Shri Ganapatini... Tyagaraja's invocatory song

This year's hand-crafted idol for Ganesh Chaturthi

Shri Ganapatini (set to Saurashtra raaga) is an introductory song with which Tyagaraja begins his musical opera Prahlaada Bhakti Vijayam. Of course, it is customary to begin any work with the blessings of Lord Ganesha. But we can see a few points related to this. Why should a work of art begin with an invocation to Ganesha? Is it only to ward of "vighnas" (problems) that Ganesha is propitiated or do we have other reasons?

Ganesha invoked as the Lord of FineArts:

Ganesha is known as a great exponent and lover of fine arts. Dikshitar describes Ganesha... in the famous Naattai kriti "maha ganapatim" as "mahaa kaavya naataka priyam"- one who loves kaavya i.e. poetry and naataka (drama).

There is another quotation that we can recall from Tulsidas's Ram Charit Maanas.

"Varnaanaam artha sanghaanaam rasaanaam chandasaam api
mangalaanaam cha kartaarau vande vaani vinaayakau"

Tulsidas says- I invoke the blessings of Vaani (Saraswati) and Vinaayaka (Ganesha) before starting this epic because their grace is needed for the work to come alive. He specifically  mentions the factors- varna (letter or word), artha-sangha (meaning), rasaa (the 9 rasas), chandas (metre). All these elements are woven together to make a composition a real work of art.
In keeping with the above tradition, Tyagaraja too invokes Lord Vinaayaka before starting his composition because Vinaayaka has the special portfolio of blessing art.

Ganesha invoked as the symbol of "mangala" (auspiciousness):

There is one more quotation we can look at.

"omkaarashcha atha shabdashcha dwaetau brahmanah puraa
kantham bhitwa viniryaatau tasmaad maangalikau ubhau"

It says- Lord Brahmaaji started the creation with the words "om" and "atha". Hence, both these words are "mangala" (auspicious). Most Vedantic works start with "om" or "atha". We can recall some common examples- "atha prathamo dhyaayah... Dhritarashtra uvaacha": when the Geeta is chanted, we begin with "atha". The Vishnu Sahasranama begins with "om vishvam vishnu.. etc."

Now, Ganesha is the visual representation of "omkaara" or "pranava". We saw this in the Giri raaja sutaa post discussion. Dikshitar says in the celebrated Vatapi Ganapatim kriti- "pranava swarupa vakratundam". Due to this reason too, it is customary to begin any work with the blessings of Lord Ganesha because he is the visual symbol of omkaara and hence "mangalakaari".

Since the above quotation mentions the necessity to start any work with a "mangala shabda", we can briefly focus on this and its relationship with Ganesha.
Parvati is mangalaa incarnate... essence of auspiciousness- "sarva mangalaa". Turmeric and kumkum are also "mangala padaartha" in our tradition. Parvati, herself an embodiment of auspiciousness, scraped turmeric and kumkum from her body, crafted it into a boy and breathed life into it. Thus, Ganesha was born. Hence, Ganesha is the epitome of auspiciousness. We have a shloka for this too:

"shrikaanto maatulo yasya janani sarva mangalaa
janaka shankaro deva tam vande kunjaraananam"

It says- We meditate upon Ganesha, the one with an elephant face (kunjaraananam)- whose maternal uncle is Lord Vishnu (Shrikaanta), whose Mother is Parvati (sarva mangalaa), whose father (janaka) is Lord Shiva (Shankara)

For this reason, it is customary to invoke Lord Ganesha in a lump of turmeric (asmin haridra bimbe maha ganapatim aavaahayaami) during any traditional puja.

Saurashtra and Ganesha:

Shri Ganapatini is set to Saurashtra raaga. It is amply clear from the name that this raaga is of geographical origin. What does Saurashtra immediately remind us of?

"Saurashtrey somanaatham.... shrishailey mallikaarjunam..." etc.

