Vināyakar Agaval-Gaṇeśa and Avvaiyar

Legend of the elephant god

Gaṇeśa, Vināyaka or Gaṇápati is a deity of the people of Bhārat. The vehicle (vāhana) on which Gaṇeśa rides is a mouse. Normally, deities in Bhāratam are associated with nature, animals and plants. Such depictions are used to bring people close to the supreme self, present within oneself and pervading across the universe. Hence, one should try to interpret the iconography of a huge elephant riding on a small rat/mouse (mūṣaka) metaphorically, as taking it literally leads to a dead-end. The intertwined cultural thread of the worship of aborigines of this land is indeed difficult to trace and can be done only through iconography in statues or literature texts. Dating the latter to a particular period is difficult, yet not impossible. A reference to the epithet Gaṇápati, as the lord of masses, exists in Rig Veda (Ṛg vedaḥ) in Book 2, Hymn 23, Verse 1. Whether Brahmaṇaspati and Gaṇápati are one and the same is another lingering question.

ग॒णानां॑ त्वा ग॒णप॑तिं हवामहे क॒विं क॑वी॒नामु॑प॒मश्र॑वस्तमम् ।

ज्ये॒ष्ठ॒राजं॒ ब्रह्म॑णां ब्रह्मणस्पत॒ आ नः॑ श‍ृ॒ण्वन्नू॒तिभिः॑ सीद॒ साद॑नम् ॥ २.०२३.०१

gaṇā́nāṃ tvā gaṇápatiṃ havāmahe kavíṃ kavīnā́m upamášravastamam ।

jyeṣṭharā́jam bráhmaṇām brahmaṇas pata ā́ naḥ šṛṇvánn ūtíbhiḥ sīda sā́danam ॥

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Gaṇās are depicted fat; their leader is also depicted in the same way. The only add-on has been the elephant head, the legend of which has been related falsely to the replacement of human head with elephant head surgically. Gaṇápati, is at the best a leader of the masses at some time in the proto-history. The insignia or the banner of these could have been elephant or a rat. This is again my hypothesis and I wish not to force it upon the

beliefs of ordinary people. I believe the legend should stay as it had for a millennia or two resulting in a good communal harmony among Indian masses. We should also not forget the scribe Ēkadanta (an epithet of gaṇápati) under the pīpal tree, who wrote Mahābhārata for Vyāsa after breaking his single tusk. For the historically inclined, here is a Greek coin of

Demetrios-I from 200-185 BCE below a Gaṇeśa statue . The ruler clearly wears an elephant head-dress!!

The Tamil tradition of Vināyaka

Vināyaka is called Pillayār or introduced to young kids as Pillayār ummāchi by family elders. Pillayār fascinated kids along with Hanumān, probably due to their elephant or monkey heads, respectively. This indeed makes kids benevolent and brings them closer to nature and makes them love and treat all animals equally well. This should be contrasted to other countries, where the culture treats humans as predator and animals as prey and deemed to be eaten or hunted. It is said that the worship of Pillayār in Tamil Nādu happened during the reign of Pallavās. The Chalukya king Pulikeśin-II besieged Kānchipuram for one year. Although this attempt failed, it had resulted in Mahendra-varman-I’s death. His son Narasimha-varman-I and commander Parañ-joti besieged Vātāpi (later called Badāmi) later, to avenge his father’s death in 642 AD. Parañ-joti gave up violence and became the Śaivaite saint ‘Sirutonda Nāyanār’ in his old age. Legend has it that Parañ-joti took a Gaṇeśa statue from Vātapi and installed it in his hometown Tiru-cen-kātan-kudi at the Uthra-pathi-iswara-swāmi temple. The 18 th century composer Muthuswāmi Dīkśitar, younger amongst the Carnatic trinity, is said to that have visited this temple and sang the famous Kṛiti “Vātāpi Gaṇápatim” for the Gaṇeśa here. Now, why did the composer use the term Vātāpi?

