The story of Ganesh Chaturthi is an important part of the festival. It is believed that no one should see the moon without reading or hearing the story of Ganesha and Krishna's ShamantakamaNi episode. Otherwise, they will suffer from unnecessary blame and indignity due to Goddess Parvati's curse on the Moon.
So, we should tell the story of Ganesha's attaining his title as "Lord of GaNas", why Parvati curses Moon, and the after-effects of that curse. Lord Krishna was kind enough to turn this curse ineffective for those who read, tell, or remember this story on this day and put some akshata on their heads after performing the Ganesh Puja and hearing the story.
I am sharing this story in a simple format for everyone's benefit.
The Story of Ganesha, Krishna, and Shamantakamani
The whole story of the Ganesh Chauth celebration has many points that emphasize the importance of observing this ritual.
There is the birth of Ganesha, his appointment as Lord of GaNas and Obstacles, the Curse on the Moon, the story of Sri Krishna getting affected by the curse, and his solution in relaxing the powers and effects of the curse. I am telling all these incidents with suitable headings in the following paragraphs.
The Story of Gajasura & Ganesha's Birth
According to an incident from Shiv Purana, the story goes that Lord Shiva granted a boon to a demon Gajaasura (an ardent devotee of Shiva) to reside in his belly and protect him from enemies. When Parvati could not find her consort, Shiva, she approached Brahma, Vishnu, and others for help. Lord Vishnu crafts a plan to save him and all of them reach Gajasura's city. They reach Gajasura's court in disguised forms with musical instruments, decorating the divine Nandi as a bull. The bull dances to their musical performance. Gajasura was pleased and asked them to tell their wish as he wanted to award them. Vishnu asked for Shiva's release after revealing their identities. Gajasura couldn't retreat from his word. So, he allowed Nandi to break open his belly for the release of Shiva on the condition that his head would be provided a worthy status of reverence and kept with Lord Shiva.
Hearing about the news of Lord Shiva's release, Parvati gets joyous and decides to have a bath to get herself ready to welcome him. Before going to bath, she made the figure of a child with the sandalwood paste that she used to apply to her skin while bathing, breathed life into it, and kept the child as a guard at the doors to not allow anybody while bathing.
When Lord Shiva enters, the boy stops him as he does not know him. Shiva gets enraged beheads the child and enters in. Knowing this, Parvati weeps for the child. Realizing his mistake, Shiva orders his ganas (or troops) to bring the head of Gajasura (whom he had given a boon before Lord Vishnu ordered Nandi to break open his womb for Shiva's release) and joins the head to the body of the child and makes him alive. From that time, Ganesha came to be known as Gajaanan.
Ganesha Becomes Lord of GaNas & Protector From Obstacles
Lord Shiva chooses Ganesha as the head of the ganas and appoints him as the Protector from Obstacles as he wins the test of bathing in all the rivers of the world and returns first to his parents before his brother Kumaraswamy (with the help of the Narayana mantra bestowed to him by Lord Shiva because of his humbleness and respect to his parents).
The Curse on the Moon
All the angels and the troops celebrate the occasion by offering various kinds of food and fruits to Ganesha. After eating all those offerings, Ganesha returns to his parents and tries to bend down to pay obeisance to them seeking blessings. But due to his heavy belly (after eating so much food offered by so many beings), he experiences much difficulty in bowing to them.
Witnessing Ganesha's inability to bend his body, the Moon on the head of Lord Shiva breaks into laughter. Immediately the stomach of Ganesha breaks out and he falls down unconscious on the floor with all food scattered out from his belly. Goddess Parvati gets very angry at this with the Moon and curses him, saying that whoever sees him will get a bad name and ill luck thereafter.
Lord Shiva cools Parvati and makes Ganesha alive again using his powers on the advice of Brahma, Vishnu, and others.
Lord Shiva cools Parvati and makes Ganesha alive again using his powers on the advice of Brahma, Vishnu, and others.
