The gods decided to elect the leader of the gana - a host of demigods, servants of Shiva. To do this, they staged a competition, the participants of which had to quickly run around the earth and return to the feet of Shiva. The gods set off using their own means of transportation.
Shiva's eldest son entered the competition with great enthusiasm. He had an elephant's head and rode on a mouse! Therefore, moving forward with great difficulty, he had not gone far when the holy sage Narada suddenly appeared before him and asked:
-Where are you going?
This caused Shiva's son irritation, which turned into rage, for what happened was a bad omen, doubly unfavorable for those who set out on the road. It is bad if the first person you meet on the way is a lonely Brahmin. Narada - being, however, the chief among the brahmanas (he was the son of Brahma himself) - was a bad omen!
However, Narada was able to soften the anger of the son of Shiva. He found out from him the reason for his difficulties and realized that he wanted to win the competition. Narada calmed him down, convinced him not to give in to despair and gave him advice:
“The name of Rama is the seed from which a giant tree called the Universe is born. This very minute write this name on the ground, walk around it and hurry back to Shiva for the prize.
He did just that. When asked how he could return so quickly, he spoke about Narada and his advice. Shiva recognized the effectiveness of this advice, and the prize was awarded to his son, who was proclaimed Ganapati - the lord of the host of demigods and Vinayaka - the sole ruler.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru