Consorts of Ganesha
The marital status of the Hindu deity Ganesha varies widely in mythological stories and the issue has been the subject of considerable scholarly review.
Another mainstream pattern associates him with the concepts of Buddhi (intellect), Siddhi (spiritual power), and Riddhi (prosperity); these qualities are sometimes personified as goddesses who are considered to be Ganesha's wives.
[11] In these two Puranas they appear as an intrinsic part of Ganapati[12] and according to Thapan[13] do not require any special rituals associated with shakti worship.
The most sacred area within the Moragaon temple is the sanctum (garbhagŗha), a small enclosure containing an image of Ganesha.
[21] In the Ajitāgama, a Tantric form of Ganesha called Haridra Ganapati is described as turmeric-colored and flanked by two unnamed wives.
[23] Ganesha's relationship with the Ashtasiddhi — the eight spiritual attaintments obtained by the practice of yoga — is also of this depersonalized type.
The fact that a cult has developed around the figure of Santoshi Ma has been cited by Anita Raina Thapan and Lawrence Cohen as evidence of Ganesha's continuing evolution as a popular deity.
[29] The concept of buddhi is closely associated with the personality of Ganesha as of the Puranic period, where many stories develop that showcase his cleverness and love of intelligence.
A distinct type of iconographic image of Ganesha shows him with a single human-looking shakti (Sanskrit: śakti).
According to Cohen and Getty, the appearance of this shakti motif parallels the emergence of tantric branches of the Ganapatya cult.
Getty mentions a specific cult of "Shakti Ganapati" that was set up by the Ganapatyas involving five distinct forms.
[38] Of the thirty-two standard meditation forms for Ganesha that appear in the Sritattvanidhi (Śrītattvanidhi), six include a shakti.
[39] A common form of this motif shows Ganesha seated with the shakti upon his left hip, holding a bowl of flat cakes or round sweets.
[41] Prithvi Kumar Agrawala has traced at least six different lists of fifty or more aspects or forms of Ganesha each with their specific female consorts or shaktis.
The second type of list poses problems in separating and properly connecting the names into pairs due to ambiguities in the formation of Sanskrit compound words.
Other reasons are variously offered for their relationship: their functional equivance and their joint worship on Diwali and in general by the "business community.
[48] In Bengal, Ganesha on Durga Puja is associated with a plantain (banana) tree, the "Kola Bou"[49] (also spelled Kola-Bou), ritually transformed into a goddess during the festival.
[50][51] On the first day of Durga Puja the Kola Bou is draped with a red-bordered white sari and vermilion is smeared on its leaves.
He connects the plant symbol back to the festival enactment of Durga's return of the blood of the buffalo demon to the earth so that the order of the world may be re-established and luxuriant vegetation reappear.
