As the sun's rays pressed against Ganesha's eyelids, he raised his trunk towards the ceiling and gave one long stretch. Manzara was resting at the foot of lord Ganesha's bed.
"My dear Manzara, I think I should share the story about how I came to have my half broken tusk," Ganesha said.
"I think that's a great story to end the celebration!" Manzara replied, "But first, let us indulge for a moment on these coconut Appams Parvati had sent over this morning."
"Oh, how can I resist my mother's cooking?" Ganesha chuckled as he made his way to the Appams.
When they finished eating, Ganesha sat on Manzara, and they made their way to their worshippers for the final story.
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One day while the sage, Vyasa, was in deep meditation in the Himalayas, Lord Brahma came down to him in a vision and asked that he write fifth Veda, The Mahabharata.
"Lord Brahma," Vyasa said, "forgive me, but I cannot compose and write down the verses at the same time. There has to be an alternative approach." Vyasa was grateful that such a task had been presented to him, and he was beginning to regret his response to Lord Brahma as he felt droplets of sweat forming along the side of his temples.
"You will go to Lord Ganesha for help. He is wise and most fit for the task," Lord Brahma answered as his transparent image began to evaporate.
That moment, Sage Vyasa began to pray to Lord Ganesha for help. Ganesha's form appeared in front of Vyasa on the side of a Himalayan mountain, and he agreed to help under one condition.
"You have an enormous task at hand, so I will help you in writing it down only if you are quick in singing it. If you halt or hesitate, I will stop writing and your epic will never be written or heard of."
Vyasa agreed, but also said, "I will narrate the story to you, but you must understand the meaning of every verse before writing it down, and not just blindly write down whatever I say."
Ganesha agreed and broke off a piece of his tusk to use as a pen. Vyasa started singing. Vyasa noticed that Ganesha was so fast, he hardly had any time to breathe in air! Vyasa's face slowly began to turn blue, and he began to slightly panic as he wondered how he would go on without pausing to draw his breath.
Quickly, he came up with a solution. When Vyasa felt Ganesha was writing too fast for him, he would sing a difficult verse, thus causing Ganesha to pause and decipher the meaning. During that split second, Vyasa gulped a lungful of air. Ganesha carried on at a furious pace and the two went on with the completion of the Mahabharata.
Whenever Vyasa needed a break, he would sing a difficult phrase to Ganesha and used that brief time to inhale. For this reason, the original Mahabharata is found to have many difficult stanzas placed at intervals throughout the epic.
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As Ganesha concluded his final story, he raised his head and let out a deep and hollow sound from his trunk. The worshippers stood up and celebrated the final day of Ganesh Chaturthi with their elephant diety.
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Coconut Appam
Ingredients:
-Coconut milk-
1. 1 cup grated coconut
2. 1 cup water
-Appam batter-
1. 2 cups boiled rice
2. 2 cups raw rice
3. 1/2 cup Urad Dhal
4. salt to taste
Directions:
-Coconut milk-
1. Grind coconut scrapings with water in a mixer and squeeze as much milk out of this mixture.
2. Store milk in a separate bowl.
-Appam batter-
1. Soak all ingredients overnight in water for about 5-7 hours.
2. Grind to a fine batter.
3. The next morning, pour the prepared coconut milk into the batter.
4. Add salt and mix batter thoroughly.
4. Pour batter into a curved deep iron/non-stick pan and spread like a dosa. Do this carefully because the batter might settle into the center of the pan.
5. Let heat for a while and serve hot with coconut Chutney (optional).
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Author's Note: For my retelling of "Vinayagar Wrote the Bharatham," I used a third person narrative. I think the story of how Ganesha lost some of his tusk by writing the Mahabharata is a great way to end my storybook, because of the major contribution and impact that act had on future generations. I stayed close to the original plot, but I included my own dialogue between the characters. I had to elaborate on parts of the story because my original source of the story was very condensed. For instance, an addition to the original story I included was the way Ganesha appeared to Vyasa after his meditation (his image forming through the rocks on the side of the mountain). I also tried to add more descriptive text during the actual writing of the Mahabharata with Vyasa's face turning blue and Ganesha's rapid writing pace. In the frame tale, I included the coconut Appams breakfast dish so that I could include it into my storybook recipe section. I have not tried this recipe out yet, but it sounds delicious! Overall, I think this story is a good final story to briefly sum up the evolution of the elephant god's life and interactions with his entourage.
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Coverpage
Story one: The Creation of Ganesha
Story two: The Race Around the World
Story three: Birthday of Ganesha
Story four: Writing the Mahabharata
Bibliography: "Vinayagar Wrote the Bharatham" from Indian Heritage:Hindu Gods.
Image Information: "Ganesha and Vyasa" by Unknown.
Image Information: "Srishti Ganapati" by Unknown.
Recipe Information: "Coconut Appam" received from Mangalorean Cuisine Blogspot (2008).