History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c37.74

v3.c37.74

About Gaṇeśa a few words have already been said (at pp. 213-216). Gaṇeśa came to be worshipped even by the Jainas. Vide Ācāra-dinakara (composed in *saṁvat* 1468) published in the Kharataragaccha-granthamālā (part II, 1923), where on p. 210 there is the procedure of consecrating an image of Gaṇeśa even for Jainas and ‘Journal of Indian History’, vol. 18 for 1939 p. 158 for different types of Gaṇeśa figures one of which has 18 arms. For a figure of Gaṇeśa with sweetmeats (of about 500 A. D.) vide ‘Ancient India’ by Codrington (Plate XXXIX). The Ācāradinakara says that images of Gaṇeśa may have two, four, six, nine, 18 or 108 arms. The Agnipurāṇa chap. 71, the Mudgalapurāṇa and Gaṇeśapurāṇa deal with Gaṇeśa worship, but their dates are uncertain. The Vārahapurāṇa chap. 23 narrates a fantastic story of the birth of Gaṇeśa. The Gaṇapatyatharvaśīrṣa (Anan. ed.) identifies Gaṇeśa with supreme Brahma.∗ The worship of the images of planets is comparatively ancient. Yāj. I. 296-298 prescribes that the images for the worship of the nine *grahas* (planets) viz. the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rāhu and Ketu (the last two are the nodal points) should be made respectively of copper, crystal, red sandal-wood, gold (for both Mercury and Jupiter), silver, iron, lead and bronze. Yāj. then prescribes the details of the worship of the planets such as the clothes to be gifted, the flowers, incenses, offerings, and the mantras (from the Vāj. S.), the fuel-sticks, the food, and the fee. The Mit. on Yāj. I. 297 quotes nine verses from the Matsyapurāṇa, chap. 94, concerning the details of the images of the nine planets.