Ganesha and Moon Story
Tomorrow begins the 11-day-long Ganpati festival - called Ganesh Chaturthi. Devotees get very excited to bring Bappa home, offer prayers, dance and eat Modaks but are also particularly cautious about
Tomorrow begins the 11-day-long Ganpati festival - called Ganesh Chaturthi. Everyone gets very excited to bring Bappa home, offer prayers, dance and eat sweets, especially Modaks. But did you know that devotees are particularly cautious about not seeing the moon on the first day of the Ganesh festival? It is believed that one day Lord Ganesha was invited to a big feast, and to show him their devotion the hosts had prepared a variety of special sweets and his favourite dishes. That day Lord Ganesha ate till everything was over. Due to overeating his stomach was swollen and a huge tummy was visible. So he decided to leave at night so no one could notice his huge bouncy stomach. As Lord Ganesha was walking he stumbled and fell down. All the sweets that he was carrying got scattered everywhere and his clothes also got torn. Lord Ganesha was feeling embarrassed as he picked himself up. He dusted himself and collected all his sweets. He looked around hoping no one had seen him. Unfortunately, the Moon – Chandra Deva had seen everything. Those were the days when the moon was full all through the month. There was no such thing as a waxing and waning period of the moon. Chandra Deva laughed hard seeing the pot-bellied Ganesha stumble and fall. Chandra Deva was proud of his looks and thought he was very handsome. He always thought that the pot-bellied Ganesha with his stumpy feet and elephant head looked funny. Lord Ganesha was annoyed when he saw Chandra Deva laughing at him. Lord Ganesh thought, “He does not even come and help me...Just laughs at me…” Lord Ganesha bellowed angrily, “'Chandra!” Chandra Deva stopped laughing immediately.
Lord Ganesha said, “You laughed at me! You think you are so handsome! I curse you that henceforth you will disappear from the sky and never show your face again. Chandra Deva shook his head in disbelief, thinking “Now no one would be able to see me?” The punishment was too harsh. Chandra Deva rushed to Lord Ganesha and begged, “Lord! Please forgive me! I was proud! I am sorry...Please!.”Lord Ganesha looked at Chandra and realized that Chandra's pride had been broken. Lord Ganesha is always quick to forgive. He smiled and nodded his head. But Lord Ganesha realized that he could not take his curse back. He saw Chandra Deva droop and look unhappy, looking at him desperately. He said, “Chandra, I cannot take back my words. But I will lessen your curse. You will slowly reduce your appearance and there will be only one day when there will be no moon in the sky. Next day onwards, you will keep increasing in size and finally glow on the fifteenth day in your full size. Lord Ganesh added, “But, whoever sees you on Ganesh Chaturthi day, will be falsely accused of something and will fall into problems. However, do not worry, these problems would be solved if they listen to the story of Krishna and the Syamantaka Gem.” Hence from that day onwards, the moon has been decreasing in size till there is no moon and increasing till there is the full moon. And from that day onwards people believed that they should not look at the moon on Ganesh Chaturthi. Do you know of any such stories related to Lord Ganesha? Share them with us in the comments below.
