GANESH THE ELEPHANT HEAD GOD

He is pot-bellied. He has the head of an elephant and a broken tusk.
He is very fond of sweets.  He has four hands. He is gentle, wise and he is Ganesh, the most famous and beloved  of  all Hindu gods. Almost every village will have his temple. He is loved by everybody.

He is the remover of obstacles, the god of success. He is the patron of letters and of learning. It is said that Ganesh wrote out the Indian epic ‘ Mahabharata’ using his broken tusk as a pen, the epic being authored/dictated by the great sage, vyaasa.  When a Hindu enters any temple, Ganesh is the first god they worship.  When a new house is built, his image is placed in it.  When a new journey begins, or a new job or business starts, Ganesh is the first deity to be honoured.  When a poet or writer starts a new work, he is the one they honour first.

The name Ganesh means ‘ Lord of Ganas’: ganas are the armies of Lord Siva.
The devotees of Ganesh are known as 'Ganapatyas', and the festival to celebrate and glorify him is called Ganesh Chaturthi.

Ganesh has four arms and they hold a pasam, a goad, a noose, and a pot of sweets called laddus

.Pasam is a triple-twined weapon and each of these twines represents the following;
Arrogance
Maya ... Illusion
Ignorance

The goad helps Ganesh to guide mankind on the eternal path and removes obstacles.
The noose on his left hand is to capture obstacles.
The elephant head represents wisdom  and the trunk represents the  mantra OM. The human body represents maya or illusion.
The broken tusk that Ganesh holds like a pen in his lower right hand and which he broke off for writing out the Mahabharata is a symbol of sacrifice.
. The laddoo he holds indicates that one must discover the sweetness of the Atman.

Another interpretation:
Ganesh's human body represents 'tvam'.  His elephantine appearance represents 'tat' and their joining together signifies the non-difference,                the non-duality, of 'tvam' (You) and 'tat' (Brahman). Thus, the body of Ganesh is the visible representation of the highest reality, Brahman, realised from  'tat tvam asi'.

Lord Ganesh is the elder son of Lord Shiva and of the goddess Parvathi. This is the story of how Ganesh was born.
Once when Lord Siva was away meditating, the goddess Parvathi was alone at home. One day  she wanted to have a bath, but needed someone to guard  the house whilst she was bathing. She couldn’t find anyone and used mud to make a figure.  From that mud figure came a beautiful boy. She instructed him  to guard the entrance to the house and not to allow anyone into the house. The boy  agreed and maintained the strictest of strict vigils.
In the meantime, Lord Shiva returned happy after a long meditation, only to be stopped at the entrance by this boy. The young boy, acting on Parvathi's orders, didn’t allow Shiva to enter the house. Lord Shiva was enraged beyond control and in a fit of rage slashed the head of Ganesh.  Paravthi, who had returned from her bath, was shocked  at the scene. She was very, very angry with Shiva  over what had happened and explained the background.
Lord Shiva wanted to make it up to Parvathi very badly and agreed to put life back into Ganesh by giving Ganesh the head of the first sleeping living creature that came into sight, which was sleeping with its head to the north. Lord Shiva sent his soldiers to go in search of such a creature. The first such creature which came into sight was an elephant. So, Lord Shiva recreated his son with the head of the elephant. And Shiva granted Ganesh a boon that before beginning any undertaking or task, people would worship Lord Ganesh. Hence, the reason for worshipping Ganesh before starting any work.