Ganesh-Vrittanta

Ganesh-Vrittanta — 9 chapters, 90 questions. From several texts.

Ganesha has no single story. His birth, the elephant head, the broken tusk, the mouse — each has two or three different versions in different Puranas, and they do not agree. So each episode here says which text it comes from, and where the texts collide. It also keeps one thing clear: this benign elephant-headed god is not ancient — he took shape in the 4th–5th centuries, and before that the "Vinayakas" were troublesome spirits you performed a rite to be rid of.

Vinayaka — the one who used to block the way — The god you now invoke first was once the thing you performed a rite to keep away
The birth — and its several stories — One infant, and at least four different accounts of how he was born
The head — why an elephant's — The son blocked his own father, the head was lost, and an elephant's head was brought from the north
Two brothers, one fruit — A divine fruit, two brothers, and the condition of circling the world
The broken tusk — He has one tusk broken — because he broke it himself
The moon's curse — One night, a great many laddus, and a rule still kept today
Gajamukhasura and the mouse — A demon no weapon could kill, and a cursed gandharva — both ended in the same place
Ganapati — why he comes first — The name spoken before every worship, and the tradition that held him to be the Supreme itself
The elephant god, across the world — He travelled with the traders — into Buddhism, across Southeast Asia, and as far as Japan