With the head of an elephant and the body of a potbellied man, Lord Ganesha is one of Hinduism's most beloved deities, a god of new beginnings and good luck. As his grotesque anatomy suggests, though, Ganesha, like India itself, was violently put together. Multitudes of peasants in the hinterland reaches of Maharashtra, a western Indian state that is home to the god's most devout cult, had reason to recall his dual nature last week. Villagers concluding a 10-day festival in Ganesha's honor celebrated late into the night with dancing, singing and blowing horns. In Killari, a village of about 15,500...
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