GANEHSA

Real Name: Ganehsa (also spelled Ganesh and Ganesha)

Occupation: God of wisdom, patron god of elephants

Legal Status: Citizen of Nirvana

Identity: The general populace of Earth is unaware of the existence of Ganehsa except as a mythological character.

Other Aliases: Ganapati, Gajendra, The Elephant-god

Place of Birth: Kailasa in the Nirvana dimension

Marital Status: Married

Known Relatives: Shiva (father), Parvati (mother), Skanda (brother, alias Kartikeya), Kali (sister), Siddhi, Buddhi (wives), Ksema, Labha (sons), Dharma, Padma, Vach, Daksha, Kama (cousins), Lakshmi, Sarasvati (aunts), Vishnu, Brahma (uncles), Visvarupa (father-in-law), Himavat (grandfather), Gaea (grandmother, alias Ammavaru),

Group Affiliations: The Hindu Gods

Base of Operations: Nirvana

First Appearance: (historical) "Pantheons of the Megaverse" by C.J. Carella, (recent) Wonder Woman II #149

History: Ganehsa is one of the Devas, an extra-dimensional race of beings worshipped as gods by the people of India. Descended from the old Adityas or Vedic gods, Ganehsa is one of the most important gods of the modern Hindu religion.

Parvati had given birth to Ganehsa to be a countenance against good and evil deeds and altered his appearance that he would be too handsome to marry or take a wife. However, because of her spell, Shiva could not recognize his son when the young god was guarding her bed chambers as she took a bath. Not realizing the young god was his son, Shiva ripped Ganehsa's head off of his body as he cast him aside to be with Parvati. Ganehsa's death shocked Parvat and all the gods, but Shiva rectified the matter by promising to restore him to life with the life-force of the first living thing he found. His servants quickly discovered Airavata, the elephant-mount of Indra the thunder-god and took it from him as penance for Indra's slaying of Vritra, one of the Naga-gods. Possibly as some required side effect of the spell, Ganehsa began to resemble a elephant with the body of a man. (According to later myth, Shiva had simply just replaced Ganehsa's head with that of the elephant.) Parvati was not satisfied with this accomplishment of repentance and wanted more. Shiva then granted Ganehsa himself a boon and promised him that all Hindus on earth would acknowledge his existence before starting any task or undertaking. The wise elephant-god was soon called upon by all his worshippers for any mortal endeavor they started.

Ganehsa was the brother of Skanda, the war god and they decided to compete between themselves for wives. They chose to race around the world to decide who was worthy to marry, and Skanda set off to race around the world. Ganehsa, however, proved much more the wily god in his brother's absence by circling his father, Shiva, who under Hindu religion represented the epitome of all creation. He debated the feat with his father by holding up the veracity of the Vedas and the Sastras, the two most holy tomes of the Hindu gods, and Shiva praised him for being clever and intelligent. He took the sisters, Siddhi and Buddhi, daughters of one of the Vedic gods, to be his wives, and they each granted him a son. 

Ganehsa was well worshipped among the Hindu gods for centuries and still has countless worshippers today. In recent years, however, the Titan Cronus invaded Nirvana as a stepping stone to conquering Elysium, the Judeo-Christian afterlife. Ganehsa and the Hindu gods fought against Cronus and his gathering of rogue Titans and Rakshasas and with the help of Wonder Woman and the Gods of Olympus managed to defeat Cronus and exile him back to the underworld. 

Height: 7' 2"
Weight: 745 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: None

Unusual Physical Features: Ganehsa resembles a huge humanoid male with the head and tusks of an Indian Elephant.

Strength Level: Ganehsa possesses superhuman strength enabling him to lift (press) around 50 tons under optimal conditions.

Known Superhuman Powers: Ganehsa possesses the conventional physical attributes of the Devas or Hindu gods. Like all Devas, he is extraordinarily long lived, but he is not immortal like the Olympian gods. He has not aged since reaching adulthood and cannot die by any conventional means. He is immune to all Earthly diseases and is resistant to conventional injury. If he were somehow wounded, his godly life force would enable him to recover with superhuman speed. It would take an injury of such magnitude that it dispersed a major portion of his bodily molecules to cause him a physical death. Even then, it might be possible for a god of significant power, such as Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva or for a number of Hindu gods of equal power working together to revive him. Ganehsa also possesses superhuman strength and his Deva metabolism provides him with far greater than human endurance in all physical activities. (Deva flesh and bone is about three times as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to the superhuman strength and weight of the Hindu gods.)

Ganehsa also seems to be able to tap into and manipulate mystical energy to perform feats of magic, but he is no where as powerful as gods like Shiva or Vishnu. He has remarkable mental acuity, capable of assessing and estimating facts and estimations although he is often distracted by his baser emotional instincts. His reasoning and deducting skills are superhuman with his rationalizing ability and fourth-dimensional acuity above par.

Ganehsa is also an extremely powerful deity given his size and girth. His skin is impervious to weapons and he can use his tusks to incur damage. He can use his trunk as an extra limb to move or lift objects up to fifty tons in weight.

Abilities: Ganehsa is an extremely wily yet beneficent deity.

Pets: Ganehsa rides upon a giant rat.

Comments: This bio pretty much involves Ganehsa in the DC Universe. It is unknown if he has appeared in the Marvel Universe except behind the scenes. 

Last updated: 04/18/07

 

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