Ganesha Display at the Canton Hindu Temple, Michigan 9/8/2013

AGAJAANANA PADMAARKAM GAJAANANAM AHARNISHAM l ANEKADAM TAM BHAKTAANAM EKADANTAM UPAASMAHE ll

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This well-known sloka (verse), in praise of Ganesha, has an interesting play of words. Those two words can be confounding. As we know, Ganesha is also called Gajanana (or Gajaanana, where extra a is used to denote the long vowel in the second half of the name). This is derived from Gaja = elephant and aanana = face. But, the verse starts out with Agajaanana, which is rather surprising at first sight.

Ganesha procession at Canton Hindu Temple, MI on 9/8/2013 (Sep 8).

Also, Ganesha is referred to as Ekadanta, which is derived from eka = one and danta = tooth and so He is when the word is used to denote the object of our worship (objective case of the noun Ekadanta). Unfortunately, the same is also often written as and this is the source of the confusion. The elephant has two tusks, or teeth, but Ganesha with an elephant face only
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has one tooth or tusk. That is how he is usually portrayed. The second line seems to start with the word "Ankedamtam" intentionally written to confuse instead of the correct form "Anekadam tam" ( ). Instead, many think this is aneka + dantam which means many (aneka) teeth (danta). One must learn how to pronounce the dot (called anuswaara) on the top of the consonant and it is better to avoid the dot to avoid the confusion of the n and the m sounds creates by the use of the dot. Why is Ganesha called Ekadanta? As the story goes, when Vyasa wanted to write the Mahabharata, he wanted someone to act as his scribe (one who writes down the verses) while he dictated the verses, since the Mahabharata was a very long epic and Vyasa did not want to lose his train of thought. So, he asked Ganesha to be his scribe. The entire Bhagavad Gita is also a part of the Mahabharata since the Gita was preached at the start of this great war. Ganesha agreed to be Vyasa's scribe on one condition. He said Vyasa must dictate continuously and cannot stop. Vyasa cleverly said that Ganesha should continue writing and anticipate his thoughts if he stopped dictating. Ganesha smiled, broke off one of His tusks and used it as the "pen" to write as Vyasa dictated. Thus, He became 'eka danta' or one with a single tusk (or tooth). So, many people tend to confuse the first word of the second line read it as anekadantam (many teeth) instead of the correct way which is anekadam tam which means to Him (tam), the giver of many boons (anekadam) to His devotees. The second line says that the devotee is directing his/her worship (upasamahe) to Him who has one tooth and is the giver of many boons. Now, what is agajaanana? This is the compounding of agajaa + aanana. As we know aanana means face. Agajaa is one of the names of Paarvati, the mother of Ganesha since She is considered to the daughter of the king of the Himalayas. She was reborn as Parvati, after She self-immolated by jumping into the agni
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kundam (the huge fire pot) during the great fire sacrifice performed by Daksha (Daksha yajna). Parvati was first born as the daughter of Daksha and married Lord Shiva and was known as DaakshaayaNee. Daksha had 60 daughters and is one of the Prajapatis (the progenitors of mankind). His 60 daughters gave birth to all the lifeforms we see on earth, according to the Srimad Bhagavatam. Thus, agajaa means the daughter of (the king of) something that does NOT move (the Himalayas), or a mountain, or Parvati, the mother of Ganesha. There are many ways the two words agajaanana padmaarkam are interpreted. The lotus (padma) blooms when the sun (arka) rises. In the same way, Mother Parvati's lotus-like face lights up and blooms when She sees Her dear son Ganesha, who was actually created by Her without any involvement of Lord Shiva. The story goes that when Parvati was trying to take a bath one day, She needed someone, a male, to stay outside as a guard. She had already applied turmeric and other fragrant pastes to Her body when She and Her maids realized that there was no male to stand guard. Parvati took off some of the turmeric paste from Her upper hands and placed it on the ground and shaped it with Her fingers and said, There! Let that be my guard and out came a handsome young boy. This was Ganesha, with a human face. (Hence, we still use turmeric powder, make a paste out of it, and use it as Ganesha when we begin many prayers.) Shortly after, when Lord Shiva came to visit, while Parvati was still bathing, Ganesha did NOT recognize Shiva as his own father and stopped Shiva which infuriated Shiva and Shiva then used His trident to chop off Ganesha's head. When Parvati found out, She was horrified and Shiva then told His ganas (followers, assistants) to
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head north and bring the head of the first being that they find. They found an elephant and chopped off its head and brought it to Lord Shiva. This elephant head was placed on the young boy created by Parvati and so Ganesha became the elephant headed God. He also received a boon from Shiva that everyone must hereafter pray to Him (Ganesha) first to remove all obstacles in their undertakings and bless them with success.

Ganesha inside the temple after procession, Canton Hindu Temple, MI

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This is the story behind agajaaanana and Padmaarkam. Mother Parvati's lotus-like face lights up and blooms when She sees Her dear Ganesha just like a lotus that blooms when it sees the sun. I have provided some links which tell the same story. Students of Sanskrit learn this sloka early in their studies in order to understand how to decipher the subtle meaning of words and how they are used in Sanskrit. Agajaanana Padmaarkam Gajaananam Aharnisham Aneka Dam Tam Bhaktaanam Eka Dantam Upasmahe Pronounciation: agajnana padmrkam gajnanam aharniam anka dam tam bhaktnm kadantam upsmah l ll
http://vulimiridevotion.blogspot.com/2011/03/meaning-of-ganesha-shloka-agajanana.html

Here's another link which gives the meaning, http://greenmesg.org/mantras_slokas/sri_ganeshaagajanana_padmarkam.php Agajanana Padmarkam - in sanskrit with meaning - sloka on Sri Ganesha

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This link includes two other slokas recited for Ganesha, http://hindugods.getacustomsite.com/ganesha.html

Hindu Gods - Ganesha hindugods.getacustomsite.com Hindu Gods One more discussion of the same sloka: http://svarasa.blogspot.com/2010/11/blog-post.html

: (agajAnana) ... sva-rasa.blogspot.com Also linked to my profile is my first attempt at blogging! I recently discovered...See More

One more: http://www.vinayaka.org/Manifestation%20of%20Vinayaka.html Untitled www.vinayaka.org

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For completeness I am adding the following also to this discussion. Om () Gam ( pronounce like gum) GaNapathaye () Namah () = OGGN Yesterday (9/8/2013), during the homams performed at SVBF (Sri Vidya Bharati Foundation) and also at Canton Hindu temple, Michigan, we chanted this mantra (OGGN) 108 times and made offerings to the fire. OGGN, what does it mean? Om gam: Om, we all know and will not get it into it here. The meaning of Om can fill a whole essay, if not a whole book. It is a very complex discussion. The word gam comes from motion, anything that is moving. So, gam implies all living beings and wherever there is motion. Even the inanimate objects are made of atoms which are thus composed of subentities which are all in perpetual motion. GaNapataye refers to Ganesha. He is the Lord of all the ganas (the war battalions of Lord Shiva). So, together it means He is the Lord and Master of wherever there is motion (even inanimate things have atoms which are in perpetual motion) and all living beings. I bow to this Ganesha. We say this repeatedly as we make offerings into the fire. More generally, this means we are invoking the Supreme, the Lord of ALL.

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