Several theories have been advanced regarding the origins of the Hindu deity Ganesha, who first undisputably appears in the historical record in his classic form around the early 4th to 5th centuries CE.

One theory is that Ganesha gradually came to prominence in connection with the Vinayakas, a group of four troublesome demons mentioned in the Manava-Grihyasutra (a text belonging to the Manava school of the Black (Krishna) Yajurveda) and the Mahabharata.

[21] Vinayaka – also known under the name 'Vighnaraja' (Vighnarāja), "Lord of Obstacles" – is sometimes also shown being trampled on by wrathful deities like Mahakala or Achala in Tibetan and East Asian Buddhist art.

[22][23] The emergence of Esoteric (Tantric) Buddhism and its spread to Nepal, Tibet, and eventually to East Asia saw Vinayaka acquire a more positive role as a subjugator of demons.

[33][34] Lode Rosseels suggests that the Dual Vinayaka form may have originated from an iconographic type attested in Xinjiang (Chinese Turkestan) and Dunhuang in the 8th century showing Ganapati with four legs (representing the deity's union with his shakti in a non-sexual fashion),[35] which was "reinterpreted by the Chinese in accordance with popular Taoist ideals ... which probably resulted in the restoration of the four-legged and four-armed form to two almost identical elephant-headed deities in a nonsexual embrace.

The text notably prescribes alcoholic beverages (considered taboo in exoteric Buddhism), dubbed the "water of bliss" (歡喜水, pinyin: huānxǐshuǐ, Japanese: kangisui), as an offering to the deity, which is then consumed as a medicine to remove evil.

However, he was at times also invoked against the imperial house: in The Tale of Hōgen, the nobleman Fujiwara no Yorinaga (1120–1156) requests the performance of rituals centered on Shōten, Uchchhushma (Ususama Myōō) and Vajrakumara (金剛童子, Kongō Dōji) against Emperor Go-Shirakawa.

Legend relates that the Tendai monk Son'i (尊意, 866–940) invoked Shōten to pacify the vengeful spirit of statesman Sugawara no Michizane (later deified as Tenjin, the kami of learning), who was himself claimed to be a devotee of the god.

[64] Historical figures known to have been devoted to Shōten (and whose successes were sometimes credited to him) include the famous warlords Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, the Edo period merchants Kinokuniya Bunzaemon and Takadaya Kahei, the daimyō and political reformer Matsudaira Sadanobu, and wealthy business families such as the Mitsui, the Sumitomo, and the Kōnoike.

Upon being told by a priest that his prayer was not answered because he had no karmic connection with Shōten, Zenchiku repented of his negligence and renewed his vow, eventually receiving a dream that deepened his faith.

[68] Perhaps in reaction against the deity's reputation among the public as one who grants any and all material desires, various sources emphasize the ineffectiveness and even danger of performing rituals on one's own, without the aid of a qualified priest.

The Tendai monk Kōkei (977–1049) warned that while the benefits brought by the god are very real, he is swift to curse negligent practitioners; it is thus better for people in this Final Age not to worship him.

[11][47][80][81] In another legend recorded in a medieval Japanese iconographic compendium known as the Kakuzenshō (覚禅鈔),[82] Vinayaka was originally the king of a country called Marakeira, who only ate beef and radishes.

After recovering, Bichō Daijin swore vengeance against the king and transformed into a fearsome elephant-headed "great god of obstacles" (大障礙神, dai-shōgeshin) named Vinayaka.

Tankai's doubts were eventually resolved after finding a copy of the Kakuzenshō, which claimed that identifying Shōten with Maheshvara-Daijizaiten is "a great error" and that "this divinity's special characteristic is that of lord of siddhis, thus he is called 'Jizaiten'.

[73] During the medieval period, Benzaiten, Dakiniten, and Shōten were also combined into a single figure which served as the main focus of an esoteric imperial accession rite in which the three deities were worshiped as one known as the Joint Ritual of the Three Devas (三天合行法, santen gogyōhō).

[112][113] Medieval Japanese thought classified Buddhist devas and native kami into two types: gonsha (権者) or gonrui (権類), deities who are "provisional" manifestations (gongen) of enlightened buddhas and bodhisattvas, and jissha (実者) or jitsurui (実類), "real" or "material" lesser divinities who have the same passions and desires as humans do.

Because they are periodically ritually bathed in oil, many are made of metals such as gold, silver, bronze, or iron; wooden images (木天, mokuten) are comparatively rare.

[144][145][146] It is considered the most sacred and potent of the deity's rituals but also the most arcane: it is restricted to monks who have received proper initiation into the rite (performance by unqualified individuals is strictly forbidden) and is conducted outside of the public gaze.

[148][149][150] The Flower-Water Ritual (華水供, Kesui-ku) involves offering water scented with flowers, incense, and/or shikimi (Illicium anisatum) leaves to Buddhist divinities in lieu of food and drink.

[1][157][158] Conversely, offering him sour citrus fruits, pears, mushrooms, lotus root (renkon), and dishes which go against the Buddhist vegetarian diet (i.e. those containing meat, fish, or pungent vegetables such as garlic or scallions) is considered taboo.

[157][159] Daikon radishes are interpreted as representing the three poisons (specifically dvesha or hatred); offering the vegetable to the deity is thus held to be a meritorious purificatory act.

[162][163] At the same time, his reputation has sometimes also caused him to be characterized negatively as highly demanding and temperamental, requiring constant attention from his devotees and harassing or punishing those who have either become lax in their devotion or quit worshiping him altogether.

[72] Perhaps to curb abuses and superstitious ideas that could stem from the popular image of Shōten as a god who grants each and every wish, various authors such as Hayashiya have stressed the importance of deepening one's devotion beyond simply asking for worldly benefits.

[166][169] (Similar taboos exist in Shinto, which also lays great emphasis on purity, but is otherwise rare in Japanese Buddhism, which was closely associated with death and the afterlife due to its having a near-monopoly on funerary practices.

[1][4][172] A notable exception to the rule is the honzon of Kangi-in (Menuma Shōden-zan) in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, which is intermittently put on public display (御開帳, go-kaichō) since the Edo period.

[166][171] Such ofuda are usually aniconic, bearing no visual representation of the god (who may be simply represented by his seed syllable),[p] though a few examples contain a depiction of the youthful Kangi Dōji or of Kangiten as an anthropomorphic male-female couple.

[175] Popular belief holds that encountering Shōten (i.e. learning about him or getting an opportunity to venerate him) is only possible if one has a karmic connection (縁, en / enishi) with him, which itself is considered to be a precious and rare blessing.

A set of guidelines for devotees published by Honryū-in (also known as Matsuchiyama Shōden, a sub-temple of Sensō-ji in Asakusa, Tokyo dedicated to Kangiten) for instance advises the reader that "[since] abstinence (断ち物, tachimono) requires a strong resolve, it is better not to practice it.

"[164] Haneda, on the other hand, criticized it as well as the taking of extreme vows (especially when made with materialistic goals in mind) as harmful practices that only attract vinayaka demons (in effect making them a kind of Faustian bargain), asserting that they do not represent authentic devotion to Shōten.