Elements of Hindu Iconography v1.c9.17

v1.c9.17

In the earliest known reference to him, in the *Aitareya-brāhmaṇa* I. 21, Gaṇapati is identified with Brahmā, Brahmaṇaspati or Bṛihaspati. "The art of writing was usefully employed", says Muir, "in the early ages of philosophy. Lists of words apparently submitting to a general principle of classification, or having the same sense, were drawn up. These lists formed *gaṇas* which were appreciated. Gaṇapati, the Lord of the *gaṇas*, was a name of Brahmaṇaspati. It was gradually recognised as knowledge itself. It was Brahma. It was the Vēda. Prātiśākhyas give *gaṇas*. Yāska's treatise a collection of such *gaṇas*."