Chapter 3

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

The son at the door

Shiva returned home and found a boy standing at the door — a boy he had never seen before.

"Move," Shiva said. "This is my house."

"My mother told me not to let anyone in," the boy replied, lowering his staff across the doorway.

Shiva's ganas tried to force their way past him. The boy drove them back. Vishnu came. Indra came. Still no one could get through. At last Shiva lost patience. He raised his trident and, with a single blow, severed the boy's head.

Then Parvati came out. Her grief turned at once to fury. The story says her rage shook creation itself. "Bring him back to life," she demanded, "or I will destroy everything."

With its head to the north

In the Shiva Purana version, Shiva sends the ganas north with an urgent command: bring back the head of the first creature they find sleeping with its head facing north.

They find an elephant. Different tellings identify it differently — sometimes as an unnamed elephant, sometimes as Airavata or Airavata's calf, and in some traditions as Gajasura.

The head is brought back, placed on the boy's body, and life is restored. He rises again with the face of an elephant.

In this version, Shiva then makes him lord of the ganas: Ganesha, Ganapati.

Or else, Shani's gaze

The Brahmavaivarta Purana tells another story altogether. Here there is no clash at the door and no blow from Shiva's trident.

The gods come to see the newborn child, and Shani comes with them — but keeps his gaze lowered.

"My sight is cursed," he warns. "Whatever I look at directly is destroyed. I will not look at this child."

Parvati insists that he look at her son. Shani finally raises his eyes, and the infant's head is burned away and flies toward Goloka. Vishnu then mounts Garuda, travels north, returns with an elephant's head and joins it to the body.

Lord of the hosts

The two traditions reach the same familiar image by different routes.

In the Shiva Purana account, the restored child is also granted precedence in worship.

Before other rites and undertakings begin, his name is to be invoked first.

The boy who once guarded a doorway becomes the god called upon to open every door.

Note: There are two major accounts of the beheading and the elephant head. Shiva Purana: Shiva, not knowing the boy is his son, takes his head with the trident; the ganas bring an elephant's head from the north (which elephant — unnamed, Airavata, or Gajasura — differs by text). Brahmavaivarta Purana: Shani's cursed gaze burns the head away, and Vishnu brings an elephant's head from the north on Garuda. The Varaha Purana has no beheading at all — there Shiva shapes a very handsome youth from his own radiance and, seeing the other gods' envy and unease, himself gives him a pot-belly and an elephant's face. Note: Gajasura (the elephant-formed Shiva-devotee asura whose head goes to Ganesha in some tellings) and Gajamukhasura (the asura Ganesha fights later, Chapter 7) are two different figures.

Source: from several texts, The head — why an elephant's

Now — how much stayed with you?

What happened?

In the Shiva Purana's story, who cut off the boy's head?

  • Kartikeya
  • Nandi
  • Shiva
  • Brahma
Read the whole story — A blow at his own son

The boy stopped Shiva at the door, threw back the ganas, and did not let even Vishnu and Indra pass.

Shiva's patience broke, and one stroke took the head from the body.

Then Parvati came out — and her rage was such that creation shook.

Fact

In which direction were the ganas sent to bring an elephant's head?

  • East
  • North
  • West
  • South
Read the whole story — With its head to the north

In the Shiva Purana the order is exactly this — go north, and bring the head of a creature sleeping head-to-north.

In tradition the north is the auspicious direction — the direction of the gods.

The ganas found an elephant, and its head was cut off and carried back.

The texts disagree

In the Brahmavaivarta Purana, how was the infant's head destroyed?

  • By Shiva's trident
  • By Brahma's curse
  • By fire
  • By Shani's cursed gaze
Read the whole story — Shani's gaze

In the Brahmavaivarta Purana the head does not go to a trident. At the infant's birth the gods come to see him.

Shani keeps his eyes down — "my sight is cursed" — but Parvati insists, and Shani raises his eyes.

The infant's head burns away where it sits and flies toward Goloka, and then Vishnu goes north on Garuda for an elephant's head.

Who am I?