These are the 12 jyotirlingas in different parts of India.
In Saurashtra, Lord Shiva is known as "Somanatha". The story should be familiar to people. The moon (Soma) was cursed by Daksha Prajaapati because the Moon God was more partial to Rohini and neglected his other wives (who were Rohini's sisters). Daksha (father of all the women) cursed Soma and the moon started waning. Soma and Rohini went to Saurashtra and prayed to Lord Shiva. Shiva earned the name "Somanatha" because he blessed Soma, placed him on his head and allowed the moon to regain his brilliance.  "yam aashritohi vakropi chandrah sarvatra vandyatey" (even through the moon is crooked/crescent like- vakra api...still he gets praise (sarvatra vandyatey) because he is associated with Lord Shiva whom he propititated (aashritah)).

Hence, Saurashtra is closely associated with the moon.

Interestingly, the moon figures prominently in the stories of Lord Ganesha too. In fact, one of the 16 prominent names of Ganesha is "phaalachandra"- the one who wears the moon on this head. This story is again popular.
The moon was obsessed with his good looks and ridiculed Ganesha's appearance. Ganesha flew into rage and cursed the moon that whoever looks at the moon from now on will incur blame and suspicion in his life. Needless to say, the moon was treated as an outcast and completely neglected. He begged for forgiveness. Ganesha not only forgave the moon, but placed him on his head and became "phaalachandra".

We may also recall the elaborate story of "Syamantaka mani (gem)" involving the Moon, Ganesha and Lord Krishna. Thus, Saurashtra, the Moon and Lord Ganesha are all intimately connected.

It looks as if Tyagaraja wants to gently remind us of this context by composing this Ganesha kriti in Saurashtra raaga.
Interestingly, in the Giri Raaja Sutaa kriti that we looked at earlier, Ganesha himself is compared to the moon-Rajanikara by Tyagaraja.

Now that we have given the context for invoking Lord Ganesha, we can go on to the kriti Shri Ganapatini.....

Pallavi:

Shri ganapatini sevimpa raare shrita maanavulaara

shrita maanavulaara- O devotees, raare- come, sevimpa- let us worship, shri ganapatini- Lord Ganapati

We have already seen in the introduction why Lord Ganesha is invoked by Tyagaraja.

Anupallavi:

vaagadhipaadi supoojala chekoni  baaga natimpuchunu vedalina

vaagadhipa- Saraswati is vaagdevi. Adhipa is Lord. Hence, vaagadhipa is Lord of Sasraswati.... that is Lord Brahma.
supoojala chekoni-  Having accepted (chekoni) the worship (supoojala).....

Ganesha has accepted the worship of Lord Brahma and others (aadi). "Others" can refer to Devas and manushyas here. We can borrow from other keertanas and include sages like Vasishtha and Vaamadeva- (vasishtha vaamadevaadi vanditam... from Dikshitar's kriti "maha ganapatim"). Everyone worshipped Ganesha.

Now, Vaagadhipa is the same as "vaageesha". We have already seen a shloka related to Lord Brahma and the Devas worshipping Lord Ganesha in the context of "Giri Raaja sutaa tanaya" discussion. We can quote the same shloka here too:

"vaageeshaadyaa sumanasas sarvathaanaam upakramey
yam natva kritakrityaasyuh tam namaami gajaananam"

Just as Lord Brahmaa (vaageesha) and Devas (sumanasah) bow down (natva) at the beginning of any task (sarvathaanaam upakramey) for its successful completion (kritakrtiyasyuh), so too, I bow down (namaami) to Lord Ganesha (gajaananam).

Coming to the kriti, it says, having accepted the worship of Lord Brahma and others, Lord Ganesha is proceeding (vedalina) dancing (natimpuchunu) nicely (baaga).

Nartana vinaayaka:

So the picture in this kriti is "nartana vinaayaka"- dancing ganapati. Ganesha is always picturized in a happy mood with a child-like image. We can take some common examples-

"shuklaambaradharam vishnum shashi varnam chaturbhujam
prasanna vadanam dhyaayet sarva vighna upashaantaye"

Here, Ganesha is described as one with a "happy face": prasanna vadanam.

