Lord Ganesha - Remover of Obstacles - Tattoo Imagery, Stories & Symbolism
Lord Ganesha is one of Hinduism's favorite Gods. Lord Ganesha's Imagery has a lot of Symbolic relevance to followers of Sanatana Dharma. He has an elephant's head with a curved trunk & big ears on a Human body. Laddoos, (a famous round Indian sweet) is Ganesha's favorite delicacy & most popular offering.
"Ga" represents Intellect & "Na" represents wisdom. Lord Ganesha is considered the Master of Intellect & Wisdom.Due to this, Lord Ganesha also known as Vighneshwara is the Lord of Success & detroyer of obstacles & evils. He is also worshipped as the God of Knowledge, Education, Wisdom & Wealth. Here's why-
His Large Head represents Wisdom & Power to perceive distinctions between truth & illusion, the real & unreal.
His Wide Ears signify the necessity to listen well inorder to assimilate information.
His Curved Trunk represents Adaptabilty & Strength.
His Pot Belly is symbolic of Nature's Abundance & Lord Ganesha's ability to swallow all sorrows.
Lastly, here is some Artwork & info about the significance of objects he holds in his hand.
The Shankh (Conch Shell) is one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols of Hinduism - AshtaMangala. Conch & similar instruments are used to produce auspicious sounds that drive away negative vibrations that disturb one's mind. Conch Shells are both Right & Left Handed. The right handed ones are Protective in nature & Left Handed ones are destructive. The Shankh is held by Lord Ganesha in his Left Hand to symbolise the Destruction of negative vibrations
The Padma - Lotus in Ganesh'a Hand symbolises Divine Beauty & Purity. It's unfolding petals suggest the expanding of the soul. It's beauty grows out of mud symbolizing a benign spiritual promise. The Lotus is believed to be a flower with a thousand petals & therefore associated with the Chakras especially Sahasrara.
Lord Ganesha Holds his own Tusk broken off as a symbol that with enlightenment comes the end of duality.
The Axe that Lord Ganesha holds is symbolic of Karma Annihilation-
The accumulations of past deeds gets annihilated when one is Enlightened.
The Noose or "Paasa" in Lord Ganesha's Hand represents taming the worldly attachments. It's symbolic of his power to capture & bind ignorance & evil.
The Discus or "Chakra" in Lord Ganesha's hand represents the cyclic nature of time that most things in the Universe fall to at some point. It also symbolizes destruction of evil by inculcating good spiritual vision.
I hope you enjoyed reading this. I will be adding stories artwork & more info as time goes on. Thanks for reading.
- Monk 108.
