GANESA One of the minor Brahmanic gods of the Hindu mythos, Ganesa was the son of Shiva and Pravati. Regarded as one of the wisest of the gods, Ganesa was the god of prudence and policy. He had the head of an elephant, represented as a short, pot-bellied man with yellow skin, with four hands, usually riding on a rat, or attended by one. He was invoked at the commencement of any enterprise, especially the beginning of a book. In one hand he held a shell, in another a discus, in a third a club, and in the fourth a water-lily.