Koushik K

Ganesha Sahasranama - Thousand Names of Ganesha Koushik K

The hymn Ganesha sahasranama is found in the Ganesha pur?na. It is taught to lord Shiva by lord Ganesha himself. The story is given in detail in poorvapeethika that when lord Shiva wanted to destroy the tripur?sura - the demon king with three flying cities, but could not succeed even after enormous efforts, lord Shiva meditated on Ganesha. Then Ganesa appeared before Shiva in his five faced form (panchamukha Ganesha) and initiated lord Shiva with this hymn. This thousand name hymn of ganesha ( ganesha sahasranama ) is one among the powerful hymns on lord Ganesha and it has great importance in the G?n?patya tradition. Bh?skara r?ya m?khin a great sh?kta scholar and devotee of the mother goddess, a scholar in Vedas, pur?nas and mantra sh?stras had written a wonderful commentary on the hymn. The commentary is called khadyota (that which enlightens the sky) It is named so as it puts light on the deeper meanings of the names of this thousand names hymn (sahasran?ma stotra) I have explained every name of this thousand names hymn based on the khadyota commentary and I have also quoted shlokas from the Vedas, pur?nas and tantras. Some names of the sahasran?ma refer to various forms and incarnations of lord Ganesha. I have quoted the dhy?na shloka (verses describing forms of ganesha to be meditated on) of those forms from the tantra and ?gama sh?stras and also explained their meanings. The sahasranamavali (list of names from the sahasranama) starting with one and ending with namah (salutation) is also given for the perpose of chanting. the book has two indexes first index containing index of all names in the order in which it occurs in the hymn and the second index is alphabetical.