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What
Happened to the Other Tusk? Stories and Myths...
The most famous one is
intertwined with the legend of why one shouldn't look at the
moon on the night of Ganesh Chaturthi. It is well known that
Lord Ganesha was a glutton. One evening, having stuffed himself to
capacity, he decided to take a post-prandial ride on his favored
mount, Mooshika, a rat or shrew. Along the moonlit road
they chanced upon a large snake and the startled rat bolted,
throwing the gross Ganesha. Ganesha fell heavily; he hit the
ground so hard that his stomach burst open. Gathering up the
remains of his self-esteem, his ample guts and the snake,
Ganesha wittily used the reptile as a belt and tied himself up
together again. Howls of derision shattered the peaceful scene;
it was the moon who had witnessed the whole incident with great
relish. Ganesha lost his temper and angrily looked about for
something to throw at his tormentor. Finding nothing suitable,
he ripped off one of his own tusks and hurled it at the moon. He
added a vindictive curse that every so often the moon would lose
its power of giving light.
Another story depicts
Parashurama, one of Shiva's favorite disciples. When Parashuram
came to visit him, he found Ganesha guarding Shiva's inner
apartments. His father being asleep, Ganesha opposed
Parshurama's entry. Parashurama nevertheless tried to urge his
way, and the parties came to blows. Ganesha had at first the
advantage, seizing Parashurama in his trunk, and giving him a
twirl that left him sick and senseless; on recovering, Rama
threw his axe at Ganesha, who recognizing it as his father's
weapon (Shiva having given it to Parashurama) received it with
all humility upon one of his tusks, which it immediately
severed, and hence Ganesha has but one tusk.
A different legend narrates
that Ganesha was asked to scribe down the epic of Mahabharata,
dictated to him by its author, sage Vyasa. Taking into note the
enormity and significance of the task, Ganesha realized the
inadequacy of any ordinary 'pen' to undertake the task. He thus
broke one of his own tusks and made a pen out of it. The lesson
offered here is that no sacrifice is big enough in the pursuit
of knowledge.
An ancient Sanskrit drama
titled "Shishupalvadha", presents a different version.
Here it is mentioned that Ganesha was deprived of his tusk by
the arrogant Ravana (the villain of Ramayana), who removed it
forcefully in order to make ivory earrings for the beauties of
Lanka!
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