śrī gaṇanāthaṃ bhajāmyahaṃ

• rāgamthe raga
• kanakāṅgiKanakangi
• melathe parent scale

anvaya rāgam kanakāṅgi [prathamaḥ] mela

chandas Prose, the heading of the song

mela the parent scale — A mela is one of the seventy-two scales from which the other ragas are drawn. Kanakangi stands first in the list.

kanakāṅgi Kanakangi — The name means gold-limbed. Dikshitar wrote a song in each of the seventy-two, and this is the one for the first.

note The heading names the raga rather than giving words to sing. The letters in brackets are the notes of the scale.

• tālamthe tala
• ādiAdi
• pallavithe pallavi

anvaya tālam ādi pallavi

chandas Prose, the heading of the song

ādi Adi — The commonest tala in Carnatic music, of eight beats.

pallavi the pallavi — The opening line of a kriti, which comes back after every other section.

• śrīgaṇanāthamShri Gananatha, lord of the ganas
• bhajāmiI worship
• ahamI

anvaya aham śrīgaṇanātham bhajāmi

chandas Irregular; set to the tala rather than to a metre

note The pallavi. In performance this line returns after each of the sections that follow.

• śrīkaramwho makes things prosper
• cintitārthaphaladamwho gives the fruit of whatever is thought of
• anupallavithe anupallavi

anvaya śrīkaram cintitārthaphaladam anupallavi

chandas Irregular; set to the tala rather than to a metre

anupallavi the anupallavi — The second section of a kriti, which follows the pallavi and leads back to it.

• śrīguruguhāgrajamthe elder brother of Shri Guruguha
• agrapūjyamthe one worshipped before all others

anvaya śrīguruguhāgrajam agrapūjyam

chandas Irregular; set to the tala rather than to a metre

guruguha Guruguha — A name of Subrahmanya and the signature Muthuswami Dikshitar wrote into every song. Calling Ganesha his elder brother signs the song and states a fact of the family at once.

agrapūjyam worshipped before all others — The right to the first worship at any rite, which Ganesha won and which is why he is invoked before anything begins.

• śrīkaṇṭhātmajamthe son of Shrikantha
• śritasāmrājyamwhose kingdom belongs to those who come to him
• śrīthe pallavi returns
• caraṇamthe charanam

anvaya śrīkaṇṭhātmajam śritasāmrājyam śrī caraṇam

chandas Irregular; set to the tala rather than to a metre

śrīkaṇṭha Shrikantha — The one with the beautiful throat: Shiva, whose throat turned dark when he held the poison there.

caraṇam the charanam — The last and longest section of a kriti, which ends by leading back into the pallavi.

note The bracketed śrī marks where the singer goes back to the opening line.

• rañjitanāṭakaraṅgatoṣaṇamwho takes delight in the coloured stage of the play

anvaya rañjitanāṭakaraṅgatoṣaṇam

chandas Irregular; set to the tala rather than to a metre

raṅga the stage — Ranga is both a colour and a stage, and ranjita is what has been coloured. The line plays on the pair.

• śiñjitavaramaṇimayabhūṣaṇamwhose fine jewelled ornaments ring as he moves

anvaya śiñjitavaramaṇimayabhūṣaṇam

chandas Irregular; set to the tala rather than to a metre

śiñjita ringing — Shinjita is the small sound anklets and bangles make. In a song the word is chosen for its own sound as much as its sense.

• āñjaneyāvatāramwho came down as Anjaneya
• subhāṣaṇamwhose speech is good

anvaya āñjaneyāvatāram subhāṣaṇam

chandas Irregular; set to the tala rather than to a metre

āñjaneya Anjaneya — Hanuman, son of Anjana. Songs of this kind will name a form taken by the god; the numbers printed before the words mark two readings the copies give here.

note The small numbers in the text are not sung. They mark where copies of the song differ.

• kuñjaramukhamelephant-faced
• tyāgarājapoṣaṇamwho nourishes Tyagaraja
• śrīthe pallavi returns

anvaya kuñjaramukham tyāgarājapoṣaṇam śrī

chandas Irregular; set to the tala rather than to a metre

tyāgarāja Tyagaraja — The Shiva of Tiruvarur, Dikshitar's own town. The famous composer of that name is a different person, born a generation later.

kuñjara elephant — One of the many Sanskrit words for an elephant, chosen here for the sound it makes beside ranjita and shinjita in the lines above.