Topic Research: Ganesha's Guide to Holiday Foods

For my project, I think it would be fun to approach storytelling on the origins of Lord Ganesha with special emphasis on the all the sweets he adored. I found sources with interesting stories and general information I thought would be useful before crafting a narrative. 

1. Tales of Ancient India by Edmund Charles link
This book focuses a chapter on the origin of Ganesha. It is revealed that before him, gods and men acted upon anything their hearts desired. Prayers were chanted to Siwa to create a being who will reassess an evil thought before it transforms into an evil action. Ganesha was then born as Lord of Wisdom.

2. Mythological Anecdotes of Ganesha link 

This article tells multiple tales of how Lord Ganesha got his elephant head. 

• Decapitation by Lord Shiva: There's the decapitation during which Lord Shiva fought Ganesha because he would not let anyone pass and see his mother, who instructed her son to do so. So Ganesha was decapitated and when it was revealed that he was their son, Lord Shiva tried to replace his head with the first animal Shiva-dutas found lying dead with a north facing head.  
• Gaze of Shani: Shani would not look at Parvati's son, Ganesha, because he was cursed with the ability to destroy everything in sight. But after Parvati insisted to look, he listened, which resulted in Ganesha's head falling off. 
• The Story of Ganesha's Appetite: Kubera, the God of Wealth, invited Shiva to Mount Kailash for a feast but he was unable to attend so he sent his son instead. Ganesha ate and ate what seemed like a ceaseless amount of food. 

3. Ganesha article link 

This source provided a lot of useful background information on Ganesha including etymology and iconography. The last section in this article is informative about Ganesha beyond India and Hinduism with influence in other religions like Buddhism. 

4. Ganesha Chaturthi link.

This is an article detailing a holiday celebrating Ganesha. I learned of some favorite sweet dish recipes for this occasion such as laddus and modak. The usual ten-day festival is marked with prayers, chanting of Vedic hymns, offerings of sweets, and at-home family celebrations.

Ganesha, the God of Obstacles, holds a bowl of sweets. Source: flickr.