Lord Ganesh Stories
Download The App Now & Listen To The Fascinating Lord Ganesh Stories
Who is Lord Ganesh?
Lord Ganesh is one of the most well-known gods in Hindu mythology’s pantheon of gods. Son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati, Lord Ganesh is known for his distinctive elephant head and is adored by children all over the world. Lord Ganesh has four arms, a trunk, and a big belly. Interestingly, his divine vehicle/chariot is a mouse.
The name Ganesh was created by combining two words- “Gana” refers to a large group of people, while “isha” refers to a god.
- In Hindu mythology, Lord Ganesh is known as the “First Reverred God”.
- Lord Ganesh is known as the God of the People.
- Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated with great grandeur across India.
- Lord Ganesh is famous for his fondness for Indian sweets – Laddoos and Modaks .
12 Most Interesting Lord Ganesh Stories For Kids | God Stories
Lord Ganesha, the God of New Beginnings, is the son of Goddess Parvati and Lord Shiva according to Hindu mythology. Here are twelve fun Lord Ganesh stories from which kids can learn some important lessons. We hope you have a pleasant time telling these Lord Ganesh stories to your children.
Scroll down and listen to theses Lord Ganesh stories for kids attached below.
List of Lord Ganesh Stories
1. Lord Ganesh's Birth
Once upon a time, Jaya and Vijaya, two confidants of Goddess Parvati advised her to have at least one guard who obeys only her. However, Goddess Parvati dismissed this idea as she knew that all the guards and devotees of Mahadev are ready to obey her commands whole heartedly.
Few days later, Goddess Parvati was tired and willing to sleep without any disturbance. So she commanded Nandi, a devotee and guard to lord Mahadev, not to allow anyone to enter the house unless she says so. Goddess Parvati retired to her room after that. Only then, Mahadev visited the house for some work. Nandi requested Mahadev not to enter the house as commanded by Goddess Parvati. But Mahadev had some important thing to do so he did not pay attention to Nandi and went inside the house. Mahadev’s entry into house caused some noise due to which Goddess Parvati woke up. Goddess Parvati realized that Jaya and Vijaya were right.
Jaya and Vijaya further suggested Goddess Parvati to build a kid from her body wax and then bring it to life. Since you are cause for the Child’s birth, he will obey only you. Goddess Parvati agreed and did the same. So this is how little Ganesha was born.
2. Story of Elephant Face
On the very next day of Lord Ganesha’s birth, it so happened that Goddess Parvati required total solace in the house to do something. This time, instead of appointing any Mahadev’s devotee to guard the entrance, she appointed her son.
Few hours later, Lord Mahadev came to the house for some urgent work. But, Ganesha stopped him. Lord Mahadev tried to convince lord Ganesha but nothing happened. Finally, somewhat irritated, Mahadev left the house and sent his devotees to get the kid removed from the entrance.
The devotees came and tried their level best to convince lord Ganesha to leave the entrance for Mahadev. However, they left disappointed. Now Mahadev Got angry. He was ordered to coercively remove the kid from entrance. This led to the war between lord Ganesha and Lord Mahadev’s devotees. Lord Ganesh made Mahadev’s devotees bite the dust. All the Demi-Gods, Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu came to Mahadev’s aid and fought on his side but nothing happened. Finally infuriated Mahadev himself led the battle and used his most powerful trident against lord Ganesha. This time, lord Ganesha could not survive the attack and fell off the ground.
When Goddess Parvati heard about this she came running outside and cried bitterly. Seeing this, Mahadev and other Gods repented. They started thinking of something to rectify their mistake. Finally Lord Mahadeva sent his devotee to find a head which can be placed over the neck of the deceased kid and brought back to life. The devotees brought an elephant’s head. The head was placed over the kid and he was brought back to life. A wave of happiness crossed everyone’s heart. All God and Goddesses rejoiced and gave the elephant headed Ganesha thousands of blessings.
Continue enjoying short Lord Ganesh stories below>>
3. Story of First Revered God
Once upon a time, All the Demi Gods started debating over whom the world should worship in the beginning of every auspicious works? When the matter converted into the heated debate, Sage Narada advised Demi-Gods to go and find a solution from Lord Mahadev.
Lord Mahadev said that the decision of one’s superiority over others would be decided by competency and not by hollow claims. Lord Mahadev proposed a competition according to which all the competitors were supposed to circumambulate the entire universe and the one completing the circumambulation first was supposed to be the winner. As soon as Lord Mahadev declared this competition, all the Demi Gods mounted their rides and ran. But Lord Ganesh did not move a bit. After some time, lord ganesha mounted his ride and circumambulated lord Mahadev and Goddess Parvati. When Lord Mahadev asked lord ganesha the reason behind it, he said that you and Goddess Parvati are the entire universe, nothing is outside you. Others also listened to Ganesha’s argument and became speechless. With this Lord Ganesha became the God of the beginnings.
Continue enjoying short Lord Ganesh stories below>>
4. Lesson for Lord Ganesha
Lord Ganesh was a very naughty child. One day, as he was playing, he spotted a cat purring. He got the cat, caught him by its tail, and decided to have some fun with it.
To torment it even more, he began twisting the cat’s tail until it yelled out in pain and yanked itself free of his hold. The cat then twirled around in the air, and fell with great force upon the ground, injuring itself. Yowling with pain, it ran away to its home in the mountains.
He rushed into his home and called out to mother Parvati to give him some food. When she came to him with the food, he was shocked to see her covered with dust, and bruised all over. She was obviously in pain.
He thought to himself that his mother, being the mother of this world, is so great that nobody could have the temerity or the strength to injure her in this way, and cause her pain. Realization dawned suddenly upon him. He understood that if his mother was the mother of all life on the earth, then a part of her also existed in all life. When any part of life was pained or hurt, it obviously brought great discomfort to her also. Her omnipresence in every particle of life was Divine, and the pain of the cat, which he had injured, had to be part of her pain and suffering too.
5. Ekdant Ganesh
Once upon a time, a revered sage Parshuram fought a fierce battle with a King named Kartavyaveer. After defeating Kartavyaveer, Sage Parashuraam thought of receiving blessings from Lord Mahadev and came to Mount Kailash, Mahadev’s abode.
However, Lord Mahadev being engaged in some other important work and had appointed lord Ganesha to look after the entrance. Lord Ganesha tried to convince Parshuraam to wait for a while. But the Sage infuriated being stopped by a lord child. Finally Parshuraam started a war. Despite being lord Ganesh fought with Parshuram really well. At the end, Parshuraam took out his ‘Farsa’ the weapon gifted to him by Lord Mahadev. Respecting his father’s gift, Lord Ganesh did not try to stop this weapon. The Farsa directly stuck Ganesha’stusk and broke it down. This made a terrible noise. Lord Mahadev and Goddess Parvati came running out of the house. Lord Mahadev and Goddess Parvati filled with agony. Even Parshuraam was regretting his action now. To amend his mistake, The sage gifted his Farsa to lord Ganesha. And this is how the Ganesha became Ekdant.
Continue enjoying short Lord Ganesh stories below>>
6. Moon’s Curse
Once upon a time, Lord Ganesha got angry with Lord Brahma and started scaring him assuming fierce forms. When Lord Ganesha was doing so, Moon started laughing. This infuriated Lord Ganesha further. Ganesha cursed the moon because of which the moon lost all his shine and glory. What is the Moon without shine and glory? He lost his visibility.
Horrified, Moon went to Devlok and asked for help. However, all the Demi-Gods in Devlok knew that this is Lord Ganesha’s curse and only Lord Ganesh can reverse it. So all the Demi-Gods advised Moon to worship Lord Ganesh and beg for his forgiveness. The Moon followed the advice.
Pleased by the penance of the Moon, Lord Ganesha appeared before him. The Moon begged forgiveness. Kind Lord Ganesha said that his curse cannot be invalidated but it can be modified into a milder form. Lord Ganesha proclaimed that, whoever will look at the moon on the occasion of Chaturthi, he will face ‘mithya dosh’ meaning false charges of theft. Till date people don’t look at the moon on Ganesh Chaturthi.
7. Riding A Rat
Once upon a time, Demi-God of musical art – Cronch angered sage Vaamdeva. Infuriated Vaamdev cursed Cronch to reduce to a mouse. However, when Cronch pleaded for mercy, the sage gave some respite to him by telling him that one day lord Ganesha will ride upon him and pacify all his sufferings.
Cronch in the form of a mouse reached the hermitage of Rishi Parashar. The mouse destroyed all the gardens of hermitage and started eating everything in the kitchen of hermitage. Saddened Rishi Parashar started praying to Lord Ganesh for some relief.
On those days, Lord Ganesha was incarnated as Sage Parashar’s son. Lord Ganesh immediately made a mystical lasso and trapped the mouse into it. Trapped by Lord Ganesh, the mouse realized his true form and the damage he had done to a sage. He started repenting. Lord Ganesh was happy as the mouse realized his mistake. He blessed him and gave him his ride.
Continue enjoying short Lord Ganesh stories below>>
8. Lord Vishnu's Conch
Ganesha was very fond of Lord Vishnu’s conch. One such event happened when two demons Madhu-Kaitabh emerged from Lord Vishnu’s ears. The demons became very powerful after reading Brahma’s Vedas. Lord Vishnu waged a war against those demons, however, Lord Vishnu appeared to be losing.
Lord Vishnu sought help from Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva in turn directed Ganesha to do something for Lord Vishnu. Obeying his father, Ganesha gave his divine powers to Lord Vishnu and made him much stronger. Mighty Vishnu defeated Madhu Kaitabh. Lord Vishnu was very happy with Ganesh so he decided to fulfill one wish of Ganesh. Ganesh innocently asked Lord Vishnu to blow his conch. Lord Vishnu laughed at Ganesha and started blowing his conch.
