The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1911, Page 13

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

13

— EEE

A Hindu Idol.

In a recent number of the P1onzer it was stated
that in the city of Benares, in India, “the golden
temple is devoted to the worship of Ganesha, the
belly god, a most hideous image with an elephant’s
head.” Our picture represents that hideous idol,
and the young reader who inquired why “that
heathen god is called belly god’? may find the an-
swer in the picture.
thus about this idol:

A missionary in India writes

heathen god cannot even take care of himself. It
would make you very sad to-see the poor children
taught to kneel and worship such an idol.
Perhaps you would like to know how this god
came to have an elephant’s head. This is the story
the heathen tell about it. ‘They say: “One day

his mother went into her private room and. told
her son to stand guard at the door and let no one
Soon her husband, the god Shiva, came
and wanted to go in, but Ganesha would not let
him.

come in.

Then Shiva, the father, grew very angry,

The people in Hindustan have very, very many
gods, and all of them are hideous images. But I
want to tell you about one commonly worshiped
and found in every shop and house in India.
I think it can be found in every Hindu school,
where it is worshiped by the children. The name
of the idol is Ganesha; and at the top of every
alphabet card or copy for writing the children see
the words, “Shri Ganesha,” which mean, “The
Blessed Ganesha.” _

This god is always represented with an ele-
phant’s head on a very fat body, and as having
many hands. He is often surrounded by attendants,
whose business it is to keep off the flies; for the

A Hindu Idol.

and cut off the boy’s head. When the mother knew
it, she was wild with grief, and Shiva comforted
her by promising that he would give the boy the
head of the first living thing that came along. It
happened that an elephant was the first living thing
to come. So Shiva cut off the head of the elephant,
placed it on the boy’s body, and gave him back alive
to his mother, saying, ‘See what a fine son you
have! ‘The elephant is the wisest of animals, and
your son shall be the god of wisdom.’ ”

So, ever since, Ganesha has been worshiped as
the god of wisdom. What a silly story it is! “And
how sad that these heathen~believe such silly stories
and worship such hideous idols! How thankful