Once, the god Shiva was called away from his home on Mount Kailash. Urgent matters in the world needed his attention, and he did not know how long he would be away. The goddess Parvati, his wife, was left alone. When Shiva did not return for many days, she began to feel lonely. ‘I wish I had a little son,’ she sighed to herself. ‘I would talk to him, and play with him, and keep myself busy during the long days that my husband is away.’

So Parvati decided to make a little child for herself. She took the dust from the ground, and mixed it with the perspiration from her own body. From this clay she fashioned a little boy, perfect in every detail. She took the clay child into her arms, and breathed on him, and the child came to life. He was a bright little boy, full of life and utterly devoted to his mother. He would follow Parvati around all day long, keeping her amused and happy with his chatter. Parvati did not feel lonely any more.

One day, while Shiva was still away from home, Parvati said to her son, ‘Child, I am going down to the river for a bath. Don’t let anyone enter the house in my absence.’

The child stationed himself obediently at the door to their house, determined that he would let no one in until his mother said so.

Meanwhile Shiva returned, his work in the world outside done. He saw a little boy sitting at the entrance to his house. He wondered who this child could be – he had never seen him before. But Shiva was tired, and longing for some rest and his wife’s company. So he thought no more of the child, and made to enter his house.

But the little child stood up, and barred his way into the house. ‘Stop!’ said the child. ‘You cannot enter my mother’s house!’

Shiva stepped back in amazement. ‘Do you not know who I am?’ he asked the child. ‘I am Shiva, and no one may stop me from going where I will!’

‘I don’t care who you are!’ replied the child. ‘I cannot let you enter. My mother said I was to let nobody in till she said so!’ The child stood resolutely in front of Shiva, barring his way into the house.

‘Move out of my way, child!’ cried Shiva in anger. ‘No one stops me from entering my own house!’ But the child was adamant. ‘You cannot enter until my mother says so,’ he said again. Shiva was furious, and without another thought, he cut off the child’s head.

Just then Parvati returned. ‘What have you done?’ she cried in grief. ‘Oh Shiva, that was our son, our very own child whom I created from my body’s sweat! How could you kill him?’

When Shiva heard this he was stricken by remorse. ‘I will bring him back to life,’ he promised Parvati. Shiva sent gods and men out in all directions, to bring back to him the head of the first creature they saw, human or animal.

As it happened, the first creature that anyone came across was a baby elephant in the forest. Its head was promptly cut off and brought back to Shiva who used his great power to fuse the elephant’s head onto the body of his son, thereby bringing both back to life as one.

Parvati was overjoyed to have her son back again, even though he now had an elephant’s head. The child combined in him the wisdom of the gods and that of the most intelligent creature on earth after man, the elephant. He grew to be the best loved of the gods. He is called Ganesh, or Ganapati.