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I have heard that one day, Kubera invited Lord Ganesha to his palace. There, Lord Ganesha ate continuously which made Kubera's resources almost empty.

Is it true that Lord Ganesha used to eat a lot? And if yes, then what used to stop Ganesha from eating more?

Sarvabhouma
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Mr_Green
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    i think he did eat more than the average level, but that particular scenario was different, cus Ganesha was trying to teach kubera a lesson. Kubera was just showing off... so ganesha ate all his food and asked for more. since kubera didn't have anymore food, he was left helpless, his pride shattered. – user3459110 Jul 26 '14 at 16:55

1 Answers1

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Ganesha doesn't eat a lot of food, he did that intentionally the day Kubera invited him to his palace.

As we know that Kubera is a lord of wealth, and because of this he felt proud and started showing off his richness.

One day, Kubera went to lord Shiva and Parvati to invite them to his palace but lord Shiva denied Kubers invitation, instead he said to Kubera to invite lord Ganesha and he proudly replied that he can feed 100's and 1000's of kids like Ganesha.

When lord Ganesha went to his palace, he was offered with food which is a common tradition in Hinduism when we have guests at home we offer them food. Lord Ganesha ate everything whatever was offered to him, and he asked for more, and soon there was no more food in his palace.

Because of this, Kubera ordered his troops to collect food around the village and offered Ganesha, but Ganesha was still hungry, and there was no more food around to give to lord Ganesha, and he said to Kubera that Kubera said proudly that he can feed 100's of kids like Ganesha, so as there's no more food now, he will eat him, this frightened Kubera and he went to lord Shiva for help.

After hearing to Kubera, lord Shiva told him to break his pride and provide lord Ganesha handful of rice, Kubera went back to his palace and offered handful of rice to lord Ganesha with Humility which satisfied lord Ganesha's hunger.

I've wrote the story as I've heard, but you can refer Wikipedia article for reference.

Mr. Alien
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  • The Wikipedia article says it comes from "the Purana", but I'm not sure which Purana it's referring to. Ganesha isn't even mentioned in most Mahapuranas, although he is mentioned in the Brahmanda Purana, as I discuss here: http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/a/773/36 – Keshav Srinivasan Jul 26 '14 at 20:19
  • There are two minor Puranas dedicated to Ganesha, the Mudgala Purana and the Ganesha Purana. – Keshav Srinivasan Jul 26 '14 at 20:20
  • @KeshavSrinivasan Yes, I searched on vedabase after I answered but didn't helped much so finally I ended up referencing to Wikipedia article – Mr. Alien Jul 26 '14 at 20:23
  • Vedabase would be useless in any case, because the only Purana it has is the Srimad Bhagavatam, and Ganesha isn't even mentioned in the Bhagavatam. – Keshav Srinivasan Jul 26 '14 at 21:23
  • @KeshavSrinivasan exactly, this is what I said to Mr_Green that its not possible that every story is scripted – Mr. Alien Jul 26 '14 at 21:30
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    I completely disagree, I think we should discourage answers that don't cite scripture. And my point about Vedabase wasn't that it would be useless to try to find the story in Hindu scriptures. I was just saying that Vedabase is a bad website to use, because it doesn't have that many scriptures. Sacred Texts has more scriptures. – Keshav Srinivasan Jul 26 '14 at 21:36