The marital status of the Hindu deityGanesha varies widely in mythological stories and the issue has been the subject of considerable scholarly review.[1] Several patterns of associations with different consorts are identifiable. One pattern of myths identifies Ganesha as an unmarriedbrahmacārin with no consorts. Another mainstream pattern associates him with the concepts ofBuddhi (intellect),Siddhi (spiritual power), andRiddhi (prosperity); these qualities are sometimes personified as goddesses who are considered to be Ganesha's wives.[2] Another pattern connects Ganesha with the goddess of culture and the arts,Sarasvati. In theBengal region he is linked with the banana tree, Kala Bo (or Kola Bou).[3] Usually Ganesha's consort is portrayed as his shakti, a personification of his creative energy.
Some of the differences between these patterns can be understood by looking at regional variations across India, the time periods in which the patterns are found, and the traditions in which the beliefs are held. Some differences pertain to the preferred meditation form used by the devotee, with many different traditional forms ranging from Ganesha as a young boy (Sanskrit:बाल गणपति;bālagāņapati) to Ganesha as a Tantric deity.[4][5]
According to one non-mainstream tradition, Ganesha was abrahmacārin, that is, unmarried.[6] This pattern is primarily popular in parts of southern India.[7] This tradition was linked to the controversial concept of the relationship between celibacy and the commitment to spiritual growth.[8] Bhaskaraya alludes to the tradition in which Ganesha was considered to be a lifelong bachelor in his commentary on theGanesha Purana version of theGanesha Sahasranama, which includes the name Abhīru (verse 9a).[9] In his commentary on this verse Bhaskaraya says the name Abhīru means "without a woman," but the term can also mean "not fearful."[10]
TheGanesha Purana and theMudgala Purana contain descriptions of Ganesha flanked by Siddhi and Buddhi.[11] In these two Puranas they appear as an intrinsic part of Ganapati[12] and according to Thapan[13] do not require any special rituals associated with shakti worship. In Chapter I.18.24–39 of theGanesha Purana,Brahmā performs worship in honor of Ganesha, and during it Ganesha himself causes Buddhi and Siddhi to appear so thatBrahmā can offer them back to Ganesha. Ganesha accepts them as offerings.[14] InGanesha Purana I.65.10–12 there is a variant of this incident, in which various gods are giving presents to Ganesha, but in this case Siddhi and Buddhi are born fromBrahmā's mind and are given byBrahmā to Ganesha.[14]
TheGanesha Temple at Morgaon is the central shrine for the regionalaṣṭavināyaka complex. The most sacred area within the Moragaon temple is the sanctum (garbhagŗha), a small enclosure containing an image of Ganesha. To the right and left sides of the image stand Siddhi and Buddhi.[15] In northern India the two female figures are said to be Siddhi and Riddhi. There is noPurāṇic evidence for the pair, but the pairing parallels those of Buddhi and Siddhi inShiva Purana and Riddhi and Buddhi fromMatsya Purana.[16]
TheŚiva Purāṇa has a story in which Ganesha and his brother Skanda compete for the right to marry the two desirable daughters of Prajāpati, Siddhi and Buddhi, and ,Ganesha wins through a clever approach.[17] This story adds that after some time Ganesha begat two sons:Kshema (Kşema) (Prosperity), born to Siddhi, andLābha (Acquisition, Profit) born to Buddhi. In Northern Indian variants of this story, the sons are often said to beŚubha (HindiShubh) (auspiciousness) andLābha.[18] In discussing theShiva Purana version, Courtright comments that while Ganesha is sometimes depicted as sitting between these two feminine deities, "these women are more like feminine emanations of his androgynous nature, Shaktis rather than spouses having their own characters and spouses."[19]
