Shiva was a sketchy Sadhu from the Himalayas. He came down to the plains to attend a festival and met Pavrati, a shepherd’s daughter. She was not only beautiful, but very impressionable, and fell hopelessly in love with the Sadhu.

She beseeched him for a child, but Shiva wasn’t planning on anything long term. Plus he had a cave up in the mountains and didn’t really care for life in the city. So he threw her a scrap of red cloth he was using for his chillum and said, "Nurse this if you want!". Sick with desire Pavrati held the rag to her breast. A few drops of life giving milk soaked into the cloth and transformed it into a healthy young boy.

Aghast at the prospects of being a householder, Shiva looked at the child with eyes like daggers that severed the boy’s head off. Pavrati was speechless and started seething with anger.

Shiva knew he had gone too far this time and quickly dispatched one of his guards to fetch the first head he encountered. The guard returned with the head of an elephant! When it was attached, the child, Ganesh, roared to life.

Ganesh rises above adversity. He is always shown plump and happy: the bringer of blessings and good fortune. He is often shown dancing. His immense weight seeming to float with only the toe of one foot touching the ground. In counterpoint to his carefree opulence, and as a reminder of his humble roots, a common rat is usually shown crouching in his shadow.

Ganash is an archetype for the marginalized in India. As a strange child, born on the back streets to dubious parents and questionable home life, he is a god with whom the poor, especially the street children, can identify with. He also provides them with a meditation on hope, bounty and prosperity.