Ganesh, Ganapati, Gajanana

Ganesh

I already told in other posts (here and here), the two main traditions about the birth of Ganesh or Ganapati, the popular elephant-headed God, son of Shiva and Parvati. 

I've found two more tradition that I want to tell.

Well, Parvati had bathed and had spread throughout her own body with oils and creams, then she poured the water in the holy waters of the Ganges. Here dwelt  Malini, the elephant-headed goddess, who drank the water, became pregnant and bore a child with four arms and five elephant heads.

A dispute arose immediately: whose was this child? Was he of Parvati from whose waters had been born? Or was of Ganga, the goddess of the river Ganges or of Malini who had given birth to the child?

Intervened Shiva, who decided that the son was of Parvati and eliminated four of the five elephant heads assigning the epithet of Gajanana which means "elephant-faced " .

In another story is told as Shiva and Parvati could live in the form of various living beings just because together they accounted for god and god pervading all beings, the two deities were living their lives in many forms.

In the period in which the two gods lived in the form of elephants, Parvati conceived a child. When the two of them had to sum ​​up the form 'human' , Parvati was desperate because she did not want to leave her baby elephant.

Also in this case resolved the situation Shiva who established that the small being would have the head of an elephant and the body of the child and that he would be the biggest help to solve the problems of mankind, remove obstacles and succeed in life.