Ludo Rocher says that "descriptions ofGaṇeśa assiddhi-buddhi-samanvita 'accompanied by, followed bysiddhi andbuddhi.' often seem to mean no more than that, whenGaṇeśa is present,siddhi 'success' andbuddhi 'wisdom' are not far behind. Such may well have been the original conception, of which the marriage was a later development."[20] In verse 49a of theGanesha Purana version of theGanesha Sahasranama, one of Ganesha's names is Ŗddhisiddhipravardhana ("Enhancer of material and spiritual success"). TheMatsya Purana identifiesGaṇesha as the "Owner of the Qualities of Riddhi (prosperity) and Buddhi (wisdom)".[21]
In the Ajitāgama, a Tantric form of Ganesha calledHaridra Ganapati is described as turmeric-colored and flanked by two unnamed wives. The word "wives" (Sanskrit:दारा;dārā) is specifically used (Sanskrit:दारायुगलम्;dārāyugalam).[22] These wives are distinct from shaktis.[23]
Ganesha's relationship with theAshtasiddhi — the eight spiritual attaintments obtained by the practice of yoga — is also of this depersonalized type. In later iconography, these eight marvellous powers are represented by a group of young women who surround Ganesha.[24]Raja Ravi Varma's painting (shown in this section) illustrates a recent example of this iconographic form. The painting includes fans, which establish the feminine figures as attendants. In cosmopolitan Śākta worship of Ganesha, theAṣṭa Siddhi are addressed as eight goddesses. In Ganesha Purana, these personifiedAṣṭa Siddhi are used by Ganesha to attack demonDevantaka. These eight consorts are fused in a single devi, Ganesha's śakti, according to Getty. She speculates as to whether theAṣṭa Siddhi are a transformation of thesaptamātṝikas with whom Ganesha is often sculpturally represented.[25]
Ganesha was depicted as a householder married to Riddhi and Siddhi and the father ofSantoshi Ma (Devanagari: संतोषी माँ), the goddess of contentment, in the 1975 Hindi filmJai Santoshi Maa. The movie script is not based on scriptural sources. The fact that a cult has developed around the figure of Santoshi Ma has been cited by Anita Raina Thapan and Lawrence Cohen as evidence of Ganesha's continuing evolution as a popular deity.[26][27]
Ganesha is considered to be the Lord of Intelligence.[28] In Sanskrit the wordbuddhi is a feminine noun that is variously translated as intelligence, wisdom, or intellect.[29] The concept ofbuddhi is closely associated with the personality of Ganesha as of the Puranic period, where many stories develop that showcase his cleverness and love of intelligence. One of Ganesha's names in theGanesha Purana and in theGanesha Sahasranama isBuddhipriya.[30] The name Buddhipriya also appears in a special list of twenty-one names thatGaṇeśa says are of special importance at the end of the Ganesha Sahasranama.[31] The wordpriya can mean "fond of" or in a marital context it can mean "a lover, husband",[32] soBuddhipriya means "fond of intelligence" or "Buddhi's husband".[33]
This association with wisdom also appears in the nameBuddha, which appears as a name of Ganesha in the second verse of theGanesha Purana version of theGanesha Sahasranama.[34] The positioning of this name at the beginning of the Ganesha Sahasranama indicates that the name was of importance.Bhaskararaya's commentary on the Ganesha Sahasranama says that this name for Ganesha means that the Buddha was an avatar of Ganesha.[35] This interpretation is not widely known even amongGanapatya, and the Buddha is not mentioned in the lists of Ganesha's incarnations given in the main sections of theGanesha Purana andMudgala Purana. Bhaskararaya also provides a more general interpretation of this name as simply meaning that Ganesha's very form is "eternal enlightenment" (nityabuddaḥ), so he is named Buddha.
