God Shiva and goddess Parvati had two sons - Kartikeya and Ganesha. The brothers were very different from each other in appearance and character. The six-faced Kartikeya, tall, thin, hot-tempered, was known as a skilled warrior... His trunk and heavy figure made Ganesha look like an elephant. But he had a calm and kind disposition. From birth, Ganesha was a very beautiful boy, and this is how it happened that he began to look not like a boy, but like an elephant.
When Ganesha entered his second month, Parvati decided to perform the naming ceremony.
Preparations for the celebration began. Invitations were sent to all the gods. And who among them would not want to come to the great Shiva for a holiday! Finally the long-awaited day has arrived. Parvati dressed Ganesha in a beautiful dress and jewelry and laid him in a golden cradle.
All the gods who came to the celebration were delighted with the boy’s beauty and brought him many gifts. Only the god Shani, standing behind everyone, stubbornly did not raise his eyes.
Before leaving home, he quarreled with his wife over something, and she, seeing that Shani had dressed up and was getting ready for the holiday, lost her temper. She wanted him to stay at home so she could vent all her anger on him. But Shani was so tired of her whims that he decided to leave at all costs. And then she cursed him. “The first person your gaze falls on will be left without a head,” she told him goodbye. That's why Shani didn't look at anyone.
Noticing this, Parvati took Ganesha in her arms and approached Shani. Turning away, he told her about his wife’s curse. But pride for her son clouded Parvati’s head, and she said:
- Admire, Shani, how handsome my son is, and besides, his father is the great Shiva! Forget the curse, look at it.
As soon as Shani looked at Ganesha, the boy’s head separated from his body and disappeared. The gods froze. The fun was interrupted, everyone was sad. At first Parvati seemed petrified, and then, looking at her headless son, she sobbed loudly. Fortunately, Vishnu, the remover of all troubles, was nearby.
“If you immediately put someone’s head on Ganesha, it will grow,” he said.
The first thing that caught Shiva’s eye was a baby elephant. And Shiva, without hesitation, tore his head off and placed it on the boy’s body. The boy came to life. Parvati was happy, but seeing Ganesha’s trunk dangling on his face, she became sad again. “Now everyone will laugh at my son and no one will honor him,” she thought. But Ganesha did not lose heart. He loved his father and mother very much, and was an obedient, devoted son. In gratitude for his devotion and patience, Shiva blessed his son: “May you be the smartest, the kindest and the most revered of all the gods!” Parvati was happy. So from then on they began to honor Ganesha first and after him all the other gods.
One day Kartikeya and Ganesha were playing on the shore of the holy lake Manasarovar. Ganesha took the sweets in his trunk and handed them to Kartikeya. When Kartikeya tried to grab these sweets, Ganesha deftly threw them up and ate them, and Kartikeya remained standing with his mouth open.
“So I will never defeat Ganesha,” Kartikeya decided. “I’d rather run a race with him.” Ganesha is overweight, clumsy, and cannot run fast.”
But the wise Ganesha understood perfectly well what his brother was up to. Hiding a smile, he said:
“Brother, why do we need to race, I’ll still overtake you.”
They argued and argued and finally decided:
“Whoever goes around the three worlds in fifteen days and returns first will be the winner.”
The next day, at exactly four o'clock, Kartikeya mounted his peacock and set off.
“And how is Ganesha going to overtake me,” Kartikeya thought along the way, “he is so clumsy that it’s difficult for him to step, and when Ganesha walks, his heavy body shakes and rolls from side to side. And because he is a glutton and eats sweets all day, he became even fatter. In addition, Ganesha rides only on a mouse. How can her step compare? with peacock? When I arrive, he will, of course, still be swimming in the lake. Then, having defeated Ganesha, I will receive the title of first!”
Meanwhile, Ganesha, having bathed and eaten plenty of sweets, began to do the calculations. He accurately calculated the time when Kartikeya should return, and calmly immersed himself in reading. And on the day when Kartikeya was supposed to approach the house, Ganesha appeared to his mother Parvati, performed parikrama around her, bowed and sat next to her,
Tired, out of breath, Kartikeya ran into the house and saw Ganesha sitting next to his mother. What a miracle!
– Have you, brother, already managed to walk around three worlds? - he exclaimed.
Ganesha laughed cheerfully and replied:
- But I didn’t go anywhere. Sitting here, I walked around the three worlds.
– But is this possible? - asked Kartikeya. And Ganesha said:
– Listen, my elder brother: the mother is more important than the three worlds, and performing parikrama around her is more than going around the three worlds.
Hearing this, Parvati smiled. Kartikeya asked his father to judge between them. After listening to his sons, Shiva took the side of Ganesha.
So the smart, loving Ganesha was considered the first, the best.
And when the legend of the devotee Ganesh became well known everywhere, a sior occurred among the gods:
- Which of the gods will people now honor first, who will they worship first, who will be the first to make sacrifices, who will be the first to light the sacred fire?
Everyone wanted all these honors to go to him before others. To put an end to the dispute, the oldest god, Brahma, said:
– Respect will be earned by the one who circles the earth three times and returns first.
Hearing about this decision, the gods gathered at the indicated place to participate in the competition. As soon as the sign was given, everyone sat on his animal, and the competition began. Only the overweight, clumsy Galeta went back to his home on his big mouse.
“You can’t go far on a mouse,” he thought on the way. “But what to do? Yes, I remembered! Brahma said several times that a mother, in her kindness, meekness and love for her children, is more important than the earth. And the body of father Shiva contains the whole world. Why not do parikrama around them?”
He decided to do so and set off on his mouse to the snowy peak of Kailash.
Ganesha arrived there and looked - father Shiva was sitting, immersed in deep contemplation.
“Mom, come quickly, sit next to your father,” he said to Parvati, taking her hand.
- What happened, Ganesha? – the mother asked in surprise.
“I’ll tell you this later, but now, please, do as I ask.”
- OK then. “She walked up to Shiva and sat down next to him. Gapesha first bowed at the feet of his parents, then performed parikrama around them seven times and went to Brahma's chambers.
Just at this time the other gods returned from the competition. Finding Ganesha near Brahma, they thought: “Apparently, Ganesha could not cover the distance and returned halfway. And now he sits at Brahma’s feet and speaks flattering words to him in order to somehow excuse his defeat.” But when the venerable Brahma announced to all the gods that Ganesha received the title first, they were surprised and indignant.
- How is this so, great Brahma, because Ganesha did not participate in the competition! How could he win?
Then Brahma announced to them:
– Ganesha not only walked around the earth seven times - he walked around the universe seven times!
– Is this possible? - the amazed gods exclaimed.
– Ganesha is a son who loves and honors his parents; He performed parikrama around them seven times. Who doubts that one’s own mother is higher than mother earth, and Lord Shiva is the whole universe! That’s why Ganesha became the winner,” Brahma answered the gods.
And so the title of the first - the best of the gods - was assigned to the faithful son Ganesha, devoted to his parents.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru