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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE. and las the trunk of an elephant with only one tusk, in place of the natural head of which he was deprived soon after his birth. His mount is a rat, and he eats only sweets. The youngest of gods, he nevertheless insists on being the first to be invited, and gets angry and causes a lot of mischief if neglected. In build he is ill-knit and awkward as if disjointed. These are the main characteristics of Ganesha.
In interpreting this personification, we must begin with the mount --the rat----which is noted for the excellent use it makes of its teeth. Now, the only mental faculty which can be represented by an animal notorious all over the world for its cutting propensities is analysis, which enables us to ascertain the composition of things. The awkward, ill-knit body of Ganesha with an elephant's trunk, on the other hand, is suggestive of synthesis, which being more useful than analysis has precedence over it. Hence, the rat is described as the mount of Ganesha.
The solitary tusk has reference to the monistic view which certain systems of philosophy aspire to attain. Obviously, two tusks would have been compatible with dualism* alone. Ganesha is represented as a child, inasmuch as wisdom makes people so, and also becauso wisdom is the last to be born. This also explains why Ganesha is the youngest of gods. He cats sweets, because ananda (happiness) is the fruit of wisdom. His insistence on being the first to be invited, and the
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* The same idea is traccable in the personality of Odin of the Toutonic mythology, who sacrificed one of his cyes, so that he might be dowered with great wisdom.'
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