Why is Ganesh Represented as an Elephant?

Here's a relatively short answer to Ganesh's (or Lord Ganesha's) appearance:

"The ancient sages, in their infinite wisdom, have designed Hindu deities with specific Vedantic attributes in mind.

Lord Ganesha, also called Ganapati or Vinayaka, is presented in the form of a human body with the head of an elephant. This blend of human and animal parts is a symbolic representation of a perfect human being, as conceived by Hindu sages. His head symbolizes wisdom, understanding, and a discriminating intellect that one must possess to attain perfection in life. By worshipping Ganesha, a Hindu seeks God's blessings for achieving success in one's endeavors in the physical world and for attaining perfection thereafter."

And this:

"Lord Ganesha, popularly known and easily recognized as the Elephant-God, is one of the most important deities of the Hindu pantheon. Before every undertaking, be it laying of the foundation of a house, or opening of a store or beginning any other work, Lord Ganesha is first worshipped so at to invoke his blessings. Ganesha has many names. The main ones are Ganapati (lord of the ganas, or attendants), Vighneshwara (controller of all obstacles), Vinayaka (the prominent leader), Gajaanana (elephant-faced), Lambodara (pendant-bellied), and Ekdanta (having one tusk)."

A Diamond With Many Facets

I was talking with a lady today (Indian) who was surprised I knew that all the Hindu gods actually personify aspects of the one true God.

That’s it. One God, many personifications. Thousands, in fact.

How could they come up with so many facets of God? Well, they’ve certainly had time - over 5000 years.

She seemed even more surprised when I told her Catholics pray to many entities: God, Jesus, The Holy Spirit, Mary, Saint Christopher, Saint Michael, etc. For every saint, there is a cause (or for every cause there's a saint?).

Some pray to Mary, who has appeared to many people in the years since her death (Guadalupe, Fatima, etc.). 

It is also widely believed that everyone has a guardian angel watching over us, who can also be prayed to.

All in all, it was a great conversation where we both learned something. Because she runs an Indian store, she gets to marvel at the typical American reaction - confusion mostly - to her display case with small statues of the Hindu gods. But now she knows Hinduism is not the only religion that finds divine inspiration in many ways.

I’m still learning about them myself. Occasionally I’ll feature one of them here, along with the colorful story behind them. And we'll get to the bottom of Ganesh, the one with the elephant head. That's definitely a good story.