There are numerous stories about Shri Ganesh in the Hindu texts. One of the most famous stories is about how Ganpati recovered the jewel Chintamani. This story is found in the Ganesh Puran. Let’s read the story today.
There was once a king named Abhijit. He and his wife Gunamati wanted a child and they did severe penance. In due course they were blessed with a baby boy who was named Kana. Kana grew up to become a very strong man. With the permission of his father, he went to the forest and prayed to Shiva for a thousand years. He acquired such immense yogic powers through penance, that the Devas could not stand the intensity. Shiva and Parvati appeared before Kana and blessed him with strength and longevity. Kana returned back happily and informed his parents. King Abhijit decided to retire to the forest and handed over the kingdom to Kana.
Kana was ambitious and wanted to rule all the three worlds. Everyone accepted his supremacy on earth. Kana also defeated Indra and established his supremacy on Devalok. Indra was permitted to rule over Devalok as one of his subordinates. One day on his way to the forest, Kana happened to meet Rishi Kapila who invited him to his ashram for a grand feast.
Rishi Kapila was in possession of a divine gem called ‘Chintamani’ which was given to him by Indra Dev. Indra had come to Rishi Kapila’s ashram once and pleased with his hospitality, he had given Rishi Kapila, the Chintamani – which was a gift to him from Maha Vishnu. Rishi Kapila considered this gem as his life itself and used it to get a delightful feast served to the king and his men.
King Kana saw this miracle and wanted to possess the Chintamani for himself. He requested Rishi Kapila to give it to him but Kapila refused. Then Kana took it by force and left the ashram. The helpless rishi cursed him that God himself would come to earth and kill him for his behaviour. Lord Vishnu appeared before Rishi Kapila and said that Shri Ganesh alone can bring the end of Kana.
Rishi Kapila prayed on Shri Ganesh and chanted the ‘maha-mantra’ to invoke his blessings. Shri Ganesh alongwith his wives Siddhi and Buddhi appeared before him and Rishi Kapila told him about King Kana’s forcible possession of the Chintamani. Shri Ganesh promised that he would get the gem back.
Kana had a forewarning of things to come in a bad dream. He decided to wage a war on Rishi Kapila. Kana’s father Abhijit rushed to him and gave him solid advice to not aggravate the situation given that he had already taken the Chintamani by force. But Kana did not pay heed to his father and left with his army to attack Rishi Kapila.
When Kana reached his ashram, Rishi Kapila was immersed in prayers. Shri Ganesh immediately came to his rescue with his consorts Siddhi and Buddhi. With Shri Ganesh’s permission, Siddhi devi marched towards Kana. Thinking she is a single woman, Kana sent his sons to fight her. Siddhi devi created a huge army which defeated Kana’s sons and took both of them captive. The entire army of Kana was destroyed by Ilakka, who was created specially for the war by Siddhi devi.
Now, Kana proceeded to attack Shri Ganesh with five arrows. The next moment, Shri Ganesh cut off Kana’s head with his weapon – Mazhu. The Devas rejoiced at the outcome. The news of Kana’s slaying reached King Abhijit. Putting aside his grief, Abhijit returned the Chintamani to Rishi Kapila and begged pardon for his son’s folly.
Rishi Kapila prayed to Shri Ganesh and he appeared before him. The Rishi narrated how he had got the Chintamani from Indra. Now that it had been redeemed by the Lord, he offered it to Shri Ganesh himself. Shri Ganesh accepted the jewel with pleasure and blessed Rishi Kapila and King Abhijit. Since then Shri Ganesh was also called Chintamani Ganpati or Chintamani Ganesh.
