Ganesha is the god with the elephant head. Many Hindu families pray to him first, before starting anything new: a school year, a journey, a new home. But why does he have an elephant's head? Families tell this story in different ways. Here is the best-known one.

The goddess Parvati wanted someone to guard her door while she bathed. So she shaped a boy out of turmeric paste and breathed life into him. She told him, "Let no one in." The boy promised.

Then Shiva, Parvati's husband, came home. He had never met the boy, and the boy had never met him. The boy stood in the doorway and would not let him pass. Neither would give way, and in the fight that followed, Shiva struck off the boy's head.

When Parvati came out and saw what had happened, her grief and anger shook the world. Shiva saw his mistake. He sent his helpers to bring the head of the first living being they found. They came back with the head of a great elephant, and Shiva gave the boy new life with it.

Shiva then made the boy the leader of all his followers, the ganas. That is where the name comes from: Ganesha, or Ganapati, means lord of the ganas. And Shiva promised that Ganesha would be honored first, before every other god.

There is a lot in this story. A child who keeps his promise to his mother. A great god who admits he was wrong and makes it right. And a new beginning that comes out of a terrible mistake. Ganesha is called the remover of obstacles. Maybe that is because he was once an obstacle himself, standing in a doorway, and he became a blessing.