MahaGanapati :
1.mahAgaNapate- naTanArAyaNi
The Mahaganapati with Vallabha eulogized in Natanarayani is
the deity at the entrance of the Kamalambika shrine.Says Dr.Raghavan in his
kavya (XXI.13) “To the right of the entrance to the Kamalambika shrine the
Lord of the ganas is present with his consort Vallabha.The highly spiritual
Dikshita glorified this deity in the Natanarayani melody”.In the madhymakala sahitya
Dikshita uses chandana to rhyme with nandana and vandana.The etymological meaning of
chandana is the delighter and the well-known traditional meaning is sandalwood.Dikshita has
used this word in the derivative sense.(chandana is from the verbal base ‘chad’ – to
please or shine= vide pANini chadi AhlAdane diptau ca’)
Puranic allusions :
According to this natanarayani song the Lord Ganapati is
honoured by Indra,Siva,Subrahmanya,Krishna and Lakshmi.
Puranas particularly related to Ganapati cult like the
Mudgala and Ganesha as also other major upapuranas narrate many stories of
various Gods,sages and supermen whose desires were fulfilled by their sincere
worship of Ganapati and chanting his mantras.Thus Vishnu is said to have gained
competence over the demons Madhu and Kaithaba because of securing the upadesa
of the six-syllabled Ganapati mantra
Shiva is known to have offered worship to Ganesha for
killing the Tripura demons.Ganesha’s grace converted the physically mutilated limbs
of Indra into spiritual ones.The Dravidian God Murugan is known to have secured favourable
boons and the peacock vehicle by worshipping Vinayaka in a forest on the Northern banks of
the river Krishna.The mahAgaNapati is here described as mAyAmayavallabhApate
that is associated with his consort or maya shakti called vallabha.This is
quite in keeping with the agamic and vedantic concepts that the associate
dynamic shakti of any divinity is only maya.
2.shrI mahA gaNapatir avatu mAm -gaula
A second Mahaganapati is on the bank of the Kamalalaya.It is
as sung in the famous long gaula song shrI mahA ganapatir avatu.
General Characteristics:
He is elephant-faced.The one who confers Siddhis.The elder
brother of Subrahmanya, son of Shiva.A god with sumptuous belly and protector
of human beings and Gods alike.a boat to cross the ocean of worldly existence.is
endowed with disposition that is the root cause and matrix of all things.very
delighted.rides on his mouse and honoured by poets.always surrounded by groups
of Gods.the abode of imperishable salvation
Puranic Allusions :
Honoured by Vishnu,Brahma and Indra.wears the moon on his
forehead.
Physical charm:
His hands and feet are more delicate than tender
sprouts.lotus-footed.wears white dress.Body is radiant like thousands of suns.
Iconographical details:
He holds the dark lotus,his own tusk,rope ,goad and modaka
in his four hands.
Special trait:
He is called suvarNAkarshaNa vighnarAja or the ganapati who
applied the touchstone.Local sthalamahatmiyas corroborate the facts leading to the
Mahaganapati on the Kamalalaya bank being called so.The tiruvarur puranam says
:“Marumali poompozhil Arur mAtruraitha karpagatti vanangi
vAzhvom”.The story goes that the wife of Sundara moorti nayanaar was
desirous of making some golden ornaments.So she conveyed her desire to her
husband.Sundarar conveyed this to the Lords at Kivalur and at Tiruvarur.The
Gods pointed out a brick-kiln to him.And they all became solid gold.Sundarar
spread out his upper cloth put 5 bricks into it and strove to lift the
bundle.He could not.Tyagesa bid him to to lay them in the tank at Kivalur.If he
went to Tiruvarur and looked into the Kamalaya they would be there.
The next morning he took one brick to a goldsmith who tested
it and declared that it was not Gold.Sundarar carried this sorrow to
Tyagesha.The God directed him to the temple-goldsmith residing at the East
gopuram.Sundarar who was proceeding thither was accosted by a newcomer who
claimed to be the hereditary goldsmith called sivanasari and that the
temple-goldsmith was his own cousin.They proceeded together to the temple
goldsmith who could not find what it was..The hereditarty one immediately
exclaimed
“I will show you its transcendental excellence”.So sayin he
took it into his blessed and blessing hand and put it into the touchstone and
then displayed it to the goldsmiths and they admitted thate here was gold to
which there was no equal in this or anyother world.
There are 2 mahaganapatis in Tiruvarur a sung by
Dikshitar.Three other mahaganapatis whose location is not identifiable form the
subject of 3 songs.One of them is in nATa, the second is mahAgaNapatim vande in
toDi and the last is a grand song ‘hastivadanAya’ in navroj
3)HastivadanAya – navroj
Here is a mahAgaNapati dazzlingly seated in a gem-studded
throne in a golden pavilion.
In this carana Dikshita
gives the iconographical details of the objects in his 10 hands.In his
madhyamakala sahitya there is a crowningly beautiful word-picture
Of the golden-hued Mahaganapati who is a veritable sun for
the charming lotus-face of the mother Parvati and who is glowingly radiant like
Siva and Subrahmanya.One may also note how Dikshita cleverly weaves the name of
navroj melody in samAnavaraujase.This compound should be split up as ‘samAna
vara ojase.
As mentioned above Mahaganapati is one of the sixteen,32 or
52 types of Ganapati known from dhyana shlokas in agamas,Ganesha purana and
Upanishads,encyclopaedia like shilparatna and compilations of mantras like
mantramaharNava and mantramahodadhi.
The dhyana shloka is generally
“bIjApUra gadekshukArmukha rujA cakrAbja pAshojvalat
vrIhyagra svavishANa ratnakalasha prodyat karAmboruhah |
dhyeyo vallabhayA sapadmakarayA slishtojjvalad bhUshayA
vishvotpatti vinASha samstimaro vighno visishtARthadAH ||
It is easy to find how the above details
are closely followed by Dikshita in his
gaula and navroj songs.
Extracts from the article of Dr.S.S.Janaki in the souvenir
of guruguha gana vidyalaya ,Calcutta
