Lord of the hosts". In Hindu mythology and religion, the god of wisdom, prudence, and learning. He is the remover of obstacles, leader of the troops of inferior deities. He is the son of Shiva and Parvati (Devi), or of the scurf of Parvati's body. Ganesha is worshipped in the Deccan and is often depicted in Saivite shrines. He is represented as a pot-bellied fat man of red or yellow color, with four hands and a one-tusked elephant head, sometimes riding a rat or attended by one. Both his head and the rat vehicle symbolize his power to vanquish every obstacle in his way, whether it be by trampling the jungle or by entering a granary.

There are many myths about Ganesha which account for his head. According to one, Shiva struck off Ganesha's head when his son refused him entrance to Parvati's bath. To placate his wife he replaced the head with that of an elephant. In another myth, the proud mother showed him off to Shiva whose glance burned the child's head to ashes. The god Brahma advised Shiva to replace it with the first head she could find, which happened to be that of an elephant. The loss of a tusk is explained in the following legend. When Rama (the seventh avatar of Vishnu) went to visit the sleeping Shiva, he was denied access by Ganesha. Rama threw his axe at him, and, recognizing the weapon as that of his father, Ganesha permitted it to sever one of his tusks as he waited to receive it.