Adi Shankara's Ganesha Pancharatnam begins with "mudaakaraatta modakam". "Mudaa" is being happy. The first name in the list of 16 prominent names of Lord Ganesha is "Sumukha"- the one with a pleasant face. It is this  happiness which is reflected in the images of "nartana vinaayaka". Ganesha is also well known for his pranks which again reflects his humour and child-like behavior:

• He tricked Vibheeshana and ensured that the idol of Ranganatha (gifted to Vibheeshana by Lord Rama) remained at Srirangam.
• He humbled Ravana through deception and ensured that the Shivalinga remained at Gokarna.
• He played a prank with Sage Agastya and saw to it that the River Kaveri flowed out of the Sage's kamandalu.
• He hoodwinked even his brother Kartikeya and won the mango as a prize by just going around his parents.
• Ganesha even tricked Shani bhagvaan (Saturn) by telling him each day to visit him "tomorrow".

In keeping with Ganesha's playful character, images of nartana vinaayaka are found in many temples, including the famous Kapaaleeshwara Temple at Chennai.

Charanam:

panasa naarikelaadi  jambu phalamulu aaraginchi

The charanam begins with the list of fruits that Lord Ganesha has partaken (aaraginchi). These are offerings made by devotees like Lord Brahma, the Devas, Tyagaraja and even people like us.

panasa - jackfruit.
naarikela- coconut
jambu - "jaamun"

Of these, coconut is a special offering to Lord Ganesha. A coconut has "3 eyes" and as per one story stands for Lord Shiva's head (since Shiva is trinetra dhaari- with 3 eyes). As per this story, Ganesha wanted the dearest thing from his father (Lord Shiva) offered to him- which was Shiva's own head! As a token, a coconut is used to symbolize the fact that even Lord Shiva bowed down to Ganesha!

As far as the fruit jambu is concerned, we have the following popular shloka which mentions it:

gajaananam bhuuta ganaadi sevitam kapitha jambuphala saara bhakshitam
uma sutam shoka vinaasha kaaranam namaami vighneshwara paada pankajam

Jambuphala reminds us of Jambukeshwaram kshetra, near Trichy, TamilNadu, and its association with Lord Ganesha. Goddess Parvati was in an "ugra roopa" form at the temple. Adi Shankara converted the idol to a benign form by installing the idol of Lord Ganesha opposite the sannidhi of Goddess Parvati. On seeing her favourite son with an ever pleasant face, Parvati's anger was calmed.

Auvaiyaar, the Tamil saint, was a great devotee of Lord Ganesha. Hence, when Lord Kartikeya appeared before her, he came up with a riddle centered on the the "jaamun" fruit. This story is well known in Tamil Nadu.

Thus, jaamun fruit is intimately connected with Lord Ganesha which Tyagaraja also mentions here.

ghana tarambuganu mahipai padamulu ghallu ghallana unchi
In this line, Tyagaraja uses onamatopoea to describe Ganesha's dance. Ganesha's feet (padamulu) strike (unchi) the earth (mahipai) with all the weight (ghana tarambuganu) of his portly frame! The ground reverberates with the sounds of "ghallu ghallana"!

anayamu hari charana yugamulanu hrdaya ambujamunana unchi

Here, Tyagaraja says that Lord Vishnu is seated in Ganesha's heart. Hari charana yugamulanu - Lord Hari's feet are seated (unchi) in Ganesha's hrdaya ambuja- lotus like heart....all the time (anayamu). We can spend some time on this expression.

In a simple way, we can understand that Lord Vishnu is very dear to Ganesha and hence he holds Vishnu close to his heart. We can bring in a story here:

Lord Vishnu is Ganesha's maternal uncle. We saw the quotation earlier starting with "shrikaanto maatulo yasya". Once, Lord Vishnu came to see Ganesha. Ganesha, in a playful mood, seized Vishnu's discus (chakra) and put it in his mouth. Regardless of Lord Vishnu's entreaties, he would not give back the discus! Finally, Lord Vishnu had little choice but to hold his ears with his hands clasped across his chest and do some sit-ups- "torpi karnam"! Ganesha found it so funny that he burst out laughing and the discus fell out of his mouth. Promptly, Lord Vishnu took possession of his discus!

