gajAnanA's birth and nAgabandha

This was supposed to have been written a week ago. Better late than never! There are several stories as to how vinAyaka was born. Of course, the most popular one is that of pArvati kneading a human shape out of the sandal paste on her body and breathing life into it and asking that male child to guard while she was taking her bath. In the mean while Siva appears there and was refused entry into his own house. He kills him and pArvatI naturally becomes very angry and finally they find an elephant sleeping in the northern realms and then its head was morphed into the child's body and thus was born gajAnana. In this regard the yamaka on the word gajAnana is very noteworthy - agajAnana padmArkaM gajAnana maharniSam anEkadaM taM bhaktAnAm EkadaMtaM upAsmahE (He is like the sun to the pArvatI's lotus face, He gives a lot of boons, Worship always that one-tusked elephant-faced God). There is also this story that pArvatI was childless and she worships vishNu. As a result she is blessed with a child. Sani (Saturn) has a curse that if his eyes fall on somebody that person will croak. pArvati wants Sani to bless her son. Sani reluctantly looks at him and the child becomes lifeless. Then vishNu and other dEvAs find an elephant's head and place it on his body and the child was brought back to life. There is yet another story in the telugu epic kumArasaMbhavam written by nannichODa, a chOla king in the eleventh century. It seems this story is prevalent in Tamil Nadu. According to this story Siva and satI (daughter of dakshaprajApati) were hiking in the woods and there pArvati saw two elephants enjoying in a lake. Immediately she became desirous of Siva's company. They assumed the form of elephants and swam in the lake and enjoyed. Out of this union, gajAnana was born. You can pick your choice among these. Let me know if you have more stories! Of course, vinAyaka is supposed to have a big belly and a snake belt. I made a chikku kOlam out of a string in the form of a snake and wrote a Telugu poem to the design of this snake. Again there are some vague resemblances between my snake and another one created by another ikOlam artist. Let readers find out. ArtistjI, don't reveal yourself :-) vArijAsanApta kAlavaMSajA satIsutA (vA sa kA vaM sa tA) tArakAsakhAMga vaMda tappulan kshamiMcavA (tA sa vaM ta ksha vA) vAraNAksha kUrmi talli pArvatI tanUbhavA (vA ksha ta pA ta vA) vArijAtapAda pApabhaMjanA yaSOnidhI (vA ta pA bhaM ya dhI) dhIrakAya vighnabhaMga divyavESarUpakA (dhI ya bhaM di Sa kA) kAraNAMSa nIve dikku kAvarA sadA SivA (kA Sa di kA sa vA) వారిజాసనాప్త కాలవంశజా సతీసుతా తారకాసఖాంగ వంద తప్పులన్ క్షమించవా వారణాక్ష కూర్మి తల్లి పార్వతీ తనూభవా వారిజాతపాద పాపభంజనా యశోనిధీ ధీరకాయ విఘ్నభంగ దివ్యవేశరూపకా కారణాంశ నీవె దిక్కు కావరా సదా శివా Friend of Brahma, member of Siva's race, son of satI Handsome like the moon, forgive my countless mistakes Elephant-eyed one, born out of the body of dear pArvatI, With lotus-like feet, destroyer of sins, source of fame, Bold in body, killer of obstacles, clad in handsome dress, Source of reason, you're my refuge, help me ever radiant one! The first, fourth, seventh, ninth, twelfth and the fifteenth letters are common for two lines. The last letter of each line is the first letter of the next line. The metre is called sugandhi and the gati is tryasra (meaning three mAtrAs). The common letters are shown in the parentheses. Such poetry is called bandha kavitva or patterned poetry. Regards! - mOhana