Gajavadana Karuna Sadana by Papanasam Sivan

Song : Gajavadanaa   Composer : Papanasam Sivan

gajavadanaa karuna sadana

raagam: shree ranjani



22 kharaharapriya janya
Aa: S R2 G2 M1 D2 N2 S
Av: S N2 D2 M1 G2 R2 S
taaLam: aadi
 
Language: Tamil (with lots of sanskrit words in it)

pallavi

gajavadana karuNA sadana shankara bAlA lambOdara sundara

anupallavi

ajanamarEndranum munivarum paNiyum pankaja caraNA sharaNam sharaNam shrI

charanam

nIyE mUvulagirk-kAdhAram nIyE shivakAma mantra sAram
nIyE vAzhvilen jIvAdhAram nI aruLvAi sumukhA OmkAra 


Meaning : 


pallavi

gajavadana karuNA sadana shankara bAlA lambOdara sundara

Gajavadana - The one with the elephant face; karuna sadana - one who is full of love for his people; shankara bala - son of shankara; lambodara - "lamba udhara"  - the one with a big stomach; sundara - beautiful 

anupallavi
ajanamarEndranum munivarum paNiyum pankaja charaNA sharaNam sharaNam shrI 

ajanamarendranum - indra, the one who is the head of all Devas; munivar - the ones who have extraordinary powers by doing penance, sages; paniyum - they come and bow before thee; pankaja charana - you have feet like lotus; sharanam sharanam - I bow before thee

charanam

nIyE mUvulagirk-AdhAram nIyE shivakAma mantra sAram
nIyE vAzhvilen jIvAdhAram nI aruLvAi sumukhA OmkAra  

niye - you ; muvulagir - for the three worlds; adharam - support; shivakama - shiva agama, meaning the mantras and vedas; saram - essence of; vazhvilen - in my life; jivadharam - foundation of life; ni - you; arulvai - bless me; sumukha - the one who is always smiling, auspicious faced; omkara - who is in the form of OM - the most important mantra in hinduism


Papanasam sivan, is a poet who had sung a number of songs and kritis which are popularly sung on not only carnatic cutcheries but also on tamil cine field. 

In this song, he praises Lord Ganapathy who is the first and foremost God in the hindu pantheons. 

Lord Ganesha has an elephant face. He is full of love and affection for his followers. He is the son of Lord Shankara (Shiva). He has a big stomach but he is beautiful. 

Even Lord Indra, the head of all devas and great sages and come and bow before Lord Ganesha. Before anyone starts any important work, they invoke Lord Ganapathy. Every single yaga and yangna, done to invoke other Gods or Goddesses also start with the invocation of Ganesha only. Lord Ganesha has a lotus feet which all these people come and kneel before. I also kneel before thee!

Lord Ganesha! You are the one who is the foundation of all three worlds: the heavens, the earth and the world below. You are the foundation and essence of the 'sivagama' which is the essence of all vedas. You are the foundation of my life too. I bow before thee. Bless me. You are the one who is always smiling and the one with the most auspicious of the faces. You are the mantra "OHM" which is supposed to be the most essential of and the most important of all mantras out there. 

Some links to this song : 

1. Savitha Narasimhan :

2. Unni Krishnan :