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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.
Audio clip of hastivadanAya - prof.SRJ
Extracts from the article of Dr.S.S.Janaki in the souvenir of guruguha gana vidyalaya ,Calcutta