Why does Lord Ganesha have a half-broken tusk?

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Why does Lord Ganesha have a half-broken tusk?

When Sage Ved Vyasa came up with the idea to Mahabharatha, he looked around for

someone who would write down the words even as he recited them. He approached

Lord Ganesha and asked him if he would do so. Lord Ganesha readily agreed.Ved

Vyasa said "I will narrate the story and you must take it down as fast as I say

it and should not interrupt or stop anywhere in between" and Lord Ganesha too

said that "I will do so and if you halt or hesitate, I will stop writing and

your epic will never be written". Ved Vyasa agreed with his final condition "So

I agree but you must also agree to fully comprehend the meaning of the poems as

you write and not just blindly write them as I say". The elephant headed God

gave his consent and they started writing the epic Mahabharata. To write this

Lord Ganesha broke a bit off his tusk and used it as a pen. As they

continued with the writing, Ved Vyasa found that Ganesha was very fast and he

didn't even have any time to breathe in air! His face slowly turned blue and he

wondered how will he go on without pausing to draw his breath also. Then he came

up with the solution and narrated a difficult stanza. Ganesha, who was writing

at a furious pace, stopped for a second to get the meaning of the stanza and

Ved Vyasa thankfully used the split second gap to gulp deep lungful of air. But

Ganesha carried on immediately and they went on. And so, whenever Ved Vyasa

needed a break, he would tell a difficult phrase and used the time Ganesha took

to comprehend the meaning. Thus the original Mahabharata contains many difficult

stanzas placed at intervals throughout the length of the epic.

Another story depicts Parashurama, one of Shiva's favorite disciples. Treta Yuga

arrived. Parashurama, the son of Sage Jamadagni became a disciple of Lord Shiva

and a co-student of Ganapati. After completing his studies, on account of his

utter rage against Kshatriyas (rulers), he trotted the globe 21 times and

destroyed them all. After this, he went to Kailasa. He crossed all the doors of

Lord Shiva's palace. Ganapati was guarding the last door which lead to Shiva's

personal chamber. Ganapati refused to let Parashurama in saying that it was

Shiva's resting time. Parashurama argued that he was like a son to Shiva and

that he had all the right to go inside. Heated exchange of words took place.

Parashurama, still raging with anger, assaulted Ganapati on his tusk. Ganapati

too became angry and lifted Parashurama with his trunk, spiralled him high in

the air and dumped him on the ground and finally drowned him in the seven seas.

This act of Ganapati accorded

atonement to Parashurama for his cruel deed of slaying the rulers. After

repeating this several times, Ganapati finally dumped Parashurama on the ground

again.Parashurama failing to appreciate the fact that Ganapati had infact

purified him of his sins, launched the Parashu (a weapon which Lord Shiva had

given him) on Ganapati.Ganapati did not want to insult the weapon given by his

father to Parashurama and thus offered his left tusk to it. The weapon broke

the tusk.Parvati came out. An ambassador came from the Vishnu loka and pointed

out the foolish behaviour of Parashurama and condemned it. Parashurama realised

his mistake and immediately fell at the feet of Parvati Devi and begged to be

forgiven.This is how Gajanana became Ekadanta. (Eka - one, danta - tooth)

However, An ancient Sanskrit drama titled "Shishupalvadha", presents a different

version. Here it is mentioned that Ganesha was deprived of his tusk by the

arrogant Ravana (the villain of Ramayana), who removed it forcefully in order

to make ivory earrings for the beauties of Lanka! Om Shree Ganeshaya

Namah..Deepa H debu7366 (AT) l (DOT) com

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