Whatever my eye falls on directly burns to nothing. So I refused to look at the newborn child — but before the mother's insistence I had to look. Who am I?

  • Yama
  • Rahu
  • Shani
  • Bhairava
Read the whole story — The one who did not want to look

Shani (Shanaishchara) had the curse that his direct gaze is destructive — which is why he keeps his eyes lowered.

At the birth-viewing he refused plainly, but Parvati pressed him — "look at my son."

The story makes Shani reluctant and Parvati insistent; the catastrophe follows when he finally raises his gaze.

What happened?

In the Brahmavaivarta Purana's story, who brought the elephant's head?

  • Vishnu
  • Shiva's ganas
  • Brahma
  • Indra
Read the whole story — North, on Garuda

In the Brahmavaivarta Purana Vishnu does this himself — he flies north on Garuda and brings back an elephant's head.

Some texts describe that elephant as a one-tusked elephant sleeping on the bank of the Pushpabhadra river.

In the Shiva Purana the ganas do this, not Vishnu — the doer is different in the two stories.

Fact

In the Shiva Purana version, after the elephant head was joined and the boy lived again, what rank did he receive?

  • King of Kailasa after Shiva
  • Commander of the gods' army
  • Doorkeeper of Yamaloka
  • Lord of Shiva's ganas
Read the whole story — Lord of the hosts

In the Shiva Purana version, the revived boy is made lord of Shiva's ganas.

That version also gives him the priority-of-worship boon.

Do not automatically transfer this entire ending to the Shani version, which is a different textual account.

Why is that?

What was the danger from Parvati's rage, that made Shiva revive the boy quickly?

  • That Parvati would leave Kailasa
  • That Parvati in her rage would unmake all of creation
  • That the gods would abandon Shiva
  • That Kartikeya would be angry
Read the whole story — A mother's rage, and dissolution

In the Shiva Purana Parvati's rage is no ordinary anger — it is put on a level with the dissolution of the world.

"Bring him back to life, or I will unmake everything" — this warning is what forces Shiva to send the ganas north.

This is why the elephant head is a hurried solution — whatever creature is found first.

Later tradition

In the Varaha Purana's story, is Ganesha's head cut off or not?

  • Yes, by Shiva's trident
  • No
  • Yes, by Shani's gaze
  • The Varaha Purana does not mention Ganesha at all
Read the whole story — Not every story cuts the head

In the Varaha Purana, Shiva makes a handsome youth, then, seeing the gods' unease, gives him a pot-belly and an elephant's face.

So "the head being cut off" is not part of every story of this god — in some Puranas the elephant face is there from the start.

This is why there can be no one answer to "who cut off Ganesha's head."

Whose son?

Gajasura and Gajamukhasura — what is the difference between them?

  • They are two names for the same asura
  • Gajasura is Ganesha's brother
  • Gajamukhasura is another name for an elephant
  • Gajasura is an elephant-formed asura whose head goes to Ganesha in some stories; Gajamukhasura is the asura Ganesha fights later
Read the whole story — Two elephant-asuras, apart

Gajasura was an elephant-formed asura, a Shiva devotee, whom Shiva killed and whose hide he wore. In some stories his head is the one given to Ganesha.

Gajamukhasura is an entirely different asura, whom the grown Ganesha fights and turns into the mouse (see Chapter 7).

The names are alike but the stories are different — merging the two is a common mistake.

Put it in order

What is the correct order of the Shiva Purana's story?

  • The boy stops Shiva at the door → Shiva cuts off the head → Parvati's rage → the ganas bring an elephant's head from the north → lord of the ganas
  • Shiva cuts off the head → the boy comes to the door → the ganas go north → Parvati's rage
  • Parvati's rage → the ganas go north → the boy stops Shiva → Shiva cuts off the head
  • The ganas go north → Shiva cuts off the head → the boy comes to the door → lord of the ganas
Read the whole story — One door, and then everything

The whole story rests on a threshold — the boy blocks there, is killed there, and there is revived as a god.

The elephant head was not a considered choice — it was a hurried solution under the pressure of Parvati's rage.

And the boon given at the end — first worship — is like a compensation for the whole episode.