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 : 

Gajavadana Beduve : Purandara Dasar : Hamsadwani

Song: gajavadanaa bEDuvE  

Lyrics are from Karnatic.com 

---

gajavadhana bEDuvE
raagam: hamsadwani

29 dheera shankaraabharaNam janya
Aa: S R2 G3 P N3 S
Av: S N3 P G3 R2 S

taaLam: Adi

Composer: Purandara Daasar
Language: KannaDa 

pallavi

gajavadhanaa bEduvE gowri thanaya
trijaga vanditanE sujanara porevanE 

anupallavi

pAshAnkushadhara parama pavitra
mooshikavAhana munijanaprEmA
(gaja) 

charaNam

mOdadi ninnaya pAdava tOrO
sAdhu vanditane Adaradindali
sarsijanAbha shri purandara vithalana
niruta neneyuvante daya mADO

---

Meaning:
 

gajavadhanaa bEduvE gowri thanaya
trijaga vanditanE sujanara porevanE 

 

gajavadana = the one who has the elephant face

beduve = I pray to you

gowri thanaya = Gowri's son

trijaga = the three worlds (earth, the world above and the world below)

vanditanE = worshipped by

sujanara = good people 

porevanE  = protector

O my dear elephant faced God! You are son of Goddess Gowri (parvathi). You are worshipped by all the three worlds. You are the protector of all the good people such as the sages and sadhus.

I pray to you .

pAshAnkushadhara parama pavitra
mooshikavAhana munijanaprEmA

pAshAnkushadhara = the one who has the weapons, pasa and angusam

parama pavitra = the most sacred
mooshikavAhana = the one who has the mouse for his vehicle   

munijanaprEmA = the one who is loved by sages/ one who loves sages

You have the weapons with you such as the noose (pasa) and the goad (angusa). You are the supreme God. You are the one who has mouse as the means of transport. you love and are affectionate towards sages. They also love you.

mOdadi ninnaya pAdava tOrO
sAdhu vanditane Adaradindali
sarsijanAbha shri purandara vithalana
niruta neneyuvante daya mADO

mOdadi = with pleasure

ninnaya = your

pAdava  = feet

tOrO = show

sAdhu vanditane = one who is worshipped by sadhus and sages

Adaradindali = respectfully

sarsijanAbha = the one who has lotus in his navel

shri purandara vithalana = God Purandara Vittala
niruta = always

neneyuvante = make me remember, make me think of

daya mADO  = show mercy     

I want to sing on your feet. Please kindly and happily, show me your feet. You are the one who is worshipped by sages and sadhus. Please give me the ability and power to worship Lord Purandara vittala - the one who has the lotus navel.

Interesting points from the songs : 

* "Purandara Vittala" is the mark of Shri Purandaradasa. One can see this in all his songs

* Purandaradasa asks Lord Ganesha, to give him strength and focus to sing about Lord Purandara!

* Lord Ganesh has "pasa" which is the noose - which is typically carried by the God of Death - yama. Here, He shows that he is beyond death and if you go to His feet, you don't have to worry about death.

* An elephant may be very big. But, it is controlled by the weapon : Goad - Angusam. Similarly, Ganesha carries it and shows that one has to have self control.

---

1) Artist unknown - from Youtube:

2) Kumari Sindhoora moorthy :

3) Vinay Mallikarjun:

4) Dr. Nagavalli nagaraj & Ranjani Nagaraj

5) Shri K Jesudas  : http://www.raaga.com/play/?id=72589

Sri Ganapathi Ni : Saurashtram : Thygaraja :

Sri Ganapathini 
(The song lyrics taken from : http://www.karnatik.com)


raagam: Sowrashtram


17 sooryakaantam janya
 
Aa: S R1 G3 M1 P M1 D2 N3 S
Av: S N3 D2 N2 D2 P M1 G3 R1 S
taaLam: aadi
 

Language: Telugu


pallavi
shrI gaNapatini sEvimpa rArE shrta mAnavulArA


anupallavi
vAgAdhipati su-pUjala cEkoni bAga natimpucu veDlina


caraNam
panasa nArikElAdi jambU phalamula nAraginci ghana tarambagu mahipai padamulu
ghallu ghallana nunci anyamu hari caraNa yugamulanu hrdayAmbujamuna nunci
vinayamunanu tygarAja vinutuDu vividha gatula dittaLAngumani veDalina 


