Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 1.djvu/17

Rh frantic, nor could she be consoled until Brahma thus addressed her: "Lament not the fate of your child;—with the head of an elephant he shall possess all sagacity. In pūja Gănésh shall be invoked ere any other god be worshipped, hence shall he be greater than all the gods. Ere a pious Hindū commence any sort of writing, the sign of Gănésh shall he make at the top of the page, otherwise his words shall be folly, and his traffic a matter of loss. He shall be the patron of learning, his writing shall be beautiful.

"'Behold! he writes like Gănésh!' who shall say more?—with the simplicity of the child shall be united the wisdom of the elephant, his power shall be all-seeing—The patron of literature and work-perfecting."

The daughter of the Himalaya listened to the words of Brahma, and the heart of the mother found consolation in the honours bestowed upon her child.

He is called two-mothered, uniting the elephant's head to his natural body, therefore having a second mother in the elephant.

In the wars of heaven he lost one tusk, hence his appellation one-toothed.

His quadruple hands and arms denote power. In one of his hands is the ānkus, the instrument with which the elephant is guided; in another a battle-axe. Being a child, and therefore fond of sweetmeats, a third hand bears a small cup filled with pera, a sweetmeat common in all bazārs; in the fourth he carries a short rosary, wherewith he counts his beads. Around his neck is twined the Cobra-di-capello, the holy serpent, whose hood is outspread upon his breast. This image is dignified by a frontal eye, signifying the sun, encircled by a crescent, a sol lunar emblem and mystical mark, hence "moon-crowned," "triple-eyed." His attendant, a rat, holding a pera, sweetmeat, is placed at his side: on his head is a crown, and around his limbs a yellow dhotī, a cloth of Benares tissue edged with gold. His body is covered with ornaments of rich jewellery, such as are