Ganesh is one of the most iconic gods of Asia, probably because of his distinct physical attributes. His images are found throughout India, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, Indonesia, and several other countries. The typical representation of Ganesha is a human body with a pot belly and an elephant head. There are many stories about how he acquired his elephant head; many insist that he was born with it, but the majority say he got it later on. One story says that Shiva beheaded Ganesh when he came between Shiva and Parvati (Hindu goddess of power) and that Shiva later replaced his head with an elephant head. My favorite explanation, and probably the most logical one is that Ganesha's mother was showing her new baby off to the other gods, but unfortunately the god Shani, who is said to have the 'evil eye', looked at the baby causing his head to burn to ashes. Then Vishnu came to the rescue and gave the baby a new head, which happened to be that of an elephant.
What's more important than the bizzare physical attributes of Ganesh is the worship and beliefs associated with him. He is worshiped mainly as a remover of obstacles. He also will give obstacles to those who need to be checked. Ganesh is also believed to personify the primal sound, aum.
Ganesh is said to reside in the first chakra, Muladhara. This is the main chakra at the base of the spine, where Ganesh supports the rest of the chakras, governing 'the wheel of life'. Besides his obvious role in Hinduism, Ganesh is also seen in some practices of Buddhism, where his image has five heads and rides a lion. The role of the god in Buddhism though, is very different than that of Hindu beliefs.
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