Why is ganeshas tusk broken

In the beginning, it has 24, shlokas which kept on growing to , later. There is one interesting story about this. It was a composition of hundreds of stories and sub-stories. So he approached Lord Ganesha by meditating. Ved Vyas explain the reason of his meditation to Lord Ganesha. Ganesha agreed but put one condition to Ved Vyas i. Though Veda Vyasa was confident upon himself that he could compose very fast. But at the same time, he was also confused whether he could match the speed of Lord Ganesha.

He said that Lord Ganesha was not to write anything unless he understood the meaning of what was narrated to him. Lord Ganesha accepted the condition and the writing of epic starts this way. Veda Vyasa knew that Lord Ganesha is the God of literature and it would be a very tough competition. But he used one trick against Lord Ganesha. He completed penning down the sacred hymns even before the sage had thought of the next. In the mean time, the pen He used for writing down the verses, began to wear away.

Aware of His earlier condition, and not finding out any other alternative, the Lord pulled out his left tusk and used it to complete writing the great epic Mahabharata. It was a full moon that night. As he was riding, his mouse saw a snake and ran behind the bush. Ganpati fell to the ground and his stomach broke open.

Ganpati started to put the food back in his stomach. The moon god saw him and started laughing loudly. Angered by this, Ganpati pronounced a curse on the moon God and before cursing moon theew his one tusk on Him and broke Him in two pieces.

Frightened by the curse, the moon God started pleading for mercy. Also if anyone sees the moon on my birthday, he or she shall not attain moksha liberation.

The moon God kept quiet. After Ganpati had finished putting the food in his stomach, he took the snake and tied it around his belly. Then he continued going back home. We tend to think that we end when our bodies end in the material world.

We are the first person. All else is different. The story goes that Vyasa wanted to dictate an epic poem, the Mahabharata. He needed someone to write it down as it flowed from his mind. Nobody capable was found to exist on Earth, so he approached Ganesha or Vighna Vinayaka, the remover of obstacles, and requested him to help out. Since Vyasa was clever - he composed a long and complicated epic like the Mahabharata - he made a counter-condition that Ganesha had to understand every word before he wrote it down.

Ganesha was pleased to agree, secretly delighted. He broke off his own tusk to write with, as proof of goodwill, and they began the task. Every now and then, Vyasa would compose a number of verses in extremely layered and dense language. Ganesha would have to pause to think them through before putting them down on the palm-leaf pages. This allowed Vyasa to draw breath and compose more verses in his head to stay ahead. Vyasa's response to Ganesha's proviso was pointed out as an example of an organic solution to a problem; Vyasa had come up with this pragmatic strategy because he was goal-oriented and intent on fulfilling his mission.

This legend was a popular teaching story to inspire focus and concentration; and its iconic reminder in daily life was the broken tusk on all Ganesha idols. Another myth about the tusk that I saw danced out in Thailand in December occurs in the Brahmanda Purana.