Who is Ganesh Chaturthi?
This is only one of the many stories of how Ganesh Chaturthi began. Ganesh is also known as Ganpati or Ganapati. Once upon a time there was an elephant demon called Gajasura, a powerful monster. The monster used to pray every day for many years and as a result Shiva granted him a wish. The sneaky monster’s wish was that Shiva live in his stomach. Since he had no choice, Shiva granted his wish and went inside the belly of the monster. Parvati, Shivas wife, who was searching for her husband, became frantic with worry and went to Lord Vishnu for help. Lord Vishnu, told Parvati he would find Shiva. He disguised himself as a street player and set out with Nandi, the sacred bull of Shiva, to find him. When they reached the monster’s kingdom, Nandi, the bull, danced for Gajasura. The monster was pleased to see the bull dancing so he decided to reward the bull. Nandi, the bull, asked for Lord Shiva as a reward. Gajasura realised then he had been tricked. Gajasura knew Lord Shiva could not live
