Ganesh also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, Pillaiyar and Vinayaka, is one of the best-known and most worshiped deities in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Nepal. Hindu denominations worship him regardless of affiliations. Devotion to Ganesh is widely diffused and extends to Jains and Buddhists. Ganesh likely emerged as a deity as early as the 2nd century AD, but most certainly by the 4th and 5th centuries AD, during the Gupta period,