VINAYAKI DEVI

INTRODUCTION
Vinayaki is an elephant-
headed Hindu goddess. Her details are not clearly
defined. Only few details are available about her in
Hindu scriptures and very few images of this deity
exist.
The goddess is generally associated with the
elephant-headed god of wisdom, Ganesha. She
does not have a consistent name and is known by
various names such as
Vinayaki, Vighneshvari and Ganeshani.
Vinayaki is sometimes also seen as the part of the
sixty-four yoginis. In
the Jain and Buddhist traditions, Vinayaki is an
independent goddess.
Puranas
Elephant-headed females appearing in
the Puranas are demonesses or cursed
goddesses. Vinayaki, not related to Ganesha, also
appears in the Puranas. In the Matsya
Purana, she is one of the Matrikas, created by the
god Shiva to defeat the demon Andhaka. In this
connection, she may be considered as a shakti of
Shiva, rather than Ganesha. She also figures in a
list of shaktis in the Linga Purana.
However, the Devi Purana identifies Gananayaki
or Vinayaki as the shakti of Ganesha, based on
her elephant head and the capacity to remove
obstacles like Ganesha, and includes her as the
nineth Matrika. Though generally the number of
Matrikas is seven in sculpture, nine Matrikas
became popular in eastern India. Apart from the
classical seven, Mahalakshmi or Yogeshvari and
Ganeshani or Ganesha were added as eighth and
ninth Matrika respectively.
Shilparatna describes a female form of Ganesha
(Ganapati) called Shakti-Ganapati, who resides in
the Vindhyas. The deity has an elephant head and
two trunks. Her body is of a young woman,
vermilion red in colour and with ten arms. She is
pot-bellied and with full breasts and beautiful hips.
This icon probably belongs to Shaktism, the Hindu
Goddess-worshipping sect. However, this form is
also interpreted as a composite of Ganesha and
his shakti, due to the presence of the twin trunks.
In a Buddhist text, the goddess is called
the siddhi of Vinayaka. She contains many of Lord
Ganesha’s characteristics. Like Ganesha, she is
the remover of obstacles and has an elephant's
head with only one tusk. She is also called the
daughter of the god Ishana, an aspect of Shiva.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded, that Goddess Vinayaki,
whether relates to Vinayaka or Parvathi, is a
powerful goddess possessing all the features of
Lord Vinayaka. She is having the power equivalent
to that of Lord Vinayaka. Let us pray to Goddess
Vinayaki and be blessed. Let us chant the nama
‘OM SREE VINAYAKIYE NAMAHA’
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR