Lord Ganesh and His Elephant Head

The legend goes that there was a monster called Gajasura, a powerful monster was also a devotee of Lord Shiva. It seemed that the monster prayed for many years and as a result Lord Shiva, who was touched, granted him a boon. But the cunning monster asked Shiva to reside in his stomach. Since he had no choice, Lord Shiva granted his boon and went inside the belly of the monster.

Parvati, Shivas wife, who was searching for her husband, became frantic with worry and went to Lord Vishnu for help. Lord Vishnu, who assured Parvati that he would find Shiva, disguised himself as a street player and set out with Nandi, the sacred bull of Shiva, to find Shiva.

When they reached the monster Gajasuras kingdom, Nandi danced to please the monster. The monster that was pleased to see the bull dancing he decided to reward the bull.

Nandi, the bull, asked for Lord Shiva as a reward and this made Gajasura realize that the street player was Lord Vishnu. He also realized that Lord Shiva couldnt live in his belly forever and thus freed Lord Shiva. After that, he prayed to Shiva to make him immortal. To grant him the wish, Shiva severed Gajasuras head and carried the head with him.

Meanwhile, Parvati who heard that Shivas out of the monsters belly was joyful. In order to prepare for her Lords return she went to have a bath, but before that she asked someone to stand guard outside. She made a boy out of dough and named him Vinayak.

But when Lord Shiva returned, the boy refused to let him enter the palace, as he had never seen him before. This made Lord Shiva furious and thus he beheaded the boy and went inside. When he saw Parvati, he told her about his beheading of the boy. This shocked and upset Parvati. She told Shiva that Vinayak was like a son to her and that she wanted him back alive. Thus Shiva put the head of Gajasura on the boys head and the boy Vinayak came to life. Shiva also blessed him and announced that everybody would worship him on that day. And thus the festival Ganesh Chaturti marks the day when Vinayak came back to life.

The story as depicted in the Shiva Purana, is slightly different and many claim is a simplified version of the same story. It does not mention Gajasura. It goes like this:

Lord Ganesha was created by Goddess Parvati as a guardian to her privacy. Incensed by the refusal of her husband to respect her privacy, to the extent of entering her private chambers even while she was having her bath, Parvati decided to settle matters once and for all. Before going for her bath the next time, she rubbed off the sandalwood paste on her body and out of it created the figure of a young boy. She infused life into the figure and told him he was her son and should guard the entrance while she bathed. When Shiva, her husband returned, he was surprised to find a stranger denying him access, and struck off the boy's head in rage. Parvati broke down in utter grief and to soothe her, Shiva sent out his squad (gana) to fetch the head of any sleeping being who was facing the north. The company found a sleeping elephant (many say this was the vehicle of Lord Indra - The King of Gods) and brought back its severed head, which was then attached to the body of the boy. Shiva restored its life and made him the leader (pati) of his troops. Hence his name 'Ganapati'. Shiva also bestowed a boon that people would worship him and invoke his name before undertaking any venture.

There's another less popular story of his origin, found in the Brahma Vaivarta Purana: Shiva asked Parvati to observe the punyaka vrata for a year to appease Vishnu in order to have a son. When a son was born to her, all the gods and goddesses assembled to rejoice on its birth. Lord Shani, the son of Surya (Sun-God), was also present but he refused to look at the infant. Perturbed at this behaviour, Parvati asked him the reason, and Shani replied that his looking at baby would harm the newborn. However, on Parvati's insistence when Shani eyed the baby, the child's head was severed instantly. All the gods started to bemoan, whereupon Vishnu hurried to the bank of river Pushpabhadra and brought back the head of a young elephant, and joined it to the baby's body, thus reviving it.