Reading Notes: Pattanaik's 99 Thoughts On Ganesha Part D

Part X

• History
• Meteoric Rise
• Shows up in 5th century AD
• Widespread worship of him in 12th century AD
• Indus
• Elephant images appeared in this region around 2500 BC
• Vedic Ganapati
• Appeared in Rig Veda around 1500 BC
• Vinayaka of Sutra and Smiti
• Manava-griha-sutra refers to him at around 500 BC
• Yakshas
• Class of beings that were Shiva devottees
• Indo-Greeks
• Indo-Greek coins have elephant images
• Hastimukha
• Scriptures written after Rig Veda invoke deities with elephant attributes
• Ganapatya
• 8th century AD scholar observed Hindus could be classified into five groups
• Tamil and Sri Lanka
• Stories of Ganesha spread here
• Morya
• Morya Gosavi is a saint who was exclusively devoted to Ganesha
• Maratha Influence
• Ganesha became personal deity of the Maratha community
• Tilak
• 1893 Ganesha Chaturthi became a public festival

Part XI

• Spread
• Nepal
• Worshiped by Hindus and Buddhists
• Worship Heramba form of Ganesha
• Tibet
• Buddhists worship Ganesha
• AKA Vinayaka
• Mongolia
• 10th century AD
• Burma
• Is one of the Nats guarding the Pagodas
• South East Asia
• 10th century AD
• Japan
• Minor Buddhist deity 

Part XII 

• Wisdom
• Kathenotheism
• Worshiping one God at a time
• Shankhya and Yoga
• Act of analysis where one focuses on the parts
• Act of synthesis where one focuses on the whole
• Muladhara
• First chakra 
• Ganesha is its deity
• Liminal
• A space that is amorphous, shape-shifting, a bit of this and a bit of that
• Ganesha connects two apparently opposing realities
• Tantrik or Vedic
• Ferocious forms
• Gentle forms
• Omkar
• The syllable Om
• Swastika
• Symbol of auspiciousness and good luck in India
• Shri
• Material auspiciousness
• In the Beginning
• We worship at the beginning of ventures in the hope that we will be ushered closer towards what we deserve

The Seven Chakras

Source

Bibliography :

99 Thoughts On Ganesha by Devdutt Pattanaik