The Agaval prosody and the Vināyakar agaval

Agaval, Agavaṛpā or Āciriyappā is an old poetic metre in Tamil similar to the chandas. It is said that the Vināyakar agaval was composed by Avvai or Avvaiyār. Now, several Avvaiyārs from different periods existed: One from Sangam period (around 300 BCE or earlier as Sangam period is not dated accurately, yet) who wrote several poems in Puranānūru and was friend of Kings Pāri and Atiyamān. Another Avvaiyār probably existed in Pallavā times (6th~8th century AD) and yet another during the 10 th ~ 14 th century AD. Now, which Avvaiyār wrote the Vināyakar agaval is a question. Nevertheless, the Agavaṛpā is a very old poetic metre. I urge the readers to read more on this female poet, as her devotional literature might soon become out-of-syllabus in Tamil Nādu curriculum and urge them to teach the next generation as the lessons on morality taught by Avvai are critical for day-to-day life. What is interesting is that Nakkīrar, another Sangam poet, has written a similar Vināyakar agaval. Again some claim that this Nakkīrar is not the Nakkīraṉãr, who is the author of the Sangam work on Lord Muruga: Tiru-murukā-ṟṟup-paṭai. Whatever maybe the time periods, these poems are beautiful in their construction and demonstrate high literary and vocabulary commands of the poets, exceeded perhaps only by their devotion (bhakti). There is a rendition of Vināyakar agaval by MS Subbulakshmi in the playlist of Prof. Dineshkumar Harursampath’s YouTube channel.

The first 15 verses of the poem describes the physical form of the child Gaṇeśa. Later, the poet asks to be absolved of the delusive or illusive mind and lead her to a clarity in thought. Now, the methods mentioned cryptically in this literature is through this human body and by controlling breath or prāna. Whichever final state that is mentioned in the agaval has been achieved only by few authentic practitioners. A word of caution is that there are several false godmen and practitioners in the world, claiming to know this and teach this.

The English translation of Vināyakar agaval

https://ta.wikisource.org/wiki/விநாயகர்_அகவல்

Whilst the anklets worn on the cold, elephant, lotus flower like soft feet jingle; the golden waist string and the silk drapes add beauty to your waist;

the pot like belly, the big tusks and the elephant face shines as sindūra red.

Of the five hands, two hold aṅkuca (a hook), pāśa (a noose),

thy heart has a blue form similar to the blue throat of Śiva,

thy covered mouth and four shoulders, 3 eyes and 3 lined impressions (cuvaṭu),

, thy two ears, shining golden crown and the thick three strands of Yajñopavīta are over

thine chest.

Indescribable beyond words, sentences, you (Gaṇeśa) stay in the Turiya jñāna state.

Oh Mūṣika-vāhaṉā, you relish the three fruits-mango, jackfruit and banana.

I pray that you rule over my rat like intellect, consider me as your child and cut the bondage of illusion like the divine mother. Let my chanting of the ‘Pañcākṣára’ be proper and make you seat in my mind. As a Guru, come keep your feet on the earthen base (probably a reference to chakra) and elucidate the powerful technique. Using your axe, cut my sorrows and make me happy. Whisper in my ears the insatiating lesson which makes me wise.

Please gracefully teach wisdom to control five senses, to numb the body, to remove the sorrows caused by good and bad karma. You are blessing me with four states (talāms), cutting the three impurities (malam). You are showing the NINE OPENINGS in this and the way to shut the FIVE SENSES. Beyond the SIX states (another reference to energy Chakras), lies the seventh summit, where I reach the SILENT (mounam or samādhi state in meditation?). Having taught the technique to use Ida and pingala nādis (left and right nostril breathing pathways), you also led to the cuḻumuṉai nādi in the skull where the former two converge. At the pillar where the three maṇḍalās meet, lies the snake (Kuṇḍalini) dormant. You taught me the Acapā (haṃsa mantra) to raise the Kuṇḍalini ( the word Kuṇḍalini is used explicitly). The fire in Mūlādhāram can be raised using Air/Wind inside.You showed me the Amṛta state internally, where the channels of Moon and the Sun and how they operate like a clockwork.

You showed the behaviour of the Lotus inside. The 16 facets of the middle (Viśuddhi) chakrā (direct reference of the word chakrā ), and the qualities of all body chakrās became clear. Help me so that the 6 faceted points (Śanmukha tūla) and 4 faceted (Catur mukha) Sukśma is in my favour. To understand this gross body through 8 states, take me to Sahasrāra in skull (Kapāla) wherein like the salvation (Mukti). Shower me with the answer

to the question “Who am I?” and cut all the past karmās from previous birth. No more words, no more mind, only tranquillity. Thus, by your grace I am now in a state beyond light and darkness.

After removing obstacles, you showed me the divine path. You showed me Śiva in sound. You showed me Śivaliṅgam in my thought (cittá). You showed that which is as small as an atom (aṇu) in the microcosm and as expansive as the universe (macrocosm). It is as sweet as the ripe sugarcane. It makes you join and remain with noble people. I, Avvai, thus surrender at the lotus feet of Gaṇeśa, who taught me Pañcākṣára and its usage to realize my self.