Sankashti Chaturthi Mandal
The Mudgala Purana describes a distinct set of eight incarnations of Shree Ganesh, each summoned not by a particular age of the world but by a particular human vice, and the first among them, Vakratunda, "the twisted trunk," rose to confront envy itself.
An Embodiment of the Absolute
Where the Ganesha Purana's four Yuga avatars answer the needs of successive ages, the Mudgala Purana's eight avatars are described in more philosophical terms: Vakratunda is described as an embodiment of Brahman as the aggregate of all bodies, his very form representing totality itself.
A Purpose Already Defined
Vakratunda's incarnation had one clear purpose from the outset: the defeat of Matsarasura, the demon born of jealousy, whose rise threatened to poison the world with the same corrosive envy that had given him life.
What Devotees Seek
Devotees who feel envy taking root in their own hearts, whether toward a neighbor's fortune or a rival's success, turn to Vakratunda as the very form of Shree Ganesh entrusted with overcoming this particular affliction of the human spirit.