Mayureshwara

The Legend

Mayureshwara

Across the old traditions, many gods are bound to the peacock. Krishna wears its feather in his crown — a sign of beauty, love, delight, and the living power of nature; Indra is tied to the 'eyes' upon its tail, read as emblems of sight, the power of the skies, and the grace of heaven; even Saraswati is sometimes shown beside one, though her usual mount is the swan. In certain scriptures Ganesha himself takes the form of Mayureshwara, riding the peacock — and so is hailed the Lord of Peacocks. As to how the mount was born: one account tells that, still a child, Ganesha broke open an egg from which a peacock sprang; he climbed upon it and earned the name Mayureshwara. Another, from the Morgaon tradition, holds that the peacock was made as a divine mount expressly for the slaying of the demon Sindhu. Some legends add that when his task in this form was done, Ganesha gave the peacock to his brother Skanda — Kartikeya, Murugan, the warrior god — which is why, ever after, the peacock has been counted Skanda's own celebrated vehicle.