Tamil Version (As given in http://tyagaraja-vaibhavam-tamil.blogspot.com)


ப. ஸ்ரீ கண பதினி ஸேவிம்ப ராரே
ஸ்ரித மானவுலாரா


அ. வாகதிபாதி ஸு-பூஜல சேகொனி
பாக நடிம்புசுனு வெடலின (ஸ்ரீ)


ச. பனஸ நாரிகேளாதி ஜம்பூ
பலமுலாரகிஞ்சி
கன தரம்புகனு மஹிபை பதமுலு
கல்லு கல்லனனுஞ்சி
அனயமு ஹரி சரண யுகமுலனு ஹ்ருத-
யாம்புஜமுனனுஞ்சி
வினயமுனனு த்யாகராஜ வினுதுடு
விவித கதுல தித்தளாங்குமனி வெடலின (ஸ்ரீ)

This is a jolly good song from the saint. He is praising the Narthana Ganapathy who is dancing. And, Lord Ganapathy is dancing to the tunes of Thyagaraja!

Thyagaraja is asking us all to come and join the worship the Lord. "sevimpa rare" : come to worship. "Srita" : those who are devoted; who have "sraddha'. He is asking all those who are devoted to come and join the Ganathy worship.

What kind of Ganapathy are we going to worship?

He is the one who is worshiped by the husband of the God who is the God for words. "vAgAdhipati" : The Lord of the one who is the Lord of words. Saraswathy is the God of the words. She is the "adhipathi" of "Vak" - words. Brahma is her husband and hence "Vaghadhipati" is brahma. Ganapathy has accepted Brahma's worship. And, not only that of Brahma but also that of others. Having accepted the worships of all the Gods, Lord Ganapathy is beautifully dancing and proceeding. "Vedalina" : proceeding; "natimpuchunu" : dancing. Baga : very well. The saint Thyagaraja says that Ganapathy is going about, after accepting all the worships, with merry, by dancing around! You can almost visualise the dance. Next stanza, he adds the music to the dance specifically. 

This Ganapathy, who is praised by Thyagaraja is the one who has taken the prasads offered by all. He has eaten panasa : jack fruit; Narikela : Coconut; Jambu : berries etc fruits. He is placing his feet very heavily on the earth. And, that itself is creating a jingle like sound " ghallu ghallana". He also has the holy feet of Lord Vishnu in his lotus heart. And, having done that, praising Lord Vishnu, who is firmly in the lotus of his heart, he is dancing to the tune of " dittaLAngu".

A beautiful song indeed. 

Another beauty is how Thyagaraja describes Ganapathy. I have personally never come across any story which describes Lord Ganapathy to be doing "Hari" dhyana. Ganapathy is described as a happy being. As a God who has a 'prasanna vadhanam'. But, Thyagaraja, a Hari devotee, sees Hari and Vishnu and Rama everywhere. He says that even Ganapathy is having Vishnu in his heart. 

Some songs for you to listen to : 

The following are from http://arvindsdad.blogspot.com

http://www.mediafire.com/?tfmos0d48wnj5a7 Sri Ganapathini -  M.S

http://www.mediafire.com/?r6txz2x4j73dcmi Sri Ganapathinee - Balamurali Krishna

http://www.mediafire.com/?q2yojmcom1a Sri ganapathini  -TV Sankaranarayanan

http://www.mediafire.com/?yi0nnemmgdl Sri ganapathini -Madurai Somu

Do check out the blog : http://tyagaraja-vaibhavam-tamil.blogspot.com for absolutely fantastic set of Thyagaraja songs and their tamil meanings. Great effort. 

