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Widely revered as the remover of obstacles, the patron of arts and sciences and the ‘Deva’ of intellect and wisdom, Lord Ganesha (also known as Ganpati and Vinayaka) is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu religion. As the God of beginnings, he is honored at the start of rituals and ceremonies.
He is the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati and the brother of Lord Kartikeya.
There are many interesting mythological stories of Ganesha. In some of His iconographic idols, Lord Ganesha is seen with one broken tusk. There are three stories behind this.
Ganesha Broken Tusk Story from Brahmanda Purana
The first story of how Ganesha broke his tusk is recounted in an excerpt from the Upodghata Pada of the Brahmanda Purana. Bhagwan Parshuram, the sixth avatar of Vishnu, had successfully defeated his enemy Kartavirya Arjuna and the kings allied with him, and so he wanted to thank Shiva for giving him the power to fight these enemies. Parshuram went to Mount Kailash to pay his obeisances to Shiva, but Ganesha stopped Him, saying His father was sleeping along with His mother, and He didn’t want Parshuram intruding on them. Parshuram was enraged that He was being prevented from seeing Shiva, and so He started fighting Ganesha. Ganesha was winning handily, but then Parshuram threw His axe at Ganesha and Ganesha didn’t fight back against it, because the axe was a gift from Shiva.
Perceiving that the axe had been given to him by his father, Ganesha became desirous of meaning it not to go in vain. Hence he received it with his left tooth (tusk). Chopped off by the axe, the tusk fell on the ground, covered with blood like a mountain that fell on the ground when struck by Indra’s thunderbolt.
Ganesha Broken Tusk Story from Mahabharata
Another story about Ganesha losing his tusk is the famous one included in some manuscripts of the Mahabharata concerning Ganesha breaking his own tusk off to continue writing the Mahabharata as Vyasa was dictating it to him.
The broken tusk coming from the myth of the Mahabharata goes as follows :
Maharshi Ved Vyasa was instructed to write the epic by the Gods. He wanted it to be written down by the most knowledgeable one in the universe. Lord Brahma asked Maharshi Ved Vyas to visit Lord Shiva and beg for his son SIDDHIDATA GANESHA to be allowed for the task. When approached, Lord Ganesha had a clause which said while reciting the verses, if Ved Vyas stopped for a while, and Ganesha would have to stop because of the same; he would terminate his writing of the epic and Maharshi Ved Vyas would have to search for another writer. That is, Maharshi Ved Vyas would have to recite the entire epic at one go, without pausing at all.
Maharshi Ved Vyas agreed to this and he himself put forth another condition. He told the Lord that he would have to understand every hymn, every verse before penning it down. He put this condition with the idea that he would be reciting something very tough; and while Ganesha would be pondering upon its meaning, he would get a scope to take a few moments of rest.
However, that was not the case with Lord Ganesha. He completed penning down the sacred hymns even before the sage had thought of the next. In the mean time, the pen He used for writing down the verses, began to wear away. Aware of His earlier condition, and not finding out any other alternative, the Lord pulled out his left tusk and used it to complete writing the great epic Mahabharata.
From this story, Lord Ganesha acquires the name EKADANTA.
Ganesha Broken Tusk Story – Ganesha and Moon
The third story of the three stories for Ganesha’s broken tusk is :
After coming back from the feast at Kubera’s palace, Ganpati was riding on his mouse on the way home. It was a full moon that night. As he was riding, his mouse saw a snake and ran behind the bush. Ganpati fell to the ground and his stomach broke open. Ganpati started to put the food back in his stomach. The moon god saw him and started laughing loudly. Angered by this, Ganpati pronounced a curse on the moon God and before cursing moon theew his one tusk on Him and broke Him in two pieces. “You shall be always black and never be seen by anyone”, Ganpati said. Frightened by the curse, the moon God started pleading for mercy. Ganpati said “Okay, but you shall be changing from new moon to full moon. Also if anyone sees the moon on my birthday, he or she shall not attain moksha (liberation).” This is story of why viewing Moon on Ganesh Chaturthi is considered inauspicious and is believed to create Mithya Dosham. The moon God kept quiet. After Ganpati had finished putting the food in his stomach, he took the snake and tied it around his belly. Then he continued going back home.
Symbolism of Ganesha’s Broken Tusk
Here, the symbolism of the broken tusk is that a wise person is beyond duality.
We tend to think that we end when our bodies end in the material world. We are the first person. All else is different. This duality is created by the mind which creates the ego to help us survive in this world. This ‘me-other’ duality is the screen keeping us from realising our real Self, which is beyond body and mind. Once we transcend this duality, we see the entire Universe as a single whole and we become aware of our true Selves. The single tusk of Ganesha symbolises this non-duality. Wisdom allows us to see all as one and ourselves an integral part of the whole.