9. End of Tripurasur’s Terror
Once upon a time, there lived a demon named Tripurasur. Tripurasur dreamed of conquering the entire Universe. But before starting his expedition, Tripurasur worshipped lord Ganesha and took his blessings. After that mighty Tripurasur attacked Devlok. A fierce battle started between Demi-Gods and Tripurasur’s forces. Demi –Gods were amazed to see the might of merely a demon.
Finally, Lord Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, the entire holy trinity came to rescue the Dmi-Gods, but all in vain. Tripurasur was so powerful this time that no one was able to match his strength. Finally all the Gods and Goddesses took refuge in a mountain cave.
Lord Shiva was pondering over the ways to defeat Tripurasur. Only then, Sage Narad arrived and bowed before Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva asked for the counsel from Sage Narad on the matter. At that time, Sage Narad reminded Lord Shiva, that Shree Ganesh is blessed to be worshipped at the beginning of all the auspicious works, but has he worship Lord Ganesha before starting this venture? Lord Shiva realized his mistake and he along with other Gods and Demi Gods started worshipping Lord Ganesha. Ganesha blessed all the Gods after which Lord Shiva defeated Tripurasur.
10. Lord Ganesh and Kaveri River
This is one of the most popular Lord Ganesh stories among kids. Once upon a time there lived a Sage – Agastya in southern part of Indian Peninsula. One such happened that entire south India faced an extreme drought. Sage Agastya was upset with the condition of his motherland and started doing extreme penance to please lord Mahadev as he knew that only Mahadev can sail through this problem.
Mahadev, happy with Sage Agastya’s Penance, gave him an urn full of sacred water. Such was the power of the water in Urn, that it could create a source of river wherever spilled. Sage Agastya returned to his motherland. Now the sage wondered to choose a point where the water was to be spilled. Before moving ahead, The sage thought of taking a rest for a while. Only then, he saw a lord kid following him. The sage gave him the urn and asked the kid to take care of the urn till he takes rest. The Kid agreed. But as soon as the Sage turned his back, the kid spilled the water at that point and Lo! The river started flowing from that point. When Sage Agastya looked at the kid he realized that the kid was Lord Ganesha came here to tell him that this is the most appropriate spot for the origination of the river.
Continue enjoying short Lord Ganesh stories below>>
11. A Lesson to Kuber
Once upon a time, the Demi-God of wealth and prosperity became too arrogant of his wealth. He used to keep showing-off his opulence to everyone. One day he thought of showing off his glory to all the Gods and Demi-Gods. Kuber organized a grand dinner and then went to invite everyone. At last he reached Kailash Mountain and invited Lord Mahadev and his family to the dinner. Lord Mahadev, being omniscient, understood Kuber’s intentions and taught Kuber a lesson. Mahadev called Lord Ganesha once Kuber left and planned something.
In the evening, all the guests gathered at Kuber’s house. Lord Mahadev also arrived with Goddess Parvati, Kartikeya and Lord Ganesh. The feast started and everyone started eating the delicacies. Few hours passed, the guests started leaving, but lord Ganesh was still busy eating. Few more hours passed and Lord Ganesh was still eating. When Kuber saw that the storage was about to empty, he started trembling.
Kuber realized his folly and ran to Mahadev seeking help. Mahadev gave a ‘Kalash’ filled with mystic water to Kuber and asked him to go and feed it to Lord Ganesh. Kuber did the same and indeed, Lord Ganesha’s hunger was pacified. From that day, no one saw Kuber showing off his wealth.
12. Ganesha’s Kheer
Once upon a time lord Ganesha thought of taking a test of devotion from his devotees. He assumed the form of a little boy and went around a village with one spoon of milk and a handful of rice. He went door to door asking to prepare milk pudding (kheer) for him with the ingredients in his hands. But, everyone laughed at him and denied entertaining his request.
Finally, outside the village, there was an impoverished old lady living in a wrecked hut. Lord Ganesha repeated his request. Old lady, being generous enough, did not deny a little boy’s mistake and started preparing Kheer for him. Lord Ganesh was very happy with the lady’s kindness. His sacred touch not only increased the quantity of Kheer to feed the entire village but he also blessed the old lady to be prosperous for once and for all.
Takeaway from Lord Ganesh Stories
Telling your children stories about Lord Ganesh from mythology is a wonderful approach to introduce them to Hindu mythology. There are many more Lord Ganesh stories for kids that can teach valuable moral and life lessons to children all around the world. We hope you find these stories interesting, entertaining and knowledgable.
Vikram Betal Hindi Stories For Kids
Dig through the ancient story of a King & a ghost
Indian Folk Stories In Hindi For Kids
Collection of folktales from various Indian states
