Lecturer Dr. Junu Maiya Basukala Ranjitkar has done a superb research work on Asoka Vinayak popularly known as Maru Ganesa revealing details about the Ganesa centrally located in the heart of the Nepal’s capital Kathmandu. The so valuable and noteworthy research work published in a book form on August 2, 2024 (Srawan 18, 2081) will surely earn great merits for the author and make aware the public how the lord has been there and has been dwelling in a finial (gaju) less one-roofed Nepal-style temple and has become the most venerated deity in the human world. Reading this absolutely useful book, common folks will understand why and how the deity has been sheltering in such a mundane Nepal-style temple in the world of so rich and magnificent temples around the area since the Licchavi period, as Ganesa has been known since then and perpetually worshiped.
Maru Ganesa is a Licchavi deity. At that time, a large tree had sheltered the god. Later, the local folks wanted to build in fact built a Nepal-style-one-roofed temple completed with a finial (gaju) but the fast-growing branches of the great Asoka tree grew long and strong and removed the finial (gaju) exposing the lord to the sky. Folks cut off the large branches of the Asoka tree, but the branches grew again and again even stronger and larger and removing the finial (gaju). Local folks thought that Lord Ganesa must have wanted to reside in the Nepal-style temple without a finial (gaju).
The lord derived the name Asoka Vinayak from the large Asoka tree, And the common folks call him Gaju Maru Ganedyo literally finial-less Ganedyo later on became Maru Ganedyo, as Nevahs have the habit of shortening the name for quick calling the deity. Thus, a single lord got two ones one Asoka Vinayak, another Maru Ganedyo. Asoka Vinayak is in Sanskrit, probably for the literary scholars whereas Maru Ganedyo is for the common folks.
The Maru Ganedyo area had been the center of the ancient town Kantipur the then Licchavi King Gunakamdeva built by the order of Goddess Kumari in his dream if we are to believe in the prevailing chronicles, and has been one of the four Ganesa such as Surya Vinayak, Jal Vinayak (Kohena), Asoka Vinayak (Maru Ganedyo), and Chandra Vinayak (Lohasla Ganedyo) forming a Ganesa Mandala of the Nepal Mandala. However, only Asoka Vinayak dwells in such a mundane one-roofed-finial-less temple whereas other Vinayaks reside in magnificent temples. Jal Vinayak has a three-roofed superb temple at the Chovar Gorge, Surya Vinayak resides in a Sikhara-style temple in the mid-hill in Bhaktapur, Chandra Vinayak also has a wonderful Nepal-style temple to the east of Kathmandu.
Certainly, Nevahs will have deeper understanding of Lord Asoka Vinayak common folks so lovingly call Maru Ganedyo reading the so diligently done research book, and benefit from it largely. Lord Ganesa is in the everyday life of Nevahs, as Ganesa or Ganedyo presides over the religious, cultural, and social events of the Nevah life. Surely, Nevahs would not have any problem or difficulty in understanding the research work published in a book form.
Culturally and socially, Ganedyo has been and is in the highly developed and cherished Nevah life. Embossed Lord Ganedyo set on Sukunda: an auspicious oil lamp every Nevah household keeps presides over the birthday celebration, and any other auspicious events Nevahs celebrate at home. So, every Nevah household keeps at least one Sukunda.
Religiously, Ganedyo has the prerogative of having the first offerings in the Nevah world. So, Nevahs perform the first worship of Ganedyo before performing worship of any other deities. In fact, any worship performed without first performing first worship of Ganedyo will not be meritorious.
Even before performing the worship of Ganedyo, Nevahs make the half-offering to Lord Kumara, the elder half-brother of Ganedyo. As such, Kumara sits as pikhalakhu at the main entrance to every Nevah house to accept the first half-offering.
Ganedyo and Pikhalakhu as the divine half-brothers reside so widely in the Nevah world. Pikhalakhu in other word Kumara resides in an eight-petal lotus carved in a flagstone set at the main entrance to every Nevah house. At least one Ganedyo resides in every neighborhood in the Nevah colonies, towns, and cities to accept the first full-fledged worship.
As such, Nevahs will not have any difficulty in understanding the research work on Asoka Vinayaka or Maru Ganedyo but what about the non-Nevah folks who might not have the same religious and cultural tradition the Nevahs follow. If the research work so meticulously done to be made valuable and beneficial to all the folks of different culture and tradition, the scholar surely needs to spend at least a few hours of her precious time for introducing Ganedyo instead of assuming everybody comprehends Ganedyo as Nevahs do.
The author has daringly used the Nevah pronouncement of the word Guthi. Even the dictionary the Nepal Academy prepared and published has been shied away from inserting the word Guthi how Nevahs pronounce it. So, non-Nevahs might find it not to the pronouncement of the folks other than Nevahs, and checking it in the dictionary might not find the word as written in this splendid book on Maru Ganesa.
Nepalese scholars indiscriminately use different era in their writing with little regard for the common readers, who most of the time find tremendous difficulty and strenuous to understand and connect the different eras into a single common era. Scholar Junu Maiya could not be different from other Nepalese scholars and has simply followed them using different eras for the readers to sort out.
References on every page of the book are surely for quick understanding of the sources of the quoted materials but those references take more spaces than the actual facts mentioned. So, taking all references to an annex will be really pleasant for the common readers to read and understand the book.
Last but not the least, the front cover page. The cover page would have been smart and better looking if the main title has been at the head, and the picture at the center in an appropriate size and then the name of the author. Anyway, this is my personal preference, but it might not make any difference to the common readers.
The scholarly book has been another addition to the contribution to understanding the Maru Ganedyo. The scholar deserved to be appreciated for such an outstanding research work on Asoka Vinayak or Maru Ganedyo. I wholeheartedly congratulate Junu Maiya for doing such an amazingly excellent research work.
Siddhi B. Ranjitkar
Maharajgunj, Kathmandu
August 10, 2024
