Not according to the Vedas, but there are two stories of the birth of Lord Ganesha. One is from the Skanda Purana, and another is from the Brahmavaivartha Purana.
STORY FROM SKANDA PURANA:
This is the famous story known to everyone. Umadevi took out some of the Pruthvi tattva from Her body, made an idol of clay, and gave the idol life. The idol transformed into a living, handsome boy. After that, Umadevi asked Him to guard Kailasa and not to let anyone in. After saying this, Umadevi went to have a bath. Now, Lord Shiva came there. He saw that handsome boy and asked Him to let Him in. The boy refused, saying that, He was obeying His mother’s orders, and hence cannot let Lord Shiva enter.
Enraged by this, Lord Shiva beheaded the boy with His trishoola. Umadevi, and all the devatas came there. On seeing all that, Umadevi was very disappointed. She requested Lord Shiva to restore their son. Lord Shiva instructed His ganas to go and bring the head of anyone who was lying facing the northern direction. The Shiva Ganas, led by Nandishwara, went to bring the head.
They saw that an elephant was sleeping, facing towards the north direction. They cut its head and brought it to Kailasa. Now, why did they take that head? There are two reasons behind it. One is: This elephant had once crushed the Hari Nirmalya with its feet. That’s why, as a punishment, its head was cut off and brought. The second one, I will tell you later. Now, the Shiva Ganas came and gave the elephant head to Lord Shiva, and Lord Shiva attached that head to the boy. Now, this boy was Gajamukha and had an elephant head.
He was named Ganesha since He was the leader of the Ganas. He is also called Ganapati because of that. Since He fought with Lord Shiva, His father Himself, He was known as Heramba. Since, He has an elephant face, He is known as Gajamukha, or Gajanana. He is known as Vighneshwara, or Vinayaka, because He removes all our obstacles. Srihari declared that Ganesha would be worshipped first before starting any auspicious task. Since He is very handsome, He is known as Sumukha. He has sharp, big ears; that’s why He is known as Shoorpakarna. He has chandra on His head, therefore known as Bhaalachandra. He has a curved trunk; that’s why He is known as Vakratunda. He has black eyes; that’s why He is known as Krishna Pingaaksha. He has a large belly; that’s why He is known as Lambodara. Since He has an unusual and unique form (an elephant head and a human body), that’s why He is known as Vikata.
BRAHMA VAIVARTHA PURAANA
This story is not known to many people. And this is completely different from the story which I mentioned earlier. What happened is, Umadevi had performed Santaana Gopalakrishna Vrata. In this, She did the pooja, daana, and everything. Now, with the grace of SantanaGopala roopi Lord Narayana, She obtained a male child. The child was looking very beautiful and was full of auspicious lakshanas.
Now, She named the baby Ganesha. Now, the devatas came to see Ganesha. At that time, Shanideva too had come to see Ganesha. Umadevi called Shanideva, but Shanideva refused to come and see the baby. The reason was: Earlier, when Shanideva was doing dhyaana of Srihari, His wife came and saw that Shanideva ignored Her, even though She called Him many times. Enraged by this, She cursed Shanideva that if He saw anyone, then may their head be cut off.
Shanideva told Umadevi about the curse and refused to see Ganesha, but Umadevi still insisted Him to come and see Ganesha. The moment Shanideva saw Ganesha, Ganesha’s head was cut off, and he disappeared. Umadevi was astonished and was very disappointed about that. She prayed to Srihari to bring Her child back to life. Srihari, listening to Umadevi’s prayer, appeared there. He took His Sudarshana Chakra and cut off the head of the elephant. This elephant was the elephant that crushed the Hari-Nirmalya earlier. So, as a punishment, Srihari cut off its head and attached the elephant head to the baby.
