The most fundamental of Hindu deities, is the Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva - popular deities include Ganesha, Krishna, Hanuman and goddesses like Lakshmi, Durga,Saraswati.
The most interesting story concerning Ganesh is the belief that he was the scribe who wrote the Mahabharata. Sage Vyasa, the author of this epic, was advised by Brahma, on whom he meditated, to ask Ganesha to be the scribe to whom he could dictate the epic in verse formGanapati appeared before Brahma and agreed to write, but on one condition, and that was that Vyasa would dictate continuously without pause. Vyasa agreed but he had his own condition, and that was that Ganesha should understand every word and thought and its implications before writing it down Whenever Vyasa found Ganesha had completed writing a verse, he would dictate a verse with very complex meanings so that Ganesha had to stop and think it over. This gave Vyasa time to compose a few stanzas mentally and dictate them when Ganesha was ready Ganesha used his broken tusk to write the Mahabharata, the longest epic the world has ever known. Is it surprising then that with Vyasa as the poet, Ganesha as the scribe and Krishna as the main hero, this epic has few equals in the world This story also has a lesson for mankind, that the Mahabharata should not be hurriedly read. It should be understood and digested, heard patiently and ruminated upon. In fact there is a superstition that the Mahabharata should never be read, only listened to, one small part at a time. Only then can one understand the depth of the meanings underlying the events in the epic.
