge in God. Or it can mean that it is far safer for us to surrender our attach¬ment and anger to Him. When they are in His hands, we are safe!
How we wish that Lord Ga1)apati had chosen .a big
bandicoot as his mount. The fact, however, is otherwise
. and that privilege has been conferred on a small mouse!
The word Mu~aka (=mouse) is derived from the root 'mu~' which means 'to steal'. A mouse stealthily enters into things and destroys them from within. Similarly egoism enters unnoticed, into our minds and quietly destroys all our undertakings. Only when it is controlled by divine wisdom, it can be harnessed to useful channels. Or, the mouse that steals, can represent love that steals the human hearts. As long as human love is kept at the low level, it can create havoc. Once it is directed towards the Divine, it elevates us. The mouse that is wont to see the inside of all things can stand for the incisive intellect. Since Gat:lapati is the lord of the intellect, it is but meet that he has chosen it as his vehicle.

ICONS OF GAlfAPATI
There are several varieties of Ga1).apati icons available in our temples and archaelogical monuments. Whether the number is 71,50,31, or 21, it is certain that there are several aspects of this deity. Only a few of them can. be dealt with here.
'Balaga1).apati' and 'Taru1).aga1).apati' images depict him as a child and a young man, respectively. 'Vinayaka' is shown with four arms holding the broken tusk, goad, noose and rosary. He holds the sweet modaka in his trunk. He may be standing or. seated. 'Herambaga1).apati' has five heads, ten hands, three eyes in each face and rides on a lion. 'Vlravighnesa' exhibits the martial spirit with several weapons held in his ten hands. 'Saktiga1).apati,' several varieties of which are described in the Tantras, is shown with his Sakti, called variously as Lak~mI, Rddhi, Siddhi,
Pu~!i and so on. Worship of this aspect is said to confer special powers or grant the desired fruits quickly.
One of the varieties of this 'Saktiga1).apati' is called 'Ucchi~!aga1).apati,' the Ga1).apati associated with unclean things like orts, whose worship belongs to Vamacara ('the left-handed path,' i.e., the heterodox and unclean path) and said to give quick results. There is nothing to dread or
recoil in this concept. Dirty things are as much a part of
nature as clean things. But, do not scavengers and doctors handle them in a hygienic way and serve the people? Are not all people obliged to be scavengers in varying degrees? Why not do it religiously, as an act of service and worship? Nature converts clean things into unclean things and vice versa. Making Ga1).apati preside over it and handle dirt scientifically and religiously can also be a spiritual disci¬pline. This seems to be the philosophy behind this concept.
'Nrttaga1).apati' is a beautiful image showing him as dancing. It seems once Brahma met Gal).apati and bowed down to him with great devotion and reverence. Being pleased with this Gal).apati started dancing gracefully. That
is why Gal).apati is declared to be the master of the arts of music and dancing.
'Varasiddhi Vinayaka' is the aspect worshipped dur-ing the famous Gal).eSa CaturthI festival. He is said to be a celibate.
Gal).apati is sometimes depicted as a Sakti (female deity) under the names of Gal).eSanI, VinayakI, Surpakafl).I, Lambamekhala and so on.
Gal).apati is worshipped not only in images but also in LiIi.gas, Salagramas, Yantras (geometrica\ diagrams) and
Kalasas (pots of water). Garyapati Salagramas however, are very rare. The Svastika is also accepted as a graphic sym¬bol of Garyapati.
Temples and shrines dedicated to Garyapati are very numerous. They are spread all over the country. He appears in the campuses of temples of most other deities also.