Philosophically, a devotee understands his own "ishta devata" as the Ultimate Reality who lends existence and consciousness to everything and everyone. For a Rama bhakta, Rama is the "paramatma" who is the "spirit" behind the entire creation- all life forms and even other aspects of Gods. For a Shiva bhakta, Shiva is the "paramatma" who is the "spirit" behind everything- including other Gods... and so on. Ultimately, the Lord is one... but the devotee likes to identify that formless principle with his own chosen form. In keeping with this idea, Tyagaraja chooses to bring "Hari" as blessing even Lord Ganesha.

If we take Adi Shankara's Ganesha Pancharatnam, he says "hrdantarey nirantaram vasantameva yoginaam". Since Shankara identifies Lord Ganesha as the ultimate principle in his poem, he says that Lord Ganesha alone enlivens the heart of all people.

We can use the quotation from the Geeta too:

"ishwarah sarva bhutanaam hrdeshe arjuna tishthati
bhraamayan sarva bhutaani yantraarudhaani maayayaa"

The Lord in the heart enlivens all beings....


Vinaya and Vinaayaka:

vinayamunanu tyaagaraaja vinutudu

Let us humbly (vinayamunanu) worship Vinaayaka who has been praised (vinutudu) by Tyagaraja. The primary qualification of the devotee mentioned here is "vinaya"- humility. There are a couple of reasons:

Firstly, vinaya and vinaayaka are close in sound. Hence, Tyagaraja may have wanted to use this trait as an "upalakshanam" for all values that a devotee needs to have.
Secondly, vinaya is the same as "amaanitvam". The Geeta has a list of 20 values that every person should have in Chapter 13. This list begins with "amaanitvam" or "vinaya" or humility.

amaanitvam adambhitvam ahimsa kshaanti aarjavam
aachaaryopaasanam saucham sthairyam aatma vinigrahah

For completeness, the Geeta says in this verse: Adambhitvam is unpretensiousness, ahimsa is non-violence, kshaanti is accommodation or patience, aarjavam is straightforwardness, aachaaryopaasanam is service to the teacher, saucham is cleanliness, sthairyam is steadfastness of purpose, aatma vinigrahah is mastery over the body/mind/sense-organ complex.

If we take Adi Shankara's "shatpadi stotra" on Lord Vishnu, he again begins the stotra with the need for "vinaya". "Avinayam apanaya vishno" etc. O Vishnu, remove my pride (avinayam).
From this, it is clear that "vinaya" is one of the most important values that a spiritual student should have.
For these reasons, Tyagaraja has mentioned this value specifically. We have to include all the above values from the Geeta, Chapter 13 as well.

There is one more interesting point that Paramacharya brings in one of his brilliant discourses. Vinaayaka himself is an epitome of vinaya. When we are in the presence of someone who commands respect, we show our humility by covering our mouth with our hand when we speak. This is an Indian body-language which may not be applicable to others. For an elephant, the trunk is like its hand. Hence, Ganesha is called "ainkaran" in Tamil ("One with 5 hands", the trunk being his fifth hand). For an elephant and Vinaayaka, the mouth is always covered by the trunk, its fifth hand. In effect, Vinaayaka himself is a symbol of humility, Vinaya! Thus, vinaya is particularly applicable to Vinaayaka which Tyagaraja refers to in this kriti.
The final line is:

vividha gatula dhittalaangumani vedalina

The kriti ends with a description of Lord Ganesha's nartana. Vividha gatula- With varied beat or rhythm- rhythm set to different taalas. Ganesha dances with ever changing pace and beat.
"Dhittalaangu" is a word that a "nattuvaangist" (e.g. in Bharatanaatyam) uses to vocalize the dancer's steps. It is again an onamatopoeic expression which conveys the sound of the feet striking the ground with the jingle of anklets!

The kriti is now complete!