Some Youtube songs :

MahaGanapathim Manasa : Dikshithar Krithi Raaga : Nattai

Maha Ganapathim Manasa 

Ragam: Nattai
Talam: Aadhi
Parent Ragam: Chalanattai (36th melakartha)
Aa: S R3 G3 M1 P D3 N3 S
Av: S N3 P M1 R3 S
Composer: Muthuswamy Dikshitar
Language: Sanskrit

pallavi

mahaa gaNapatim manasaa smaraami |
mahaa gaNapatim
vasishTa vaama dEvAdi vandita ||
(mahaa)

anupallavi

mahaa dEva sutam guruguha nutam |
maara kOTi prakaasham shaantam ||
mahaa kaavya naaTakaadi priyam
mooshika vaahanaa mOdhaka priyam ||

p,pmgmrs | rsnspmgm | p,dnsrgm | mrsrsnpm ||
snpmgmnp | mrgmrrs, | r,ss,np, | mg,mnsgm (mahaa ganapatim)

Core meaning: 

Mahaganapathy! My namaskarams to you. I meditate on You, the Great God Ganapathy. You are the one who is worshipped by great sages such as Vashishta and Vamadeva. You are the son of the Great Lord Shiva. You are always adored by 'Guruguha', Lord Skanda. You have a beauty and shine with the brilliance of a thousand 'manmadhas' -  Cuipds. You are the embodment of peace and tranquility. You love great poetry and drama. You have as the vehicle, as a mount,  a small mouse. You love the modhakas, a variety of sweet made of rice and coconut.  I bow to thee. My lord, Maha Ganapathy.

The stories here : 

Mahadevasutham : He is the son of the Great Lord Shiva. How Ganesha was born as the son of Shiva is an interesting story in itself. For the complete story, check out : The Birth of Ganesha : Story

Mahakavya Natakathipriyam: Lord Ganesha is the one who wrote Mahabharatha. This is an interesting story. Vyasa, who wrote Mahabharatha, needed someone who could write as fast as he could recite the slokas of Mahabharatha. He chose Ganapathy as the right person who could do it. Lord Ganesha agreed with one single condition : Vyasa should tell it as fast as he could write it! Vyasa also agreed and put a condition back : Ganesha should write the slokas only after understanding the meaning of the sloka. Ganesha agreed. Vyasa told it real fast and in between slokas, describing the slokas, he would put in one sloka which could have very subtle meaning. This, Ganesha had to decipher and it took slightly more time. This gave Vyasa a little more time to compose the next set of verses and be ready to dictate. Refer this for a little More on Vyasa

Vyasa is revered for his contributions. He is seen as Lord Vishnu himself. The Vishnu sahasranamam says :

"Vyasaya Vishnu Roopya,
  Vyasa Roopaya Vishnave"

It is no wonder that for Lord Ganesha accepted such a person's request.

Lord Ganapathy broke one of his tusks to be used as the pen. Elephants love their tusks. The tusk is the pride of any elephant. And yet, Lord Ganesha sacrificed it to be used as the pen to write the great epic. That shows how much love he had for the poetry and dramas. He used the great Mountain of Meru (Himachala) itself as the writing pad.

He uses Mooshika - the mouse as his vehicle. The mouse stands for ignorance and greed. It tries to nibble away at almost everything that it sees. When you pray MahaGanapathy, you will become the master of ignorance and greed as much as Lord Ganesha himself is.

For a brilliant, line by line  explanation of the song, check here : http://sviyer.blogspot.com/2009/04/mahaganapathim-manasa-smarami.html

A few brilliant pieces of singing of this song are enclosed here:


KJ Yesudas : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI5VneaW9A0 
TN Krishnan : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrzJ8yZib0Q

Some downloads possible for this song : (The downloads are given from the blog : http://arvindsdad.blogspot.com  a fantastic blog; he has given a huge download of Muthuswamy Dikshithar's songs. Please do visit for downloads and much more)

1. http://www.mediafire.com/?byl9bzrwgmc Mahaa ganapathim - Naattai - S. P. Raamh
   
2. http://www.mediafire.com/?4k5gglqtwjw Mahaa ganapathim - Naattai - Radha Jayalakshmi
3. http://www.mediafire.com/?5wg2l12twld Mahaa ganapathim - Naattai - Sriram Gangaadharan
   
4. http://www.mediafire.com/?q9gjjocxiiw Mahaa ganapathim - Naattai - T.V. Sankaranarayanan
5. http://www.mediafire.com/?vezkfi9yihp Mahaa Ganapthim - Thodi - G. N. Balasubramanian
6. http://www.mediafire.com/?jlt0jnfroam Maha Ganapathim - Thodi - Sikkil Gurucharan

Story and the background of Sri. Muthuswamy Dikshithar :

http://srimusicacademy.com/?p=96

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muthuswami_Dikshitar