How Ganesha Got His Head

The sages told the Pandavas how the beloved elephant-headed god Ganesha came to be - the lord of beginnings, the remover of obstacles, who is worshipped first before any undertaking. And the story begins, as so many do, in the home of Shiva and Parvati upon the mountain of Kailasa.

The goddess Parvati wished one day to bathe undisturbed, and she desired a guardian for her door - someone wholly her own, who would be loyal to her alone and would let no one enter while she bathed, not even the attendants of Shiva, who were apt to come and go as they pleased. So the goddess did a wonderful thing. From the fragrant paste and the substance of her own body, she fashioned the figure of a boy, beautiful and strong, and into this figure she breathed life. The boy lived, and stood before her, and she looked upon him with a mother's love, for he was made from her own self and was, in truth, her son.