Sankatanashana Ganesha Stotram: Sanskrit Text and Meaning

The Sankatanashana Ganesha Stotram (“the hymn that destroys troubles”) is a short Sanskrit hymn of eight verses that lists the twelve best-known names of Ganesha and says what reciting them is for. It is also written Sankashtanashana, since sankata and sankashta are two spellings of the same word for trouble or difficulty. The first verse begins pranamya shirasa devam gauriputram vinayakam, “bowing the head to the god, the son of Gauri, Vinayaka”.

The printed editions end it with the words “this is the Sankatanashana Ganesha Stotra in the Narada Purana”, and the verses are spoken by the sage Narada. We have not been able to confirm the hymn in the text of the Narada Purana itself, so this page treats the attribution as traditional: it is what the old prints say. The metre is the common anushtubh of eight syllables to a line, which makes the hymn very easy to learn.

The hymn is chanted in many homes on Sankashti Chaturthi, the fourth day after the full moon, and its twelve names (Vakratunda, Ekadanta, Krishna-pingaksha, Gajavaktra, Lambodara, Vikata, Vighnaraja, Dhumravarna, Bhalachandra, Vinayaka, Ganapati and Gajanana) are the ones commonly taught as “the twelve names of Ganesha”. Below are all eight verses in Devanagari with transliteration and a plain meaning, the readings on which the prints and common recitation differ, and a note on how the text was checked.

The text, transliteration and meaning

Text: Brihat Stotra Ratnakara (Nirnaya Sagar Press, Bombay, 1912, page 28), checked against the prints of 1892 and 1953 and the Cuddalore print, and against Sanskrit Wikisource. Transliteration is simplified; meanings are our own.

Where the prints and common recitation differ

The old printed editions agree with one another in almost every word. The differences from the form many people recite are these.

Verse 1, second line. The 1892 print, the Cuddalore print, the 1953 print and all three Wikisource texts read bhaktavasam, “the abode of devotees”, and this page follows them. The Nirnaya Sagar Press print of 1912, which we read from the page image, and one other print read bhaktya vyasah, which does not give a clear sense and looks like a misreading of the same words.

Verse 3, second line. Every print we read, including the 1912 page image, has saptamam vighnarajam ca, “and the seventh, Vighnaraja”. Common recitation and one typed Wikisource page have vighnarajendram, “Vighnarajendra”, which means the same name with a lordly ending. Both fit the metre, so both are in use.

Verse 4, first line. The prints read bhalachandram, “the moon on the brow”. A Wikisource transcription of the 1953 print has phalachandram, which looks like a transcription slip.

Verse 5. The prints read dvadashaitani and sarva-siddhi-karam prabho, “O lord, who gives all success”. Some books have sarva-siddhi-karah prabhuh, “the lord, who gives all success”, which is the same sense in the nominative. Two prints (1892 and Cuddalore) have param for prabho.

Verse 8, first line. The 1912 print (page image) and another print read ashtabhyo brahmanebhyash ca likhitva, “having written it, gives it to eight Brahmins”. The Cuddalore print has ashtanam brahmananam ca likhita. The sense is the same.

The twelve names

The names describe the form of Ganesha as the tradition pictures him. Vakratunda is “the curved trunk” and gajavaktra and gajanana both mean “elephant face”. Ekadanta is “one tusk”, which refers to the story in which he broke off one of his own tusks. Lambodara, “the long belly”, is the best-known of his forms. Krishna-pingaksha (“dark with tawny eyes”), vikata (“huge, formidable”) and dhumravarna (“smoke-coloured”) are descriptions of colour and size. Bhalachandra (“moon on the brow”) recalls the crescent he wears. Vighnaraja (“king of obstacles”) and vinayaka (“the leader” or “the remover”) name his role as the lord who sets obstacles in the way, and removes them. Ganapati is “lord of the hosts”, the attendants of Shiva.

Other lists of twelve names exist in other hymns, and they do not all agree, so these twelve are the ones this hymn names and not a fixed canon.

How and when it is used

The hymn takes about a minute to read. Its fifth verse names three times of day for the recitation (the trisandhya, dawn, noon and dusk), but many people say it once, in the morning or in the evening, before beginning study, work or a journey. It is chanted most often on Sankashti Chaturthi: the Sankashti Chaturthi guide and the vrat vidhi describe the fast and how it is broken when the moon rises. It is also read on Ganesh Chaturthi.

The verses from the fifth to the eighth state what the hymn is for: learning, wealth, children, liberation, a result in six months or a year, and a gift of the written copy. That is the hymn’s own claim of faith, reported as the tradition’s and not as a promise. No reading of any text replaces study, work, medical care or sound financial advice, and we do not suggest it does.

Pronunciation notes

Every line has eight syllables, so say each half-line evenly. The vowel ṛ in kṛṣṇa is said like ri in “river”, and ṣ is said like sh. The ṇ in kṛṣṇa is a retroflex n, with the tongue curled back. The name Vakratuṇḍa has a retroflex ṇḍ in the last syllable. The kṣ in pingākṣa is said ksh. Say dvādashaitāni with two long vowels, as dvā-da-shai-tā-ni, where ai is as in “aisle”.

How the text on this page is sourced

The Devanagari follows the Brihat Stotra Ratnakara, a large collection of Sanskrit hymns. We read the Nirnaya Sagar Press print of 1912 from its page image, and compared it with four other prints (including those of 1892 and the Cuddalore collection) and with the proofread transcription of the 1953 print on Sanskrit Wikisource. Two other Wikisource pages carry typed versions of the hymn. They agree with the prints in almost every word, apart from the points listed above. Where prints and typed versions differ, the reading in the prints was kept, and the other is recorded in the section above.

Related mantras and pages

• Ganesha Pancharatnam: five verses to Ganesha attributed to Shankara
• Ganesh Mantra: four short mantras and verses for Ganesha
• Ganapati Atharvashirsha: the Upanishad-style hymn to Ganapati
• Ganesh Aarti: the aarti sung before Ganesha
• Sankashti Chaturthi: the monthly Chaturthi vrat, with dates for your city
• Ganesh Chaturthi: the festival of Ganesha
• All mantras, stotras, chalisas and aartis

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