Why Lord Ganesha has Elephant Head?

Pastimes of Ganesh Chaturthi no. 1

Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati lived on Mount Kailash. Many times Shiva used to go into the forest and stayed there to penance for months. Meanwhile Parvati had to stay home alone. One day, as usual Lord Shiva went to the forest, leaving Parvati alone in the house.

Parvati then wanted to take a bath. However, there was no one else to take care of the house. So Parvati was worried. But soon she had an idea. Parvati removed sandalwood paste from her body and created a boy from the sandalwood paste. Parvati then made the boy stand at the door and asked him not to let anyone into the house until she finished her bath.

The boy stood at the door and stopped everyone who visited the house. Soon Lord Shiva returned home and was surprised to see a boy who was prevented from getting in. "You can not enter the house, my mother taking bath," said the boy.

Lord Shiva became angry and asked the boy to move aside, but the boy did not move instead continuously stopped Lord Shiva from entering the house.

Lord Shiva lost his composure and he cut off the head of the child with his trishula. Later, Parvati finished her bath and to her surprise, she saw the headless body of the boy. So Parvati began to cry, "Oh my lord What have you done! You killed my son!"

Lord Shiva felt very sorry for his short tempered act. Lord Shiva wanted to bring the boy to his life and he began finding the chopped head of the child. But surprisingly the head vanished and search was in vain. He therefore called his servants, called "Ganas" and told them to go into the forest and get the head of the first living creature you meet.

The ganas immediately rushed to the jungle and came across an elephant. They immediately cut off his head and brought it to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva put the head on the boy's body and brought him back to life. Parvati was overjoyed to find his son. The Ganas was instrumental in bringing the child's life back, so he was named "Ganapati".