Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c27.s4.t1.4

v2.c27.s4.t1.4

Thus Ganesa is the chief of the Di minores of the Hindu pantheon, as the etymology of the word indicates,³ and like Janus, was entrusted with the gates of heaven [591] ; while of his right to preside over peace and war, the fable related affords abundant testimony. Ganesa is the first invoked and propitiated ⁴ on every undertaking, whether warlike or pacific. The warrior implores his counsel ; the banker indites his name at the commencement of every letter ; the architect places his image in the foundation of every edifice ; and the figure of Ganesa is either sculptured or painted at the door of every house as a protection against evil. Our Hindu Janus is represented as four-armed, and holding the disk (chakra), the war-shell, the club, and the lotos. Ganesa is not, however, bifrons, like the Roman guardian of portals. In every transaction he is adi, or the first, though the Hindu does not, like the Roman, open the year with his name. I shall conclude with remarking that one of the portes of every Hindu city is named the Ganesa Pol, as well as some conspicuous entrance to the palace : thus Udaipur has its Ganesa dwara, who also gives a name to the hall, the Ganesa deori ; and his shrine will be found on the ascent of every sacred mount, as at Abu, where it is placed close to a fountain on the abrupt face about twelve hundred feet from the base. There is likewise a hill sacred to him in Mewar called Ganesa Gir, tantamount to the Mons Janiculum of the eternal city. The companion of this divinity is a rat, who indirectly receives a portion of homage, and with full as much right as the bird emblematic of Minerva.⁵