in face and man in body. The elephant’s head is regarded as the emblem of sagacity. In his image he is always seated at his ease, with his legs folded under him on a lotus throne. He has four arms and they hold an elephant’s trunk, a noose, a mace, and a modaka (rice pudding). He wears a crown. His ears are adorned with jewels and his forehead wears the vibhuti—the sacred ashes. He wears a garland of pearls and precious stones round his neck. He is worshipped under the different names of Vinayaka, Ganesa, Ganapati, Pillaiyar, etc. As this most popular deity is worshipped in almost every village, there is a belief among certain people that he is the god of the Sudras and lower orders, who are generally uneducated. As an authority for this belief, the following couplet is sometimes quoted:—
Vipranam daivatam Sambhuh
Kshatriyanam tu Madhavah
Vaisyanam tu bhaved Brahma
Sudranam Gananayakah
The above verse means that Siva is the god of the Brahmans, Vishnu of the Kshatriyas, Brahma of the Vaisyas, and Ganesa of the Sudras. This is a most fanciful verse, which
