Ganesa^[*]

Siva in Bhaktapur is a bridge joining different forms of divinity. Ganesa^[*] (Newari, Gandya:), an elephant-headed god, is a bridging and transitional figure of a different kind; he provides in several ways for human entrance into the area of the divine. As such, we may contrast him with other divinities, dangerous and uncanny, who are at the threshold of the human moral world and the orderly divine world into areas of chaos and danger. Properly for such uses, he is as attractive in his person as they are horrifying.

Let us consider some aspects of Ganesa^[*] as an entrance. As is generally the case in South Asia, one prays first to Ganesa^[*] before praying to any other god or before undertaking any important religious activity. The worship of Ganesa^[*] is necessary for effectiveness, siddhi , in the worship and manipulation of other divinities. This is an aspect of a more general attribute of Ganesa^[*] as "the overcomer of obstacles" (Mani 1975, 273):

Ganapati^[*] [Ganesa^[*] ] has the power to get anything done without any obstructions [and has] also the power to put obstacles in the path of anything being done. Therefore, the custom came into vogue of worshiping Ganapati^[*] at the very commencement of any action for its completion . . . without any hindrance. Actions begun with such worship would be duly completed.

It is necessary to worship Ganesa^[*] before both ordinary and Tantric puja s. This is connected with one of his unique features in Bhaktapur,

specifically, that he can be either a dangerous or an ordinary god.^[11] Any image of Ganesa^[*][12] may receive either the worship and offerings that are proper for the ordinary divinities (e.g., grain, yogurt, cakes) or the blood sacrifices and alcoholic offerings that are proper for the dangerous divinities. (He has, however, a particular animal that is uniquely proper for sacrifice to him: the khasi , or castrated male goat, another image, perhaps, of his marginality.) He is the entrance to these two different realms, otherwise often placed in opposition.

In some settings his image^[13] may indicate, represent, or suggest a Tantric emphasis. It may show Ganesa^[*] with many arms, and he may be seated next to his Sakti, variously identified as Siddhi (the personification of his power for effectiveness) or Rddhi^[*] , "prosperity, wealth, good fortune." In his dangerous form he is sometimes called "Heramba," and thought of as a guru who instructs and therefore introduces students in Tantric knowledge.

There is still another sense in which Ganesa^[*] is the entrance into the religious realm. As a benign, humanized animal, a sweets-loving child, the child of Siva and Parvati in their domestic imagery, he is a favorite of children, and in the memory of some respondents was the first god form to whom they became attached—in contrast to others whom they feared as children—and it is Ganesa^[*] who (at certain specific temples) is prayed to for help to children who are slow in learning to walk or talk.

As he is elsewhere in South Asia,^[14] Ganesa^[*] is the divinity of entrances in space as well as in temporal sequences. He is conceived to reside on one side of gates and arches (usually on the right side) while his "brother," Kumara (who has little other significance in Bhaktapur, except in connection with the Ihi , the mock-marriage ceremony) is imagined to be on the other.

Ganesa's^[*] shrines and temples are the main fixed divine markers of the twa:s , the village-like units in the city and of some of their component neighborboods (map 13). This local areal Ganesa^[*] , or sthan Ganesa^[*] (from sanskrit sthana , place, locality), is considered common to the twa: . Although, as we have noted, a particular twa: may have one or more other divinities that in some sense "belong" to it and are its particular responsibility and that may be celebrated in some annual twa: festival, every twa: has its sthan Ganesa^[*] . Everyone in the twa: worships here before important out-of-the-house ceremonies and during all rites of passage for members of the household. Thus Ganesa^[*] is one of those divinities who have an important relationship to a significant component of urban space, as Visnu^[*] and Siva do not. The great majority of

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Map 13.
The distribution of Ganesa^[*] shrines in the city. The shrines are distributed throughout the city, with most of them on or near
the pradaksinapatha^[*] . Map courtesy of Niels Gutschow.

these twa: shrines are located on the city processional route (see map 12) which connects the twa: s, and thus these individual centers are tied into the larger city.

There are a number of Ganesa^[*] temples and shrines, some within the city boundaries and some without, which have specific purposes that can be accomplished only at that particular location with its particular Ganesa^[*] . People go to Balakhu Ganesa^[*] if they have lost something and wish help in finding it. Children who are slow in learning to talk are taken to a temple just outside of the city to the northeast, Yatu (Nepali, Kamala) Ganesa^[*] . One shrine, that of Chuma(n) Ganadya:, is worshiped by the entire city during the solar New Year festival, Biska: (chap 14). All these shrines are also worshiped by local neighborhood people.

The most important Ganesa^[*] shrine outside of the city for the people of Bhaktapur is Inara Dya: (Inara God),^[15] known in Nepali as "Surya Vinayaka." This shrine, set on a forested hillside south of Bhaktapur, is visited regularly once a week by many people on one of Ganesa's^[*] special days of the week, Tuesdays or Saturdays. These trips are considered as both a religious undertaking and an outing. Family members or a group of young friends will go to the shrine taking food with them. In addition to his general function as an overcomer of obstacles ("Vinayaka"), and a first object of worship before approaches to other gods, Inar Dya: can also help children who are slow in learning to walk. According to Slusser, Surya Vinayaka is also "widely consulted as a curing god by the deaf and dumb" (1982, 263). This shrine is not only attended by people of Bhaktapur but also is an important shrine for the Kathmandu Valley both for Newars of other places and for non-Newar Hindus. It is sometimes considered one of four Ganesa^[*] temples forming a kind of mandala^[*] in the Kathmandu Valley, and which are sometimes visited in sequence (Auer and Gutschow n.d., 17; Slusser 1982, 263).^[16]