वातापिगणपतिं भजेऽहं
वारणास्यं वरप्रदं श्री
भूतादिसंसेवितचरणं
भूतभौतिकप्रपञ्चभरणम्
वीतरागिणं विनुतयोगिनं
विश्वकारणं विघ्नवारणम्
पुरा कुम्भसम्भवमुनिवरप्रपूजितं
त्रिकोणमध्यगतम्
मुरारिप्रमुखाद्युपासितं
मूलाधारक्षेत्रस्थितम्
परादिचत्वारिवागात्मकं
प्रणवस्वरूपवक्रतुण्डम्
निरन्तरं निटिलचन्द्रखण्डं
निजवामकरविधृतेक्षुदण्डम्
कराम्बुजपाशबीजापूरं
कलुषविदूरं भूताकारम्
हरादिगुरुगुहतोषितबिम्बं
हंसध्वनिभूषितहेरम्बम्
vātāpigaṇapatiṁ bhaje'haṁ
vāraṇāsyaṁ varapradaṁ śrī
bhūtādisaṁsevitacaraṇaṁ
bhūtabhautikaprapañcabharaṇam
vītarāgiṇaṁ vinutayoginaṁ
viśvakāraṇaṁ vighnavāraṇam
purā kumbhasambhavamunivaraprapūjitaṁ
trikoṇamadhyagatam
murāripramukhādyupāsitaṁ
mūlādhārakṣetrasthitam
parādicatvārivāgātmakaṁ
praṇavasvarūpavakratuṇḍam
nirantaraṁ niṭilacandrakhaṇḍaṁ
nijavāmakaravidhṛtekṣudaṇḍam
karāmbujapāśabījāpūraṁ
kaluṣavidūraṁ bhūtākāram
harādiguruguhatoṣitabimbaṁ
haṁsadhvanibhūṣitaherambam
Meaning
Pallavi: I worship Vatapi Ganapati, the elephant-faced, the giver of boons.
Anupallavi: Whose feet are served by the bhutas and all beings; who sustains the world of the elements and all that is made of them; free of attachment; praised by yogis; cause of the universe; remover of obstacles.
Charanam: Worshipped of old by Agastya, the great muni born of a pot; seated in the centre of the triangle; worshipped by Vishnu and the foremost devas; dwelling in the field of the Muladhara; whose self is the four levels of speech beginning with Para; the curved-trunked one whose form is Pranava; who ever bears the crescent moon on his brow and holds a stalk of sugarcane in his left hand. In his lotus hands the noose and the citron fruit; far from all impurity; whose form is the elements; whose image delights Shiva, Guruguha and the rest; Heramba, adorned by Hamsadhwani.
About this bhajan
More Carnatic concerts open with Vatapi Ganapatim than with any other song. Dikshitar (1775–1835) wrote it in Hamsadhwani, a five-note raga his father Ramaswami Dikshitar is credited with bringing into use, and he signs both the raga and his mudra ‘Guruguha’ into the last line. The name Vatapi recalls a temple tradition: the Pallava general Paranjothi, later revered as Siruthonda Nayanar, is said to have brought a Ganapati murti home from Vatapi (Badami) after the campaign of 642 CE. The kriti is also a small Tantric map, placing Ganesha in the Muladhara and in the triangle of the yantra, where Dikshitar the Shri Vidya upasaka saw him.
karnatik.com c1048 (Hamsadhwani, Adi; lyrics contributed by Anuradha Suresh and Lakshman Ragde), notation reference to Shivkumar Kalyanaraman’s Krithi Archive; Devanagari by the editor