Vinayaka’s Birth

Shiva and Uma lived in that house happily.

One day, Shiva happened to address Uma as Kali. Kali was of course her name, but the word kali also signified someone who was dark. And Uma was upset because she thought that Shiva was commenting on her dark complexion.

Uma therefore resolved that she would perform tapasya so as to obtain a fair complexion. She went to the mountains and started praying to Brahma. For a hundred years she prayed.

Brahma finally appeared and asked, “I am pleased. What boon do you desire?”

“Please make me fair,” said Uma.

Brahma granted the boon. The darkness left Uma’s cells (kosha) and from these dark cells the goddess Katyayani appeared. Since she had emerged out of cells, she came to be known as Koushiki. Indra begged that he might have the goddess Koushiki for a sister and this request was agreed to. Indra himself adopted the name of Koushika. He took Koushiki to the region of the Vindhyas and instated her then. Indra also gave her a lion to ride on.

“Please stay here and protect the gods,” he requested. “Kill our enemies. The gods will worship you. And since you have been instated in the region of the Vindhyas, you will be worshipped as Vindhyavasini.”

Uma had now become fair. The word gouri signifies fair and so she came to be known as Gouri.

For a thousand years Shiva and Uma lived happily. But Indra began to get worried. He was worried about the son that Shiva and Uma might have. He was scared that the son might appropriate the title of Indra. He therefore tried to do his level best to persuade Shiva not to have a son.

This interference angered Uma. Since Indra had tried persuasion with Shiva, Uma decided that she would have a son without Shiva. She therefore fashioned a son out of her own body and this son had four arms. She then presented the son to Shiva. Shiva was delighted with his son.

“As your husband, I am your nayaka (hero),” he said. “But since you have been able to produce this son without my help, he will be known as Vinayaka.”

The companions of Shiva are known as the ganas. Shiva appointed Vinayaka the lord of these ganas. He thus came to acquire the names of Ganapati and Ganesha.

Shumbha and Nishumbha

The sage Kashyapa had a wife name Danu and Danu gave birth to three sons named Shumbha, Nishumbha and Namuchi. These sons and their descendants were known as the danavas. Each of these three sons was stronger than Indra.

Indra wished to kill Namuchi. But seeing that Indra was advancing towards him, Namuchi went and hid in the chariot of the sun so that Indra could not get at him. Eventually Indra promised Namuchi that he would never kill him with a weapon and Namuchi came out of the chariot of the sun. He went and began to live in the underworld, secure in the knowledge that Indra would not kill him with a weapon. But Indra went back on his word. He killed Namuchi with a vajra (club) that was made out of the foam of the ocean. This going back on one’s word was a great sin and Indra, in the process of killing Namuchi, committed a sin that was as serious as the killing of a brahmana. As penance for this sin, Indra had to bathe in the waters of several tirthas.

(The Namuchi account in the Vamana Purana is not very clearly stated. A much more complete account is given in the Mahabharata, although there are some differences in the two accounts. In the Mahabharata, Namuchi was the son of the danava Viprachitti and was also a friend of Indra’s. It was because he killed a friend that Indra had to perform penance. The Namuchi story in the Vamana Purana is of course only a preamble to the main Shumbha and Nishumbha story.)