Ganapatya

2025-08-22T09:02:24Z

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{{Short description|Denomination of Hinduism that worships Ganesha}}
{{Hinduism}}
'''Ganapatya''' is a denomination of [[Hinduism]] that worships [[Ganesha]] (also called Ganapati) as the [[Parabrahman]], [[Saguna Brahman]].<ref name="PHILTAR">[http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/hindu/devot/ganap.html Ganapatyas] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060128224656/http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/hindu/devot/ganap.html |date=2006-01-28 }} Article from PHILTAR, Division of Religion and Philosophy, St Martin's College</ref>
[[File:India ganesha.jpg|thumb|A 13th-century statue of Ganesha, [[Hoysala Empire|Hoysala]]-style, [[Karnataka]]]]
{{CSS image crop|Image=Dagdusheth Ganpati 02.JPG|bSize=400|cWidth=213|cHeight=250|oTop=40|oLeft=50|Description=The central icon of Ganesha at the [[Dagadusheth Halwai Ganapati temple]].|Align=left}}

==Beliefs==
The worship of [[Ganesha]] is considered complementary with the worship of other deities. Hindus of all sects begin prayers, important undertakings, and religious ceremonies with an invocation of Ganesha, because of Ganesha's role as the god of beginnings. But although most Hindu sects do revere Ganesha, the Ganapatya sect goes further than that, and declares Ganesha to be the supreme being. Ganapatya is one of the six principal Hindu sects which focus on a particular deity, alongside [[Shaivism]], focused on [[Shiva]]; [[Shaktism]], focused on [[Shakti]]; [[Vaishnavism]], focused on [[Vishnu]]; Indraism, focused on [[Indra]]; and Saura, focused on [[Surya]]. While Ganapatya is not as large a sect as the other five, it still has been influential.{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}} There is also the [[Smartism]] sect, which follows [[Advaita]] philosophy and practices the "worship of the five forms" ([[Panchayatana puja|{{IAST|pañcāyatana pūjā}}]]) system, popularized by {{IAST|Śaṅkarācārya}}. In this system, the five deities Ganesha, [[Vishnu]], Shiva, [[Devī]], and Sūrya are viewed as five equal forms of one [[Para Brahman|Nirguna Brahman]].<ref>Grimes, John A. Ganapati: Song of the Self. (State University of New York Press: Albany, 1995) p. 162.</ref>

==History==
{{More citations needed section|date= June 2024}}
Ganapati has been worshipped as part of Shaivism since at least the fifth century. A specific Ganapatya sect probably began to appear between the sixth and ninth centuries: six sects are mentioned in the Sankara digvijaya (life of Adi Shankara) by Anandigiri. It reached a high point about the tenth century, and built temples dedicated to Ganesha, the largest of which is the [[Ucchi Pillayar Koil]] (the Columns Hall of a Thousand Pillars), on the Rock Fort of [[Tiruchirappalli]] in [[Tamil Nadu]]. Ganesha is worshipped as the Supreme Being ([[Para Brahman]]) in this sect. Being the chief deity in this form of Hinduism, he is known by the epithet Parameshwara (Supreme God), which is normally reserved for Shiva.

===Moraya Gosavi===
Later, the sect was popularized by [[Morya Gosavi]]. According to one source, he found an idol of Ganapati not made by human hands, and built [[Morgaon Ganesha temple|the Moragao temple]] near Pune in the 14th century.{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}} According to another, he experienced visions of Ganapati at the Morgaon shrine, and was entombed alive (Sanjeevan samadhi) in 1651, in a Ganesha temple at his birthplace in Chinchwad.<ref name=BookRags>[http://www.bookrags.com/other/religion/gapatyas-eorl-05.html {{IAST|GĀṆapatyas}}] Article from BookRags.com</ref>

Following him, the Ganapatya sect became prominent between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries in [[Maharashtra]] in south western India, centering on Cinchwad. Its centre is still among Hindus in the Marathi-speaking Maharashtra, and it is important in the rest of South India. Devotees hold an annual pilgrimage between [[Chinchwad]] and Moragao.

