Uddanda Ganapathi Mantra
ॐ उद्दण्डगणपतये नमःIn Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English — with the meaning of every word, and the one syllable most people pronounce wrongly.
Who Uddanda Ganapathi is
Uddanda Ganapathi is the staff-raised form counted among the thirty-two aspects of the Mudgala Purana and certain tantric paddhatis. The name uddaṇḍa means “one whose staff is lifted,” declaring perpetual readiness to correct. Iconography gives him a red complexion, three eyes, and twelve arms (some popular lists give ten) that hold the tusk, a club, a night-blooming lotus, the noose, an ear of paddy, the goad, a jewelled water pot, the sugar-cane bow, the discus, a day lotus, the conch and a pomegranate. His śakti is seated on his left thigh. He is the aspect turned toward entrenched injustice rather than toward ordinary hindrance, the sudden clarity that reappears when law has been twisted into an instrument of harm.
The Staff-Raised Name
No separate legend of Uddanda Ganapathi is found in the sources. He is known, like most of the thirty-two forms, through his dhyana verse and the image described in the Śrītattvanidhi. His name is his clearest teaching: uddaṇḍa means ‘with staff uplifted’, and by extension fierce or unrestrained. Yet the image itself carries far more than weapons. Of his twelve hands, some hold the club, the discus, the noose and the goad, while others hold an ear of paddy, a pomegranate, a jewelled water pot, the sugar-cane bow, the conch and two lotuses, one that opens by day and one by night, together with his own tusk. His śakti sits on his left thigh. The form joins strength with abundance, and devotees contemplate it when they ask for firmness in setting right what has gone wrong.
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 primordial syllable
- उद्दण्डगणपतये
- uddaṇḍagaṇapataye — to the Ganapati whose staff is raised
- नमः
- namaḥ — salutations
More Uddanda Ganapathi mantras
Uddanda Ganapathi Dhyana Shloka
The verse recited to picture the deity before japa.
- कल्हाराम्बुजबीजपूरकगदादन्तेक्षुचापं
- kalhārāmbujabījapūrakagadādantekṣucāpaṃ — the white water-lily, lotus, citron, mace, tusk and sugarcane bow
- सुमं
- sumaṃ — a flower
- बिभ्राणो
- bibhrāṇo — holding
- मणिकुम्भशालिकलशौ
- maṇikumbhaśālikalaśau — a jewelled pot and a pitcher of paddy (dual: two objects)
- पाशं
- pāśaṃ — the noose
- सृणिं
- sṛṇiṃ — the goad
- च
- ca — and
- अब्जकम्
- abjakam — a lotus
- गौराङ्ग्या
- gaurāṅgyā — by the fair-limbed
- रुचिरारविन्दकरया
- rucirāravindakarayā — who holds a lovely lotus in her hand
- देव्या
- devyā — by the Goddess
- समालिङ्गितः
- samāliṅgitaḥ — embraced
- शोणाङ्गः
- śoṇāṅgaḥ — red of limb
- शुभम्
- śubham — auspiciousness
- आतनोतु
- ātanotu — may he spread
- भजताम्
- bhajatām — for those who worship
- उद्दण्डविघ्नेश्वरः
- uddaṇḍavighneśvaraḥ — Uddaṇḍa, the lord of obstacles
Source: Dhyāna śloka of this form in the Śrītattvanidhi's thirty-two Gaṇapati forms (no. 24 in the traditional list). The printed texts agree except that one prints समालिङ्गतः; the other's समालिङ्गितः (the correct participle) is given. One common romanisation has a different second half for lines 1–2 (a minority reading, not followed).
The syllable people get wrong
The name is formed from ud and daṇḍa, so it holds two different clusters. The first is a doubled dental dd, made with the tongue against the upper teeth and held for a moment: ud-da. Many speakers shorten it to a single d. The second cluster, ṇḍ, comes after the a and is retroflex: the tongue tip curls back to the roof of the mouth for both ṇ and ḍ. Said slowly, the word runs ud-daṇ-ḍa, with the dental sounds first and the retroflex sounds after them.
When Uddanda 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
Related
How to Chant
Mala, counts, timing and the mistakes that apply to any mantra.
Ganapathi Mula Mantra
The foundational mantra. Chanted at the start of any undertaking.
Vidya Ganapathi Mantra
For study, examinations and retention of what is learned.
Ganapathi Homa
The fire ritual, performed for you and telecast live.
Chanting is yours to do. Some things are performed for you.
Where a matter carries real weight, devotees sponsor the homa alongside their own practice. Performed for you and any family members you name, at our Yagna Ashram, in your name and gotra, on a muhurta calculated from your chart, and telecast live so you can watch it done for you.