Pillayar Pillayar

Lord Mahaganapati is the celebrated son of universal parents Lord Parameshwara and Mother Parvati. He has several names out of which everyone loves to call him pillayar in Tamil Nadu. It can be safely said that every street in Tamil Nadu has atleast one pillayar kovil. One may also find his abodes on the banks of the rivers, ponds and lakes usually under the peepal tree.

One sloka that everyone almost knows is

shuklAmbaradharam vishnum shashivarNam caturbhujam.
prasannavadanam dhyaayet sarva vighnopashAntaye..

This sloka is also recited by sri vaishnavites and is attributed to Lord Vishnu. As a matter of fact, all propitiations go to Him alone (has it not been proclaimed "sarva deva namaskaraH srI keshavam pratigacchati"). Anyhow, when talking of the innumerable manifestations of the almighty, worship of ganapati is accorded a lot of importance in our tradition. But how is this sloka refering to ganapati or pillayar? Sri Mahasannidhanam Srimadabhinava Vidya Tirtha Mahaswamigal has given a lucid exposition on this. The word prasanna not only means happy but also mean elephant. This sloka propitiates the elephant faced pillayar. And all other adjectives like the one decked in white robes, one who is fair like the moon, the one with four hands etc are used to propitiate this elephant faced pillayar appan.

The vishwasam or the faith that our ancestors had on this pillayar is beyond description (just like telling the mango is sweet will not help in understanding the sweetness of the mango, to understand faith, faith has to be instilled and inbibed.) Readers will agree that words simply dilute particularly when narrated by someone as naive as the author. Anyway, to give an example to better understand their faith, the author draws the attendtion to the ganapati puja does to the manjal pillayar (haridra bhimbam) or pillayar in the photo or any other form before commencing any other puja. Lord pillayar is called vigneshwara, vighnaharta etc. He is hailed as the destroyer of obstacles. He is propitiated at the beginning of any puja to seek his blessings for successful completion of the puja without any obstacles.

The same pillayar puja is done even before doing ganapati puja on the pillayar chathurthi day: asking pillayar's grace for completing pillayar puja successfully without obstacles.

May that pillayar, who is elephant-faced, who is worshiped by all creations, who relished the juice of the jambu fruit, who is the son of uma, who is the reason for the destruction of our woes guide our intellect, instinct and intuition in the right direction.