Parvati Relaxed Curse, But Krishna Became a Victim of the Curse
Later, all people, including sages, approached Parvati and requested her to take back her curse upon the Moon as it is not possible to live in the world without seeing the moon. Parvati realized their problem and said that her curse could not be taken back, but she could relax it. The Curse would be applicable for one day only on this day of Ganesh Chaturthi tithi each year, on which day nobody should witness the moon. They all were pleased and observed the practice as per her instructions.
Later, after many years, Lord Krishna happens to see the moon in the milk while he was churning the cows, on this day of Ganesh Chauth. He becomes worried about this sight and foresees that he is also not spared from being affected by that curse.
It happened that one king Satrajit once pleased Sun God through his prayers and got a golden jewel known as Shamantakamani. It has some magical powers of producing gold of 160 tulas (one Tula is equal to 10 grams) daily for whoever keeps the jewel with him. After possessing it, the king once visited Lord Krishna and revealed the secrets of his possession. Krishna asks him to give it to him. But the king does not agree and returns home.
After that incident, one day Satrajit's brother happens to wear it and go hunting in the forests where he gets killed by a lion. The lion swallowed the jewel thinking it to be meat. Jambavantha, an immortal vanara in the shape of a bear of the Ramayana period, was roaming around at that time. He sees the dazzling jewel in the belly of the lion and kills it. Jambavantha ties the jewel to the cradle of his small daughter to play with it.
When Satrajit finds his brother missing, he accuses Lord Krishna of killing his brother and stealing the jewel. Krishna realizes that he got this false accusation because of the curse on the Moon as he witnessed the moon in the milk.
When Satrajit finds his brother missing, he accuses Lord Krishna of killing his brother and stealing the jewel. Krishna realizes that he got this false accusation because of the curse on the Moon as he witnessed the moon in the milk.
Krishna's Fight With Jambavantha & Relaxation of the Curse
So Krishna immediately goes in search of Satrajit's brother to prove himself innocent and finds the dead body of the person and the body of a lion at some distance. Then following the footprints, he reaches the cave of Jambavantha wherein the jewel was shining brilliantly like a sun tied to the cradle of Jaambavan's daughter. When he snatches the jewel, the child cries and Jambavantha comes there and fights with Sri Krishna fiercely. The battle takes place continuously for 21 days while nobody gives in. Jambavantha realizes that it must be Sri Rama of the Ramayana period with whom he had requested foolishly for a fight when he was asked to seek a reward for his services. So he realizes his mistake and bows to Sri Krishna and seeks his forgiveness for his sin and returns him the jewel and along with it his daughter also as a gift.
Sri Krishna returns the jewel to King Satrajit after telling him all that had happened. The king feels ashamed for his action and seeks forgiveness from Krishna and gives the jewel to him as a repentance and also requests him to marry his daughter Satyabhama. Lord Krishna accepts Satyabhama but returns back the jewel to keep with Satrajit.
When all the angels, sages, and human beings come to know of these incidents, they reach Sri Krishna and ask for his help in seeking a remedy for saving themselves also from the curse of Goddess Parvati. Then Sri Krishna gets pity on them and tells them to remember this story and read it or hear it from others on this day of Ganesh Chaturthi each year after offering prayers to Ganesha and take the prasadam and then they will not get any bad name on seeing the moon on that day.
Sri Krishna returns the jewel to King Satrajit after telling him all that had happened. The king feels ashamed for his action and seeks forgiveness from Krishna and gives the jewel to him as a repentance and also requests him to marry his daughter Satyabhama. Lord Krishna accepts Satyabhama but returns back the jewel to keep with Satrajit.
When all the angels, sages, and human beings come to know of these incidents, they reach Sri Krishna and ask for his help in seeking a remedy for saving themselves also from the curse of Goddess Parvati. Then Sri Krishna gets pity on them and tells them to remember this story and read it or hear it from others on this day of Ganesh Chaturthi each year after offering prayers to Ganesha and take the prasadam and then they will not get any bad name on seeing the moon on that day.
So from that day onwards, everybody began performing Ganesh Pooja and hearing the story of Lord Ganesha and the Shamanthakamani story of Sri Krishna each year on this auspicious day.
