Lord Ganesha is mainly known as Maha-Ganapathi or Sri Vinayaka, Shree Vigneshvara also. Ganesha is considered to be the Main Obstacles Remover(Vighna hartha), Lord of Intelligence, Wisdom,Lord of Beginnings and also provider of Siddhi and Buddhi  both of material and spiritual prosperity.There is no surprise that any hindu house or no Ritual  is performed without worshiping Ganesha. Hence Ganesha is considered to be the Main and Supreme Diety in performing any Rituals,Mariages,Cermonies, starting a new business,home, studies etc by Hindus. It is also saying that by worshiping Ganesha they also get blessings from Shiva(Shankara)  and Parvathi(Umadevi)  who are the parents of Maha Ganapathi. He is the eldest son of Lord Shiva and the elder brother of Skanda (Kartikeya). Ganesha is portrayed in different forms  Sitting Down, Standing, Dancing, Taking action against Demons, Playing with his family as a boy etc.

Ganesha has the head of an elephant and a big belly, four arms, which is common in depictions of Ganesha. In his hands he carries weapons like Paasu (to carry devotees to the truth) Ankush ( hook to take action against demons, cut devotees atachments) and a sweet dessert ball -laddoo (to reward devotees for spiritual activity). His fourth hand’s palm is always extended to bless people. He is the presiding Deity of the Muladhara Chakra, the psychic centre in the body in which the Kundalini Shakti resides.

Ganesha is worshipped with  other prominent names like Vinayaka, Vigheshvara, Ekadanta, Maha- Ganapathi, Gajanana, Gajakarnaka, Lambodara, Vignaraja, , Gajanana, Vinayaka, Vakratunda, Siddhivinayaka, Surpakarna, Heramba, Skandapurvaja, Phalachandra, Kapila and Vigneshwara. He is also known by many as Maha Ganapthi and his devotees reciete the mantra “Om Gung Ganapathaye Namah” or “Sri Ganeshaya Namah”.  Ganesha is resited or appered on the mouse hence he is called with  the names of Mushikavahana (mouse-mount) which is appears in the Ganesha Sahasranamas.

Maha-Ganesha Sloka and Mantra :

Ganesha is refered as Dukh harata(the one who destroys all sorrow), Sukh karata( the one who gives happiness) Vigna harata( the one who destroys all evil and all obstacles). Before any  Rituals  performed, or any new work is started, the following sloka is recieted  as

“Suklam Bharadaram Vishnum Sasi Varnam Chaturbhujam     

Prasanna Vadanam Dhyayeth Sarva Vignopa Shanthayeth.”    

“Vakratunda Mahakaya Suryakoti Samaprabha               

 Avighnam Kurumey deva Sarva karyeshu sarvadha.”  

Gayathri Ganesh Mantra: 

“Om Ekadantaya Vidmahe
Vakratundaya Dheemahi
Tanno Danti Prachodayaat”

Birth of Maha Ganesh : 

There are many stories in Puranas, Vedas and also in Hindu mythology about the birth of Ganesha and also how he got his elephant head. Some texts in purans say that Ganesha  was born with elephant  and in most stories he acquired his head later. One of the story is that when Ganesha was born, his mother, Umadevi, showed off her new baby to the other gods and the god Shani (Saturn), who is said to have the evil eye, looked at him, causing the baby’s head to be burned to ashes. Then Lord Maha-Vishnu came to rescue and replaced the missing head with that of an elephant.

But the most popular one in Vedas, Puranas and hindu Mythology is that Paravathi devi(Umadevi) made human boy with head and body ,and also order him to see no one enters when Lord Shiva came to meet Paravathi, Ganesha refused and Lord Shiva in anger cut  ganesha’s head with his trishul and later replaced it with an elephant head and also given some of his powers by which Ganesh has became the Supreme Diety of Hindus. It has become a ritual, in every Temple Ganasha Murthi (statue) being established and  performed pujas.

Ganesha Puja :

Lord Ganesha is worshiped along with the godess of Culture and arts Sarasvathi or Sharda and  with the goddess of luck and prosperity, Lakshmi. Ganapathi the Main Diety of Hindus is performed by all casts  as he grants success, prosperity and protection against evil. Hindus invoke him first in all the pujas they perform and offer him modakas (Modakahasta) which he carries in his hands , also laddus, sandelwood paste, and also with  durva grass. Ganasha Pujas includes mainly Vinayaka Chaturdhi and also Ganesha Jayanthi. Vinayaka chaturdhi is performed in every hindu house all over India  in the month of September(Bhadrapada) in Sukla paksha (comes on  fourth day of waxing moon). It is celebrated all over India , Astavinayaka temples for 10 days and also organise grandly public events  mostly in Maharastra and Andhra pradesh the worshiped  images (murties) of Ganesha are immensed in the sea or convienent water.Ganesha Jayanthi (Ganesha birthday) celebrated in magha (February) month suklapakha ( fourthday of waxing moon) is performed by ganesha devotees. Ganesha Temples includes Wai in Maharashtra ,Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, Nagaur and Raipur (Pali) in Rajasthan,Jhodpur, Baidyanath in Bihar, Baroda, Dhokala,Dhundiraj Temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Prominent Ganesha temples of southern India includes  the Jambhukesvara Temple at Tiruchirapalli, in Rameshvaram and Suchindram in Tamil Nadu, Bhadrachalam and Kanipakam  in Andhra Pradesh,Hampi, Kasargod, and Idagunji in Karnataka.