Gāṇapatya — Gaṇeśa as the supreme

गाणपत्य

Also written: ganapatya · ganesha · ganapati · vinayaka · ashtavinayaka · गणेश

Gaṇeśa is invoked first in every ritual of every tradition — Śaiva, Vaiṣṇava, Śākta alike. The Gāṇapatya sampradāya takes the further step of treating him not as the remover of obstacles for others' worship but as the supreme reality itself.

The Gaṇapati Atharvaśīrṣa

त्वं ब्रह्मा त्वं विष्णुस्त्वं रुद्रस्त्वमिन्द्रस्त्वमग्निस्त्वं वायुस्त्वं सूर्यस्त्वं चन्द्रमास्त्वं ब्रह्मभूर्भुवःस्वरोम्।

tvaṁ brahmā tvaṁ viṣṇus tvaṁ rudras tvam indras tvam agnis tvaṁ vāyus tvaṁ sūryas tvaṁ candramās tvaṁ brahma bhūr bhuvaḥ svar om

You are Brahmā, You are Viṣṇu, You are Rudra, Indra, Agni, Vāyu, Sūrya, Candra; You are Brahman, the three worlds, Om.

— Gaṇapati Atharvaśīrṣa

The symbolism, read carefully

Feature	Meaning given in the tradition
The elephant head	Wisdom, and the capacity to remove what blocks the way
Large ears	Listen more than you speak
Small eyes	Concentration — the narrowed gaze
The single tusk	One-pointedness; the broken tusk with which he wrote the Mahābhārata without pause
The large belly	The capacity to digest everything that comes, pleasant and unpleasant alike
The mouse as vehicle	Desire, small and ceaselessly gnawing — mastered, and made to carry
Modaka in the hand	The sweetness of realisation, held out rather than consumed

The aṣṭavināyaka — eight self-manifested Gaṇeśa shrines around Pune — form the principal pilgrimage of the tradition, and Gaṇeśa Caturthī, especially as reorganised by Tilak in 1893 into a public festival, is among the largest observances in India.

Gāṇapatya — Gaṇeśa as the supreme

The Gaṇapati Atharvaśīrṣa

The symbolism, read carefully

The Āgama traditions and the six paths

Śaiva traditions

Śākta traditions — the Goddess as supreme

Vaiṣṇava traditions

Saura — the worship of the Sun

Kaumāra — Skanda, Murugan, Kārttikeya