Friday, September 18, 2009

Discord in the story of Ganesha



Life of Ganesha Tapestry

In the dictionary the definition of discord is the lack of agreement between things. In music, it can mean without harmony or noise and racket. When thinking of disharmony or disagreement in literal terms, I think of the story of Ganesha. He was the son of Parvati and Shiva, and was outside protecting their palace when his father had returned from a long trip, did not recognize his son and knocked his head off. Parvati was so upset, and taking discord in its literal meaning, had a disagreement with Shiva. She made Shiva bring Ganesha back to life and replace his head. The closest animal around was the elephant, so that's what Shiva used for Ganesha's head. The image below is an image of baby Ganesha with his mother Parvati after his tragedy. Ganesha himself is a definition for discord. His head, being that of an elephant, does not agree with the rest of his body, which is that of a man.



Images from:

http://www.exoticindiaart.com/product/PM30

http://www.exoticindiaart.com/product/HI56

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