Mahaganapati Wild elephant capture Prayoga

Vanasthalī-madhyagata-gaja-grahaṇa

Of all the prayogas inone is stranger than the one tucked into the details on Mahāgaṇapati: a complete ritual-engineering manual for trapping wild elephants in the deep forest. It begins, as elephant-work should, with the elephant-faced god.

The preparatory worship. Before any trap is built, the practitioner performs the elaborate catur-āvṛtti tarpaṇa of Mahāgaṇapati — four rounds of libation to the god, his consorts (Rati, the flower-arrowed Kāma, Mahī, Varāha), the eight Gaṇa-śaktis (Siddhi, Āmoda, Samṛddhi, Pramoda, Kānti, Sumukhā, Madanāvatī, Durmukhā…), the six obstacle-deities, and the treasure-nidhis (Vasudhārā, Śaṅkhanidhi, Vasumati, Padmanidhi). The central libation-mantra is:

ॐ श्रीं ह्रीं क्लीं ग्लौं गं महाविभूते वर वरदे सर्वजनं मे वशमानय स्वाहा Oṃ Śrīṃ Hrīṃ Klīṃ Glauṃ Gaṃ mahāvibhūte vara varade sarvajanaṃ me vaśamānaya svāhā ಓಂ ಶ್ರೀಂ ಹ್ರೀಂ ಕ್ಲೀಂ ಗ್ಲೌಂ ಗಂ ಮಹಾವಿಭೂತೇ ವರ ವರದೇ ಸರ್ವಜನಂ ಮೇ ವಶಮಾನಯ ಸ್ವಾಹಾ ("…boon-giver, bring all beings under my sway.")

The text pauses to note that the seed glauṃ is param stambhana-karam — "supremely immobilising." That single observation is the hinge of the whole rite: the god who removes obstacles is here invoked to fix in place the most unstoppable animal in the forest.

Mahaganapati Wild elephant capture Prayoga

Mahaganapati Wild elephant capture Prayoga starts by building the trap: "Atha vanasthalī-madhyagata-gaja-grahaṇopāya-vidhir likhyate" — "now the method of capturing the forest elephant is written." The engineering:

• Dig a special pit (avaṭa-viśeṣa) in the elephant's path, "so the elephant falls" (gaja-patana-artham).

• Beside it, raise a very large square hall (su-viśālaṃ catur-aśraṃ gṛha-varyam).

• Ring it with a strong enclosure, gleaming with four gateway arches (catur-dvāra-toraṇollasita).

• In the centre of this pavilion, build a square altar-platform (sthalī / vedikā) for worshipping Vighneśa, and on its north side a fire-pit (kuṇḍa).

The consecration: The king (for this is a royal rite) first determines the auspicious direction by the sun's course and performs puṇyāha. To the sound of the five instruments (pañca-nināda) the pavilion is raised — graded best/middle/worst at sixteen, twelve, or ten hastas, set on sixteen pillars with four beautiful doors. The Gaṇapati syllables of the cāpa, cakra, hari-bhava and manu schemes are inscribed in order on the rings of the kuṇḍa, and the full Mahāgaṇapati worship and homa are performed.

The result. With Gaṇapati installed and "fixed" by glauṃ, the elephants of that forest are drawn to the trap and taken. It is, in effect, a sacred game-management installation — temple, altar, fire-pit and pitfall built as one machine, with the Lord of Obstacles presiding over both the obstacle (the wild elephant) and its removal.