Thus, the baby Ganesha obtained an elephant face. This is in the short story of Ganesha’s birth from two Puranas. Ganesha is Raktavarna (red in color), likes Raktapushpa (Hibiscus), wears Raktambara (red garments), and loves Raktagandha, as the Ganapati Atharvashirsha itself says.
SECOND REASON WHICH I WAS ABOUT TO TELL…
Now, I would tell you the second reason why Ganesha obtained the Gajamukha. See, Ganesha is the upaasaka, or the worshipper of the Vishvambhara roopa of Lord Vishnu. As per the Maandukya Upanishad, Lord Vishnu has 4 forms, namely Vishva, Taijasa, Turiya, Praajna. This Vishva roopi Narayana is the Vishvambhara roopi Narayana, who is the presiding deity for the Jaagrata avastha, or the awakened state. He resides in our eyes and makes us see all these worlds. Vishvambhara means ‘All-pervading’. Since Ganesha worships this form of Lord Vishnu, who is all-pervading, He is the presiding deity for the all-pervading Aakaasha Tattva.
Now, we come to the important point. Lord Vishvambhara has 19 faces. Out of those, the central face is of an elephant. Rest 18 faces are male human faces. For easier visualization, you can bring Krishna’s vishvaroopa. Replace the central face with an elephant face, and the rest of the faces with human faces. Now, Lord Vishvambhara has a broad chest and strong arms reaching to the knees. In both hands, He is holding Vara and Abhaya Mudra. In the other two hands, He is holding Shankha and Chakra. He has a slender belly and is shining with a radiance before which 1000 suns are also not sufficient. He is white in color and is prasanna mukha. Additionally, whatever you think of Bhagavan, you will become that only, as per your competence. If you think Bhagavan is great, you will become great as per your competence; if you think Bhagavan is full of knowledge and is happy, you will also get great knowledge and happiness as per your competence. Now, let’s keep this as the stage for reason number 2.
[Image of Lord Vishvambhara form of Lord Vishnu]
Now, Ganesha intensely contemplated the Gajamukha of this Vishvambhara roopi Narayana, due to which He obtained the Gajamukha. Sri Madhvacharya mentions this in His Maandukya Upanishad Bhaashya. So, as per the Skanda Purana story, Lord Shiva knew that this Ganesha is the Vishva roopi Narayana’s upasaka, and hence asked His ganas to bring the face of an animal that was sleeping towards the north, and as per Srihari’s will, it was that of an elephant. Even if you see the Brahma Vaivartha Purana Katha, then there too Srihari knew very well that this Ganesha was the upasaka of His Vishvambhara form. And hence, He too attached the head of an elephant to Ganesha. Plus, it is due to the Vishvambhara roopa only that Ganesha is Prathama Poojya and Vighna Nivaaraka. That’s why, in the Vishnu Sahasranama, Vishva is the first name of Lord Vishnu, which destroys obstacles.
This is as per the tattva of Ganesha. These two stories are different and come from different Puranas. But these can be considered Kalpa Bheda, because in different Kalpas the same stories repeat in different ways. For example, in one Kalpa, in the Vaamana Avatara, Trivikrama lifted His left leg upwards. Whereas in another Kalpa, Trivikrama lifted His right leg upwards. Similarly, in one Kalpa, Narasimha appeared from the pillar, and in another Kalpa, He appeared in the forest to kill Hiranyakashyapu. This is known as Kalpa Bheda. These two accounts from the Skanda Purana and the Brahma Vaivarta Purana can also be considered a Kalpa Bheda.
Wishing all of you a very happy Ganesha Chaturthi. May Ganesha, who is Vighnaraja, who destroys all the obstacles, bless all of us with pure knowledge, devotion, humility, abundance, good qualities, happiness, satisfaction, and fulfill all our noble desires!😊🙏✨🌸
Hope this helps!
Jay SriRam!
SriSiddhivinayaka Antargata SriBhaarati Ramana Mukhyaprana Antargata SriVishvambhara Abhinna SriKrishnarpanamastu!