Thai Yoga has some of its roots in Ayurveda which stems from India. It would make sense then that many of the deities worshipped in Thai Yoga are Hindu deities. It seems that the most heavily seen is Ganesh, the remover of all obstacles. He is an interesting character with the head of an elephant and body parts of a human. He is seen all over Thailand, especially in spiritual places. Really, we should all have a remover of obstacles....life would be so much easier! Read below for more information on Ganesh.
Ganesha is one of the best-known and beloved representations of divinity in Hinduism. Although he is known by many other attributes, Ganesha's elephant head makes him easy to identify. Several texts relate mythological anecdotes associated with his birth and exploits, and explain his distinct iconography. Ganesha is worshipped as the lord of beginnings, the lord of obstacles, patron of arts and sciences, and the god of intellect and wisdom. He is honoured with affection at the start of any ritual or ceremony and invoked as the "Patron of Letters" at the beginning of any writing.
Ganesha appears as a distinct deity in clearly-recognizable form beginning in the fourth to fifth centuries AD, during the Gupta Period. His popularity rose quickly, and he was formally included as one of the five primary deities of Smartism, a Hindu denomination, in the ninth century AD. During this period, a sect of devotees who identify Ganesha as the supreme deity was formed. The principal scriptures dedicated to his worship are the Ganesha Purana, the Mudgala Purana, and the Ganapati Atharvashirsa.
Today, Ganesha is the most-worshipped divinity in India. Worship of Ganesha is considered complementary with the worship of other forms of the divine, and various Hindu sects worship him regardless of other affiliations. The devotional cult of Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to Jains, Buddhists, and beyond India.
