his small article is the outcome of a humorous debate on Ganapati which took place between the Chairman of our Department, Professor Raju Kalidos, and our Reader, Dr A. Veluswamy Suthanthiran. The latter had recently (1997) visited the...
morehis small article is the outcome of a humorous debate on Ganapati which took place between the Chairman of our Department, Professor Raju Kalidos, and our Reader, Dr A. Veluswamy Suthanthiran. The latter had recently (1997) visited the Tirupparankunram cave temples and asked why Ganapati holds the iksu 'sugarcane' in one of his hands (cf. Kalidos 1991: 272-73). Our Chairman simply said elephants are fond of eating sugarcane and so Ganapati, the elephant, holds the iksu in a hand. This created a hilarious atmosphere and all of us laughed. Then, it was added by Raju Kalidos that according to the Mudgala Purana there are 32 forms of Ganapati (x) as reported in the Sritattvanidhi (3.70-101) and the emblems associated with these different variables are as many as 48, including two mudras (2). Among them 13 are eatables which is to prove that Ganapati, the elephant (cf. the Tamil bhakti hymn Tevaram 425 calls him kanapati ennum kaliru 'the elephant called Ganapati'), is a gluttonous person (Kalidos 1992: 17-18) (3). Among the 32 Ganapatis, the following hold the iksu in one of the hands: B?la-, Taruna-, Siddhita-, Vighna-, Maha-, Urdhva-, Uddanda- and Yoga-. This is to prove that the iksu is not an accidental emblem but one deeply linked with the personality of Ganapati. The sugarcane is cultivated only in the fertile regions in India. It is therefore symbolic of prosperity.
