GANESHA

Lord Ganesh also called Ganpati, describe him as 'Lord of Hosts' and 'Remover of Obstacles'.Parvati created him from the scurf of her body so that he could act as her door-guardian.When she refused to admit Shiva and the god cut off his head.As Parvati was distressedabout this Shiva offer to replace it with the head of the first living being that came along,which happened to be an elephant.

Other aspects of his appearance have their explanation in symbolism,his obesity contains the whole universe, his trunk is bent to remove obstacles and his four arms represent the four cateories into which things can bw divided.His companion animal(vahana) is a bandicoot.this illustrates the different ways in which obstacles can be removed to reach relious ends.

He is extremely popular and his images are found in many shaivite households and acting as a guardian deity on the outskirts of village.