LALITHA SAHASRANAMAM
@ S. Subramaniam
कामेश्वर मुखालोक कल्पित श्रीगणेश्वरा (77)
Kameshwara Mukhaloka Kalpita Sri Ganeshwara (77)
Meaning:
Devi created Lord Ganesha, her son, who will be playing an important role in the battle. It may be noted, as per LSN, Devi created Ganesha by merely looking at her consort Kameshwara (Lord Shiva).
Interpretation:
Here again, there is a varied version in LSN in regard to the birth, or more aptly, the creation of Lord Ganesha. LSN doesn't provide information as to how Ganesha got an elephant's head. It simply says he was created by Devi by a mere glance at (without any union with) her consort Lord Shiva.
The Battle with Bhandasura
In the battle with Bhandasura, the demon instructed his younger brother Vishukra to evoke a Jaya Vigna Yantra to create obstacles in the enemy camp. Vishukra, an expert in Mayavi art, inscribes the Vighna Yantra on a stone slab, energizes it with appropriate mantras and after offering bali of goat's head, invokes evil forces on to it and throws it in the midst of the enemy camp. Immediately, lethargy, unrest and revolt to fight breaks out in the Shakti Sena.
The Yantra was so powerful that even Mantrini Devi, the goddess of all Mantras, could do anything to overcome the ill-effects. It was a crisis situation and the Devi's army needed someone who will remove all obstacles and restore normalcy and the only person capable of doing such a thing was Vigneshwara, or Maha Ganapathy. It is at this juncture that Devi created (evokes) Ganesha and instructed him to destroy the Yantra.
Author's Notes:
Readers are probably well aware that Devi herself rose from Chidagni Kunda to destroy Bhandasura. It was a new Avatar for Devi - an incarnation in a new form. Fire destroys all impurities and Devi coming out of fire, bears an absolutely pure form.
In the same way, it should be construed here that there is no new creation of Ganesha, Devi is only giving the already existing elder son, of her's, a new form to overcome the crisis situation in the battle. The word Kalpita should be understood to mean Punarudharanam or giving a new lease of life, rather than creating someone totally new.
Further, Devi is known to be absolutely impartial. In an earlier namah we have seen Devi providing an opportunity to Bala, her daughter, (representing female fraternity) to display her skills and initiate the practice of devotees worshipping Bala. Here it is the turn of her son Ganesha.
Devi, perhaps, created the crisis situation herself to ensure her son Ganesha (representing the male fraternity) to appear on the battlefield, display his skills, and make devotees worship him. I am reasoning this concept on the fact that Vigneshwara is the only male person of the Devi's army to fight Bhandasura. Not very sure, but it could be that Lord Ganesha got the names Vigneshwara and Vignahartha, only after the battle with Bhandasura.
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