Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c27.s4.37

v2.c27.s4.37

Ganesa.—One of the most important of the Roman divinities was Janus, whence Januae, or portals, of which he was the guardian.³ A resemblance between the Ganesa of the Hindu pantheon and the Roman Janus has been pointed out by Sir W. Jones, but his analogy extended little beyond nominal similarity. The fable of the birth of Ganesa furnishes us with the origin of the worship of Janus, and as it has never been given, I shall transcribe it from the bard Chand. Ganesa is the chief of the genii ⁴ attendant on the god of war, and was expressly formed by Uma, the Hindu Juno, to guard the entrance of her caverned retreat in the [590] Caucasus, where she took refuge from the tyranny of the lord of Kailasa (Olympus), whose throne is fixed amidst eternal snows on the summit of this peak of the gigantic Caucasus (*Koh-khasa*).¹