Sect marks include a red circle on the forehead, or the brands of an elephant face and tusk on the shoulders.

== Scriptures ==
{{See also|Ganesha Purana|Mudgala Purana|Ganapati Atharvashirsa}}

In the Ganapatya tradition founded in the ''Ganesha Purana'' and the ''Mudgala Purana,'' Ganesha is worshipped as one of the five principle deities along with Siva, Vishnu, the Sun, and the Goddess.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thapan |first=Anita Raina |title=Understanding Gaṇapati: insights into the dynamics of a cult |date=1997 |publisher=Manohar |isbn=978-81-7304-195-2 |edition=1. publ |location=New Delhi}}</ref>

The date of composition for the ''Ganesha Purana'' and the ''Mudgala Purana''—and their dating relative to one another—has sparked academic debate. Both works were developed over time and contain age-layered strata. Anita Thapan reviews comment about dating and provide her own judgment. "It seems likely that the core of the Ganesha Purana appeared around the twelfth and thirteenth centuries", she says, "but was later interpolated." Lawrence W. Preston considers the most reasonable date for the ''Ganesha Purana'' to be between 1100 and 1400, which coincides with the apparent age of the sacred sites mentioned by the text.<ref>Preston, Lawrence W., "Subregional Religious Centers in the History of Maharashtra: The Sites Sacred to ''Gaṇeśa''", in: N.K. Wagle, ed., ''Images of Maharashtra: A Regional Profile of India''. p. 103.</ref>

R.C. Hazra suggests that the ''Mudgala Purana'' is older than the ''Ganesha Purana'', which he dates between 1100 and 1400.<ref>R.C. Hazra, "The ''Gaṇeśa Purāṇa''", ''Journal of the Ganganatha Jha Research Institute'' (1951); 79–99.</ref> However, Phyllis Granoff finds problems with this relative dating and concludes that the ''Mudgala Purana'' was the last of the philosophical texts concerned with Ganesha. She bases her reasoning on the fact that, among other internal evidence, the ''Mudgala Purana'' specifically mentions the ''Ganesha Purana'' as one of the four Puranas (the ''Brahma'', the ''Brahmanda'', the ''Ganesha'', and the ''Mudgala'' Puranas) which deal at length with Ganesha.<ref>Phyllis Granoff, "''Gaṇeśa'' as Metaphor", in [[Ganesha#CITEREFBrown1991|Brown 1991]], pp. 94–95.</ref> While the kernel of the text must be old, it was interpolated until the 17th and 18th centuries as the worship of Ganapati became more important in certain regions. Another highly regarded scripture in the ''Ganapatya'' tradition, the Sanskrit ''Ganapati Atharvashirsa'', was probably composed during the 16th or 17th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Courtright |first=Paul B. |title=Ganésa. Lord of obstacles, lord of beginnings |date=1985 |publisher=Oxford Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-19-505742-3 |location=New York, N.Y}}</ref>

The ''[[Ganesha Sahasranama]]'' is part of the Puranic literature, and is a litany of a thousand names and attributes of Ganesha. Each name in the [[sahasranama]] conveys a different meaning and symbolises a different aspect of Ganesha. Versions of the ''Ganesha Sahasranama'' are found in the ''Ganesha Purana''.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Gaṇeśapurāṇa. 1: Upāsanākhaṇḍa |date=1995 |publisher=Harrassowitz |isbn=978-3-447-03647-4 |series=Purāṇa research publications, Tübingen |location=Wiesbaden}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Herambasuta]]
* [[Mahaganapati]]
* [[Thirty-two forms of Ganesha]]

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.bookrags.com/other/religion/gapatyas-eorl-05.html {{IAST|GĀṆapatyas}}] – article from BookRags.com
*[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ganapatya Ganapatya] – ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''

{{Ganesha}}

[[Category:Ganesha]]
[[Category:Hindu denominations]]

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Ganapatya