Shree Ganesha - remover of obstacles

Lord Ganesha , also spelled Shree Ganesha, also known as Ganapati and Vinayaka is a widely worshiped deity in the Hindu pantheon.
Although he is known by many attributes, Ganesha's elephant head makes him easy to identify. Lord Ganesha is widely revered as the remover of obstacles,the patron of arts and sciences and the deva of intellect and wisdom. As the god of beginnings, he is honoured at the start of rituals and ceremonies.
Shri Ganesha has been represented with the head of an elephant since the early stages of his appearance in Indian art. Puranic myths provide many explanations for how he got his elephant head.One of his popular forms, Heramba-Ganapati, has five elephant heads, and other less-common variations in the number of heads are known.While some texts say that Gajanan was born with an elephant head, he acquires the head later in most stories. The most recurrent motif in these stories is that Ganesha was created by Parvati using clay to protect her and Shiva beheaded him when Ganesha came between Shiva and Parvati. Shiva then replaced Ganesha's original head with that of an elephant. Details of the battle and where the replacement head came from vary from source to source. Another story says that Shri Ganesha was created directly by Shiva's laughter. Because Shiva considered Ganesha too alluring, he gave him the head of an elephant and a protruding belly.
shri Ganesha is  shown riding on a mouse, shrew or rat. The Ganapati Atharvashirsa includes a meditation verse on Ganesha that describes the mouse appearing on his flag.The names Musakavahana (mouse-mount) and Akhuketana (rat-banner) appear in the Ganesha Sahasranama.