Matsyapurana 154.524

154.524

uvāca devīṃ naitatte dṛṣṭapūrvaṃ suvismite
ete gaṇeśāḥ krīḍante śaile 'sminmatpriyāḥ sadā //

Śiva replied—"My dear attendants, the Ganeśvaras, are sporting on this mountain It is their voices Those human beings who have won my pleasure and appreciation by observing austerities, fasts celibacy and pilgrimages to sacred places have now acquired my Gaṇatva (office of attendants) and they can assume any form at will They are full of enterprise, they are highly energetic and endowed with great forms and virtues I am also astonished at their deeds They are powerful enough to annihilate the universe including the Devas I may forsake Brahmâ, Viṣṇu, Indra, Gandharva, Kinnara and the serpents but I cannot live without these attendants They are all enshrined in my mind and they always play in this mountain'—524-529