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The Ganesha Purana (Sanskrit:; ) is a Hindu religious text dedicated to the Hindu deity Ganesha (). It is an that includes many stories and ritualistic elements relating to Ganesha. The Ganesha Purana and the Mudgala Purana are core scriptures for devotees of Ganesha, known as ''Ganapatyas'' (). These are the only two Purana that are exclusively dedicated to Ganesha.〔 The Ganesha Purana asserts its status as one of the eighteen upapuranas in its opening lines (I.1.8–9): There are, however, eighteen minor such as the , the , the , etc. Amongst these, firstly I am going to recite the which is rarely heard, especially by someone in the world of mortals.〔 These lines indicate that the authors sought to ensure the status of this work as an , a category whose membership was not fully codified at that time. Thapan (pp. 20–21) believes that the epithet Ganesha () as a widely used name for this deity appears to have been popularized by the Ganesha Purana, which is associated with the region of modern Maharashtra (), Vananasi, Karnataka, and perhaps some parts of Andhra Pradesh. Today the epithet Ganapati () is popular in South India while Ganesha is more frequently used in Maharashtra and North India. == Significance == The Ganesha Purana and the Mudgala Purana are the two late Puranas (c. AD 1300–1600) produced by the Ganapatya () sect. These two Puranas are considered authoritative by devotees of Ganesha and include material not found in earlier sources. During the medieval period the followers of Ganesha, known the Ganapatyas, formed an independent religious movement dedicated to the worship of Ganesha as their preeminent deity. They considered Ganesha to be the qualified () form of the ultimate unqualified () Brahman. The Ganesha Purana is pervaded with this concept and interprets well-known Puranic stories in new ways to emphasize the importance of Ganesha and to explain his relationships with other divinities. The Purana specifies many methods of worship, key beliefs, and philosophical positions of the Ganapatya sect. The contents of the Ganesha Purana are difficult to summarize because they include a variety of stories and devotional material. The general purpose of the work can be inferred from this set of questions that Vyāsa puts to Brahmā in the tenth chapter of the first Book (I.10.29–30 in Bailey's English edition): "Who is this Ganesha? What is his real appearance (Sanskrit:; ; also spelled ''svarupa'') and how can it be known? To whom has he previously been kindly disposed, four-faced god? How many are his incarnations and what deeds did they perform? Who previously worshipped him and in respect of what deed was he called to mind?" The last chapter of the first book summarizes the lengthy narratives by saying:
These statements confirm the role that this Purana plays in establishing the relationship between Ganesha and his followers through the use of traditional Puranic stories and new material. This intends to emphasize the importance of Ganesha as a primary deity. A brief review of references to Ganesha in various Puranas appears in Courtright〔. p. 18〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ganesha Purana」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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