Trimukha Ganapathi Mantra
ॐ त्रिमुखाय नमःIn Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English — with the meaning of every word, and the one syllable most people pronounce wrongly.
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Who Trimukha Ganapathi is
Trimukha Ganapathi is the three-faced form of Ganesha whose countenances turn toward the three times or, in the reading favored by certain Ganapatya lineages, toward the three gunas. Seated on a golden lotus throne, he appears in the thirty-two-form lists with six arms: the right hands hold the goad and a rosary and show the boon-giving gesture, and the left hands hold the noose and a pot of nectar and show the gesture of protection. Reddish in complexion, he is the manifestation whose triad of faces keeps past action, present attention, and future consequence within a single field of regard. This threefold form, together with the lotus throne, sets Trimukha apart from both the five-faced Heramba and every single-faced image of the elephant-headed lord.
Three Faces of Continuity
Trimukha Ganapathi is one of the thirty-two meditative forms of Ganesha whose dhyana verses are collected in the Sritattvanidhi, the nineteenth-century Mysore compendium popularly credited to the Mudgala Purana. The dhyana is a description for meditation rather than a narrative, and no episode of his appearance is attested. It seats him on a golden lotus throne, red in colour, with three faces and six arms. In his right hands he holds the goad and a rosary and shows the boon-giving gesture; in his left he holds the noose and a pot of amrita, the nectar of immortality, and shows abhaya, the gesture that removes fear. Some accounts give a wish-granting creeper in place of the abhaya hand. The three faces are commonly read as turned toward past, present and future, so that action, attention and consequence stay within a single regard, and the six hands set the instruments of restraint and guidance beside the gifts of nourishment and protection.
The mantra, in six scripts
The name mantra, and the form most devotees chant daily. No initiation is required — it is open to anyone, including a parent chanting for a child.
- ॐ
- oṃ — the sacred syllable
- त्रिमुखाय
- trimukhāya — to the three-faced one
- नमः
- namaḥ — salutation
More Trimukha Ganapathi mantras
Trimukha Ganapathi Dhyana Shloka
The verse recited to picture the deity before japa.
- श्रीमत्तीक्ष्णशिखाङ्कुशाक्षवरदान्
- śrīmattīkṣṇaśikhāṅkuśākṣavaradān — the splendid sharp-pointed goad, the rosary and the boon-giving gesture
- दक्षे
- dakṣe — on the right
- दधानः
- dadhānaḥ — holding
- करैः
- karaiḥ — in his hands
- पाशं
- pāśaṃ — the noose
- च
- ca — and
- अमृतपूर्णकुम्भम्
- amṛtapūrṇakumbham — a pot full of nectar
- अभयं
- abhayaṃ — the gesture of fearlessness
- वामे
- vāme — on the left
- दधानो
- dadhāno — holding
- मुदा
- mudā — gladly
- पीठे
- pīṭhe — on a throne
- स्वर्णमयारविन्दविलसत्सत्कर्णिकाभासुरे
- svarṇamayāravindavilasatsatkarṇikābhāsure — bright with a golden lotus and its fine pericarp
- स्वासीनस्
- svāsīnas — well seated
- त्रिमुखः
- trimukhaḥ — three-faced
- पलाशरुचिरो
- palāśaruciro — lovely as the palāśa flower
- नागाननः
- nāgānanaḥ — elephant-faced
- पातु
- pātu — may he protect
- नः
- naḥ — us
Source: Dhyāna śloka of this form in the Śrītattvanidhi's thirty-two Gaṇapati forms (no. 28 in the traditional list). The printed texts agree letter for letter. One common romanisation reads ‘pañcāmṛta-pūrṇa-kumbham’ in line 2 (minority reading, not followed).
The syllable people get wrong
In trimukhāya the aspirated kh of the syllable khā is often reduced to a plain unaspirated k, producing “trimukāya.” The breath that follows the velar stop must remain audible, preserving the aspiration of mukha, the face.
When Trimukha Ganapathi is chanted
Weekday. Tuesday
Questions
Have your chart read before you decide
Chanting is yours to do, and free. But which deity your situation calls for — and whether a mantra alone is the right response — depends on your chart. Sometimes it is; sometimes it is not.
- Over 30 years in the Guru–Sishya Parampara, from the age of five
- He reads every chart himself — 60 minutes, one to one, never delegated
- Charts are read only between sunrise and sunset, following tradition
