arentage. He is the offspring of Siva or Mahadeo and his wife Devi
or Gauri. Mahadeo is in this case probably taken in his beneficent
character of the deified bull; Devi in her most important aspect as
the great mother-goddess is the earth, but as mother of Ganesh she
is probably imagined in her special form of Gauri, the yellow one,
that is, the yellow corn. Gauri is closely associated with Ganesh, and
every Hindu bridal couple worship Gauri Ganesh together as an important
rite of the wedding. Their conjunction in this manner lends colour to
the idea that they are held to be mother and son. In Rajputana Gauri
is worshipped as the corn goddess at the Gangore festival about the
time of the vernal equinox, especially by women. The meaning of Gauri,
Colonel Tod states, is yellow, emblematic of the ripened harvest,
when the votaries of the goddess adore her effigies, in the shape
of a matron painted the colour of ripe corn. Here she is seen as
Ana-purna (the corn-goddess), the benefactress of mankind. "The rites
commence when the sun enters Aries (the opening of the Hindu year),
by a deputation to a spot beyond the city to bring earth for the image
of Gauri. A small trench is then excavated in which barley is sown;
the ground is irrigated and artificial heat supplied till the grain
germinates, when the females join hands and dance round it, invoking
the blessings of Gauri on their husbands. The young corn is then taken
up, distributed and presented by the females to the men, who wear it
in their turbans." [128] Thus if Ganesh is the son of Gauri he is the
offspring of the bull and the growing corn; and his genesis from the
elephant and the rat show him equally as the god of full granaries, and
hence of wealth and good fortune. We can understand therefore how he
is the special god of the Banias, who formerly must have dealt almost
entirely in grain, as coined money had not come into general use.

15. Diwali festival.

At the Diwali festival the Banias worship Ganpati or Ganesh, in
conjunction with Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Lakshmi is considered
to be the deified cow, and, as such, the other main source of wealth,
both as mother of the bull, the tiller of the soil, and the giver
of milk from which _ghi_ (clarified butter) is made; this is another
staple of the Bania's trade, as well as a luxurious food, of which he
is especially fond. At Diwali all Banias make up their accounts for
the year, and obtain the signat