Ganapatya is a denomination ofHinduism that worshipsGanesha (also called Ganapati) as theParabrahman,Saguna Brahman.[1]
The worship ofGanesha is considered complementary with the worship of other deities. Hindus of all sects begin prayers, important undertakings, and religious ceremonies with an invocation of Ganesha, because of Ganesha's role as the god of beginnings. But although most Hindu sects do revere Ganesha, the Ganapatya sect goes further than that, and declares Ganesha to be the supreme being. Ganapatya is one of the six principal Hindu sects which focus on a particular deity, alongsideShaivism, focused onShiva;Shaktism, focused onShakti;Vaishnavism, focused onVishnu; Indraism, focused onIndra; and Saura, focused onSurya. While Ganapatya is not as large a sect as the other five, it still has been influential.[citation needed] There is also theSmartism sect, which followsAdvaita philosophy and practices the "worship of the five forms" (pañcāyatana pūjā) system, popularized byŚaṅkarācārya. In this system, the five deities Ganesha,Vishnu, Shiva,Devī, and Sūrya are viewed as five equal forms of oneNirguna Brahman.[2]
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Ganapati has been worshipped as part of Shaivism since at least the fifth century. A specific Ganapatya sect probably began to appear between the sixth and ninth centuries: six sects are mentioned in the Sankara digvijaya (life of Adi Shankara) by Anandigiri. It reached a high point about the tenth century, and built temples dedicated to Ganesha, the largest of which is theUcchi Pillayar Koil (the Columns Hall of a Thousand Pillars), on the Rock Fort ofTiruchirappalli inTamil Nadu. Ganesha is worshipped as the Supreme Being (Para Brahman) in this sect. Being the chief deity in this form of Hinduism, he is known by the epithet Parameshwara (Supreme God), which is normally reserved for Shiva.
Later, the sect was popularized byMorya Gosavi. According to one source, he found an idol of Ganapati not made by human hands, and builtthe Moragao temple near Pune in the 14th century.[citation needed] According to another, he experienced visions of Ganapati at the Morgaon shrine, and was entombed alive (Sanjeevan samadhi) in 1651, in a Ganesha temple at his birthplace in Chinchwad.[3]
Following him, the Ganapatya sect became prominent between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries inMaharashtra in south western India, centering on Cinchwad. Its centre is still among Hindus in the Marathi-speaking Maharashtra, and it is important in the rest of South India. Devotees hold an annual pilgrimage betweenChinchwad and Moragao.
Sect marks include a red circle on the forehead, or the brands of an elephant face and tusk on the shoulders.
In the Ganapatya tradition founded in theGanesha Purana and theMudgala Purana, Ganesha is worshipped as one of the five principle deities along with Siva, Vishnu, the Sun, and the Goddess.[4]
The date of composition for theGanesha Purana and theMudgala Purana—and their dating relative to one another—has sparked academic debate. Both works were developed over time and contain age-layered strata. Anita Thapan reviews comment about dating and provide her own judgment. "It seems likely that the core of the Ganesha Purana appeared around the twelfth and thirteenth centuries", she says, "but was later interpolated." Lawrence W. Preston considers the most reasonable date for theGanesha Purana to be between 1100 and 1400, which coincides with the apparent age of the sacred sites mentioned by the text.[5]
R.C. Hazra suggests that theMudgala Purana is older than theGanesha Purana, which he dates between 1100 and 1400.[6] However, Phyllis Granoff finds problems with this relative dating and concludes that theMudgala Purana was the last of the philosophical texts concerned with Ganesha. She bases her reasoning on the fact that, among other internal evidence, theMudgala Purana specifically mentions theGanesha Purana as one of the four Puranas (theBrahma, theBrahmanda, theGanesha, and theMudgala Puranas) which deal at length with Ganesha.[7] While the kernel of the text must be old, it was interpolated until the 17th and 18th centuries as the worship of Ganapati became more important in certain regions. Another highly regarded scripture in theGanapatya tradition, the SanskritGanapati Atharvashirsa, was probably composed during the 16th or 17th century.[8]
TheGanesha Sahasranama is part of the Puranic literature, and is a litany of a thousand names and attributes of Ganesha. Each name in thesahasranama conveys a different meaning and symbolises a different aspect of Ganesha. Versions of theGanesha Sahasranama are found in theGanesha Purana.[9]
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