A distinct type of iconographic image of Ganesha shows him with a single human-lookingshakti (Sanskrit:śakti).[36] According to Ananda Coomaraswamy, the oldest known depiction of Ganesha with a shakti dates from the sixth century.[37] The consort lacks a distinctive personality or iconographic repertoire. According to Cohen and Getty, the appearance of this shakti motif parallels the emergence of tantric branches of the Ganapatya cult. Getty mentions a specific cult of "Shakti Ganapati" that was set up by the Ganapatyas involving five distinct forms.[38] Of thethirty-two standard meditation forms for Ganesha that appear in theSritattvanidhi (Śrītattvanidhi), six include a shakti.[39] A common form of this motif shows Ganesha seated with the shakti upon his left hip, holding a bowl of flat cakes or round sweets. Ganesha turns his trunk to his own left in order to touch the tasty food. In some of thetantric forms of this image, the gesture is modified to take on erotic overtones.[40] Some tantric variants of this form are described in theŚāradātilaka Tantram.[41]
Prithvi Kumar Agrawala has traced at least six different lists of fifty or more aspects or forms of Ganesha each with their specific female consorts or shaktis. In these lists of paired shaktis are found such goddess names asHrī, Śrī, Puṣṭī, etc. The names Buddhi, Siddhi, and Riddhi do not appear on any of these lists. The lists provide no details about the personalities or distinguishing iconographic forms for these shaktis. Agrawala concludes that all of the lists were derived from one original set of names. The earliest of the lists appears in theNārada Purāṇa (I.66.124-38), and appears to have been used with minor variations in theUcchiṣṭagaṇapati Upāsanā. These lists are of two types. In the first type the names of various forms of Ganesha are given with a clear-cut pairing of a named shakti for that form. The second type, as found in theBrahmāṇḍa Purāṇa (II.IV.44.63–76) and the commentary ofRāghavabhaṭṭa on theŚāradātilaka (I.115), gives fifty or more names of Ganesha collectively in one group, with the names of the shaktis provided collectively in a second group. The second type of list poses problems in separating and properly connecting the names into pairs due to ambiguities in the formation of Sanskrit compound words.[42][43]
Throughout India, on contemporary poster art, Ganesha is portrayed withSarasvati (goddess of knowledge, music, speech and art) orLakshmi (goddess of wealth, art and prosperity) or both.[44] Ganesha, Lakshmi and Sarswati are often grouped together as the divinities immediately responsible for material welfare. Ganesha and Saraswati share control overBuddhi (Wisdom), while Ganesha and Lakshmi are both deities of Riddhi and Siddhi (material and spiritual success).[45] Particularly inMaharashtra, Ganesha is associated withŚarda or Sarasvati. Some identify the two goddesses as the same person and thus venerated individually with Ganesha, while others consider them distinct, and one or both of them as associated with Ganesha.[46] Lakshmi's association with Ganesha is rarely tied with the Tantric tradition of Lakshmi as Ganesha's śakti. Other reasons are variously offered for their relationship: their functional equivance and their joint worship onDiwali and in general by the "business community."[47] Conversely, inCalcutta, Ganesha is said to be the brother of Sarasvati and Lakshmi.[48]
InBengal, Ganesha onDurga Puja is associated with aplantain (banana) tree, the "Kola Bou"[49] (also spelled Kola-Bou), ritually transformed into a goddess during the festival.[50][51]
On the first day ofDurga Puja the Kola Bou is draped with a red-bordered whitesari and vermilion is smeared on its leaves. She is then placed on a decorated pedestal and worshipped with flowers, sandalwood paste, and incense sticks. The Kola Bou is set on Ganesha's right side, along with other deities. For most who view her, the new sari indicates her role as a new bride, and many Bengalis see it as symbolizing the wife of Ganesha. A different view is that the Kola Bou represents Haridas Mitra says that the Kola Bou is intended to serve as a symbolic summary for the nine types of leaves (nava patrika) that together form a sacred complex on Durga Puja.[52] The officiating priests who carry out the ceremony tie a bunch of eight plants on the trunk of the plantain tree and it is the grouping of all nine plants that constitute the Kola Bou.[53] The nine plants all have beneficial medicinal properties. According to Martin-Dubost, the Kola Bou does not represent a bride or shakti of Ganesha, but rather is the plant form of Durga. He connects the plant symbol back to the festival enactment of Durga's return of the blood of the buffalo demon to the earth so that the order of the world may be re-established and luxuriant vegetation reappear. He links Ganesha to this vegetation myth and notes that Astadasausadhisristi (Aṣṭādaśauṣadhisṛṣṭi, "Creator of the eighteen medicinal plants") is a name of Ganesha.[54]
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