Lord Ganesha is one of the most sacred God in Hindu mythology. He is the god of;

• knowledge
• wisdom
• wealth

Ganpati (गणपति), Vinayaka (विनायक) and Vighnaharta (विघ्नहर्ता)  are the other names of Lord Ganesha.

Om shri Ganeshayae namah (ॐ श्री गणेशाये नमः) and om gan ganpataye namah (ॐ ग़म गणपतये नमः) are the mantras of lord Ganesha.

Lord ganesha is the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. Lord Kartikeya is the sibling of Lord Ganesha. He is believed to be staying at mount Kailash with his parents and family. Lord Ganesha is the God of new beginnings and remover of the obstacles. In Hindu mythology every work or worship begins with the consideration of lord Ganesha.

Riddhi and Siddhi are the two wives of Lord Ganesha. Ganesh Chaturthi festival is often celebrated to as the birthday of Lord Ganesha. It is celebrated on Shukla chaturthi in the Hindu month of Bhadra (भद्रा), which generally falls between the month of August and September.

Mouse is considered to be the vehicle of lord Ganesha.

His graphical attributes are the elephant head on human body with four arms taking an axe, lotus and modak (the Indian round shaped sweet).

The birth story of lord Ganesha:

One day on mount Kailash goddess Parvati preparing for bath. She didn’t want to be disturbed by anyone. So she told her husband’s bull “Nandi” to guard on the door and stop anyone to enter into the house and she went for the bath. Suddenly Lord Shiva came there and urged to go inside. Nandi being loyal to Lord Shiva, did not stop him to enter into the home. Parvati became very upset because she had no one loyal to herself. So she decided to make a loyal person for herself. For that, she took some turmeric paste (ubtan) from her own body and created a statue of a boy. She gave life to that statue and declared that statue as her son and named him as “Ganesha”.

Next time goddess when Parvati wanted to go for bath, she asked Ganesha to guard on the door. Ganesha was loyal to her mother. Again lord Shiva came and urged to go enter the house, but Ganesha (who was very strange for Lord Shiva) stopped him by telling that he couldn’t enter into the house. Shiva became very angry and killed that boy by cutting his head instantly.

When Parvati heard this incident, she became very angry and decided to destroy the universe. All Gods and Goddesses requested to her to calm down. Shiva accepted his mistake and ordered Brahma to brought life back into the lifeless body of that boy. Brahma told it is not possible. So lord Shiva ordered Brahma to replace the head of lifeless body with any creature he met first. Brahma found an elephant and brought his head. By replacing the head, the boy came into the life and Lord Shiva accepted him as his son.