Why Durva grass or Arugampul is dear to Lord Ganesha…

Today is Ganesh Chaturthi, one of the largest festivals celebrated in our country with lot of fervour and grandeur and I am going to narrate the story of how the Durva grass, called Arugampul in Tamil became dear to Lord Ganesha. You must have noticed that however much Ganesha is decorated with costly ornaments made of gold, silver and precious stones, a garland of the simple Durva grass always makes its way to adorn the Lord as it is said to be dear to Him.There are more than one legend on this aspect of Durva being dear to Lord Ganesha. This story which I am going to narrate, is only one of them.

Before coming to the story, some information on Durva grass or Arugampul which is also called Bermuda Grass. This grass grows in all the warm climates in the world and is used in the sports fields as it recovers quickly from damages. It was named Bermuda Grass by the Americans probably because it arrived from Bermuda to America. When there is dearth of water, this grass dries up but does not die and when there is water once again, it springs back to its green colour, probably teaching us that we should not lose heart in life’s adversities. Arugampul also has a whole lot of medicinal value whether consumed or used externally. It is used widely in Siddha medicine for treatment of many diseases due to excessive heat in the body, eye problems, purification of blood, skin problems etc. And it is so easily available and affordable for everyone!

Coming to the story, there once lived a demon by name Analasura. “Anala” means ‘heat’ or ‘fiery’ in Sanskrit and Hindi. In Tamil, it is ‘Anal’, both ‘a’s pronounced as in ‘advice’.

And the story goes that this Analasura, true to his name was a demon who emitted fire from his eyes. He had done years of penance to win the favour of Lord Shiva, and had taken the boon of emitting fire from his eyes. And wherever he was, it was unbearable heat due to the fire and he took joy in troubling all the creatures of the earth and heaven by burning them up and destroying their homes and fields with fire. It was becoming worse day by day and the creatures of the earth and heaven were living a troubled life not knowing when they would be attacked by Analasura.

No one dared to go near him as his one glance would burn them to ashes. He had challenged Lord Indra, the ruler of the heaven to come for a combat and Indra, fearing destruction ran away from heaven with all the other celestial beings and Analasura was now occupying the throne of Indra.

Indra was desperate to go back to his kingdom and as advised by his Guru Brihaspati, he along with a delegation of sages, met Ganesha to request him to save them from this plight. “Please, Lord Ganesha, save us from this terrible state”, they pleaded. “No one in heaven and earth have peace and it is only you who can deliver us from this situation”

Ganesha was also aware of the terrible Analasura. He felt pity for the living beings on earth and heaven and promised to intervene. “Go back in peace” He said, “I will take care” The gods and sages left to their hiding place in the jungle where they were living in constant fear of Analasura.

Assuming the form of a small child, Ganesha called Analasura for a duel. Analasura was enraged. “You, a small fellow, are calling me!” he roared with laughter. “I think it is bad time for you. I pity your parents” he said not knowing that it was the child’s parent who had granted him the boon.

“Come on Anala” said Ganesha. “Do not waste my time”.

This enraged Analasura further and he charged at Ganesha, his eyes emitting huge fire balls destroying everything around. Ganesha dodged the fireballs since He was small in size and this made Analasura mad with fury. In a sudden swoop, with his mouth wide open, Analasura attempted to swallow Ganesha but Ganesha being Ganesha took a gigantic form and before Analasura could realize what was happening, Ganesha swallowed him.

That was not the end because, Anala was not to die down so soon. He continued to emit fire balls inside Ganesha’s stomach and was causing severe burning sensation to Ganesha. All the Gods who were witnessing the duel who were happy at Analasura being vanquished, were in despair now, to see Lord Ganesha writhing in pain due to the heat.

Parvathi, Ganesha’s mother applied lot of Sandal on Him but the burning sensation continued. It was nightfall and the moon’s cooling rays even were not enough to soothe Ganesha’s suffering.

As word spread around, Sage Kashyapa collected Durva grass and came to the Lord and offered the grass to Him to eat. He also kept bunches of Durva grass on Ganesha’s head. The moment Lord Ganesha consumed the Durva grass, the burning sensation stopped completely.

Ganesha was immensely pleased and proclaimed that whoever adorns Him with Durva grass would be dear to Him and would be showered with His blessings.

And that is how Durva grass/ Arugampul finds an important place in rituals and worship of Ganesha.