Ganesha , also known as Ganapati and Vinayaka, is one of the best known and most worshipped deities. His image is found throughout India, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Hindu sects worship him regardless of affiliations. Devotion to Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to Jains and Buddhists. Ganesha is widely revered as the remover of obstacles, the patron of arts and sciences and the deva of intellect and wisdom. As the god of beginnings, he is honoured at the start of rituals and ceremonies. Ganesha is also invoked as patron of letters and learning during writing sessions. India's rich spirituality begins with Ganesha. Even the most austere yogi starts his inward journey by invoking the God who softens karma and guides dharma. He reigns over our beginnings, our changes, earthly decisions and problems, always there when needed, never aloof. Ganesha has been ascribed many other titles and epithets, including Ganapati and Vighneshvara. The name Ganesha is a Sanskrit compound, joining the words gana , meaning a group, multitude, and isha , meaning lord or master. The word gaņa when associated with Ganesha is often taken to refer to the gaņas, a troop of semi-divine beings that form part of the retinue of Lord Shiva. Some interpret the name "Lord of the Gaņas" to mean "Lord of Hosts". Ganapati a synonym for Ganesha, is a compound composed of gaṇa, meaning "group", and pati, meaning "ruler" or "lord". Though the earliest mention of the word Ganapati is found in Hymn of the 2nd-millennium BCE Rigveda. Ganesha is foremost of Shiva’s Ganas. While the rest of the Ganas, creatures known as Yakshas and Pramathas and Bhutas , are fearsome and forbidding with their unusual misshapen forms, loved, included and understood only by Shiva, their ascetic master, Ganesha has been able to delight inspiring artists to create and recreate him in various shapes, each one joyful in mood and awe-inspiring in expanse!
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