Ganesha, The God Who Rides Rats
Rats evoke the feeling of disgust. R There is something inherently dark, unclean and sinister about them. Think rats and you think garbage, utter, plague and other diseases. Rats mean destruction of property. Pilferage. Filth. There is nothing adorable or lacerable about a rat. So why is Ganesha ways associated with a rat, lovingly called Mooshika? Aha, but it is not a rat; it is a mouse. Rats are nasty. Mice are much gentler. Cute Ganesha rides a cute mouse, my nephew insists. The fact is, nobody is sure what Mooshika is, exactly. Scholars and the general public can argue about endlessly referring to obscure Sanskrit texts: Rat. Mouse. Maybe even a bandicoot. Whatever! Basically a oddment, pest, the bane of the storehouse, farmer’s enemy, a denizen of the sewer. Rats are inauspicious. You definitely lon'twantthem in your house. Ganesha is Mangala-Murti, the embodiment of auspiciousness. Why then does he have as his mount something so inauspicious as a rodent? What is the message there? Mooshika embodies the pest that plagues our lives, a problem so small that it eludes detection, and exasperates us. It is that bill that will never be cleared by the boss; that pimple that refuses to go away. It is that neighbour who always parks his garbage right in front of your door. It is that dripping water tap that no plumber can fix. It is that set of keys which you cannot find just when you have to leave the house; that case in court which is not moving for years. These are the rodents in our lives, the insatiable thieves who are gnawing into our sense of well-being. Imagine someone who gets rid of all those irritating rat-like problems of your life. That someone, for Hindus, is Ganesha. Around Ganesh’s giant belly is a serpent-that friend of the farmer who eats the rats, controls pilferage and thus protects the harvest. With the grace of Ganesha, problems disappear and prosperity and power appear. You can imagine Ganesha catching hold of a problem (rat/mouse/bandicoot) by its tail, dragging it away, sitting on it, so that it troubles you no more. No wonder Ganesha is such a popular god. Remover of rats that plague our existence. Remover of obstacles, remover of hurdles. Vighna-harta. Rats are also symbols of ers. Ganesha is always associated with fertility symbols. The Dhruva grass for example, which keeps growing even when uprooted. If Dhruva is the plant-symbol of fertility, rat is the animal-symbol of fertility. In China and Japan, rats are associatwith fertility, children, prosperity Rats are also unstoppable, relentlebreaking through any obstacle together grain. They are also symbols avarice and greed. They are relent hoarders. Thus, rats have a positivaspect (fertility/unstop ability) negative aspect (pilferage/plague With Ganesha sitting atop Mooshionly the positive aspects reach devwhile the negative aspects stay awGanesha's image may evoke a sense of prosperity and power inauspiciousness’ for which fertility important but his Mooshika remiss not to be complacent: the rat materiel and unstoppable-a contralto our wealth-but it is also capablsilently and secretly gnawing into ethics, our morals, our values, thievery foundation of our apparently fulfilled lives.
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the Article above are Devdutt Pattanaik and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it.
Courtesy: Devdutt Pattanaik and Speaking Tree,Times of India
Ganesha, The God Who Rides Rats
Rats evoke the feeling of disgust. R There is something inherently dark, unclean and sinister about them. Think rats and you think garbage, utter, plague and other diseases. Rats mean destruction of property. Pilferage. Filth. There is nothing adorable or lacerable about a rat. So why is Ganesha ways associated with a rat, lovingly called Mooshika? Aha, but it is not a rat; it is a mouse. Rats are nasty. Mice are much gentler. Cute Ganesha rides a cute mouse, my nephew insists. The fact is, nobody is sure what Mooshika is, exactly. Scholars and the general public can argue about endlessly referring to obscure Sanskrit texts: Rat. Mouse. Maybe even a bandicoot. Whatever! Basically a oddment, pest, the bane of the storehouse, farmer’s enemy, a denizen of the sewer. Rats are inauspicious. You definitely lon'twantthem in your house. Ganesha is Mangala-Murti, the embodiment of auspiciousness. Why then does he have as his mount something so inauspicious as a rodent? What is the message there? Mooshika embodies the pest that plagues our lives, a problem so small that it eludes detection, and exasperates us. It is that bill that will never be cleared by the boss; that pimple that refuses to go away. It is that neighbour who always parks his garbage right in front of your door. It is that dripping water tap that no plumber can fix. It is that set of keys which you cannot find just when you have to leave the house; that case in court which is not moving for years. These are the rodents in our lives, the insatiable thieves who are gnawing into our sense of well-being. Imagine someone who gets rid of all those irritating rat-like problems of your life. That someone, for Hindus, is Ganesha. Around Ganesh’s giant belly is a serpent-that friend of the farmer who eats the rats, controls pilferage and thus protects the harvest. With the grace of Ganesha, problems disappear and prosperity and power appear. You can imagine Ganesha catching hold of a problem (rat/mouse/bandicoot) by its tail, dragging it away, sitting on it, so that it troubles you no more. No wonder Ganesha is such a popular god. Remover of rats that plague our existence. Remover of obstacles, remover of hurdles. Vighna-harta. Rats are also symbols of ers. Ganesha is always associated with fertility symbols. The Dhruva grass for example, which keeps growing even when uprooted. If Dhruva is the plant-symbol of fertility, rat is the animal-symbol of fertility. In China and Japan, rats are associatwith fertility, children, prosperity Rats are also unstoppable, relentlebreaking through any obstacle together grain. They are also symbols avarice and greed. They are relent hoarders. Thus, rats have a positivaspect (fertility/unstop ability) negative aspect (pilferage/plague With Ganesha sitting atop Mooshionly the positive aspects reach devwhile the negative aspects stay awGanesha's image may evoke a sense of prosperity and power inauspiciousness’ for which fertility important but his Mooshika remiss not to be complacent: the rat materiel and unstoppable-a contralto our wealth-but it is also capablsilently and secretly gnawing into ethics, our morals, our values, thievery foundation of our apparently fulfilled lives.
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the Article above are Devdutt Pattanaik and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it.
Courtesy: Devdutt Pattanaik and Speaking Tree,Times of India