Why is Ganapathi(ganesha) potrayed as a obese person?

Answer 1

GANAPATHI OR GANESHA IS the god of wisdom and the remover of obstacles, son of Shiva and Parvati, depicted as a short fat man with an elephant's head.

Every element of the body of Ganesha has its own value and its own significance:

The elephant head indicates fidelity, intelligence and discriminative power;

The fact that he has a single tusk (the other being broken off) indicates Ganesha’s ability to overcome all forms of dualism;
The wide ears denote wisdom, ability to listen to people who seek help and to reflect on spiritual truths. They signify the importance of listening in order to assimilate ideas. Ears are used to gain knowledge. The large ears indicate that when God is known, all knowledge is known;

the curved trunk indicates the intellectual potentialities which manifest themselves in the faculty of discrimination between real and unreal;

on the forehead, the Trishula (weapon of Shiva, similar to Trident) is depicted, symbolising time (past, present and future) and Ganesha's mastery over it;

GANESHA'S POT BELLY CONTAINS INFINITE UNIVERSES. IT SIGNIFIES THE BOUNTY OF NATURE AND EQUANIMITY, THE ABILITY OF GANESHA TO SWALOW THE SORROWS OF UNIVERSE AND PROTECT THE WORLD;

the position of his legs (one resting on the ground and one raised) indicate the importance of living and participating in the material world as well as in the spiritual world, the ability to live in the world without being of the world.

The four arms of Ganesha represent the four inner attributes of the subtle body, that is: mind (Manas), intellect (Buddhi), ego (Ahamkara), and conditioned conscience (Chitta). Ganesha represents the pure consciousness - the Atman - which enables these four attributes to function in us;
The hand waving an axe, is a symbol of the retrenchment of all desires, bearers of pain and suffering. With this axe Ganesha can both strike and repel obstacles. The axe is also to prod man to the path of righteousness and truth;

The second hand holds a whip, symbol of the force that ties the devout person to the eternal beatitude of God. The whip conveys that worldly attachments and desires should be rid of;

The third hand, turned towards the devotee, is in a pose of blessing, refuge and protection (abhaya);

the fourth hand holds a lotus flower (padma), and it symbolizes the highest goal of human evolution, the sweetness of the realised inner self. -

Answer 2

Ganesha is the god who is to be worshipped first. Basically he is combination of man & animal. He has a human body with head of an animal. It shows that when we proceed on spritual path we have mind of animal & similarly we like eating. That is why he has been potrayed as obese person.

Answer 3

When I read the confident "no's" I just cannot help thinking why. I'm morbidly obese at 580lbs and have in my life many girls that want to date me, and my email box is full of requests for the same. Thankfully I have a very nice, beautiful (slim) girlfriend that weighs at least 4 times less than me that takes well care of of me, so I always say "no"

Answer 4

The significance is to make Humans to learn that they are not the Vegetarians alone, to claim any credit as if Harmless to all Livings.
If u take Epics, you may see, Elephant, squirrel, cow, Buffallo, Deer etc. are all involved in Hindu version and in christianism too , Sheep and Goat as an example of vegetarian creation .

Answer 5

"Fat represents wealth. Being fat means that you have eaten a great amount of food. As you can afford to eat such a lot, it means that you are rich. Ganesha being fat makes him the God of wealth - he is called Lambodor. He represents success in life and what goes with it - good living, prosperity and peace. Thus the pot-belly!"

Answer 6

(jokingly) Because he just happened to visit Japan, where he saw these Sumo wrestlers, and decided he too would one day be a gigantic symbol of prosperity and might so that he can fight them.
(litrerally) Because he is supposed to be the epitome and icon of prosperity, wealth. All God Godesses have been so far been shown as in thinner side of health, so Bholenath ji thought of making our lord Ganesha more apealing.in your mind close youe eyes and can you visualize him without his girth. Or visualize Hanuman without his super strong top waist and chest ?

Answer 7

His missing tusk sigrufies knowledge.
Scholars of Hinduism . tell us that Ganesh's fat body represents the hugeness of the cosmos, its combination of man and pachyderm signifying the unity of the microcosm (man) with the macrocosm (depicted as an elephant). Some suggest it has the less esoteric purpose of demonstrating that appearances mean little, and that an outwardly unattractive form can hide internal spiritual beauty.

Answer 8

Full figures date back to very ancient times..it is more an suggeston of bounty that indulgence....Ganesha is a child Deity..

Answer 9

cause he was fond of food and eats lots of sweets
its mythologically correct as an elephant head goes well with a heavy body ..... on a thin frame it would look odd

Answer 10

Pl. read the Shiv-Puran.