Gaṇeśa Gāyatrī
Ganesha Gayatri — Vedic Recitation
Mantra (IAST): oṃ ekadantāya vidmahe vakratuṇḍāya dhīmahi tanno dantī pracodayāt ‖
Meaning
We seek to know the One-Tusked.
We meditate upon the One whose trunk is curved.
May the Lord inspire and guide us, and awaken our minds.
Why this mantra is recited
Gaṇeśa is invoked at the start of every undertaking: he is Vighneśvara, lord of obstacles — the one who both sets them and removes them. First the mind meets the barrier; then the way through it opens.
This Gāyatrī is addressed to the intellect (buddhi): before knowledge can come, what clouds clarity must be cleared. Gaṇeśa is the patron of beginnings, of learning, and of writing.
The fruit (phala): a focused and clear mind, the removal of inner and outer obstacles, success in what is begun.
Gaṇeśa — lord of the gaṇas and remover of obstacles
Son of Śiva and Pārvatī, leader of the gaṇas — Śiva's hosts; hence Gaṇa-īśa / Gaṇa-pati, “lord of the multitudes.” God of beginnings, wisdom, and writing; he is worshipped first.
The mantra's epithets paint his form: Ekadanta — “the one-tusked,” Vakratuṇḍa — “the curved-trunked,” Dantin — “the tusked one.”
In the Vedic recension (Taittirīya Āraṇyaka) this Gāyatrī opens with tatpuruṣāya … vakratuṇḍāya … tanno dantiḥ; the form with ekadantāya is later, Purāṇic.
Ekadanta · the broken-off tusk
When the sage Vyāsa dictated the Mahābhārata, a scribe was needed who could write without stopping. Gaṇeśa agreed — but in the heat of writing his pen broke. So he broke off his own tusk and went on, never interrupting the flow.
Thus he is Ekadanta — “the one-tusked.” The broken tusk is an image of sacrificing part of oneself for the wholeness of knowledge: a mind ready to give up the familiar in order to hold more.
In another account the tusk is lost in a clash with Paraśurāma at Śiva's door.
Subtleties of pronunciation
The mantra is set in Gāyatrī meter — three lines of eight syllables, twenty-four in all. The most contemplative of the Vedic meters.
A few places ask for attention, so that the Sanskrit truly sounds rather than is merely read:
vidmahe · dhīmahi — Mahā-prāṇa on “-mahe / -mahi” — the aspirated h must not drop out.ekadantāya · vakratuṇḍāya — The long “ā” in ekadantāya and vakratuṇḍāya is held evenly, without over-stretching.vakratuṇḍāya — The retroflex “ṇḍ” in vakratuṇḍāya — the tongue-tip curls to the palate, giving a “deep” sound.tat naḥ → tanno — The junction tat naḥ → tanno: the visarga turns into “-nno,” joined, with no pause.Word-by-word etymology
ekadantāya — “to the One-Tusked”vidmahe — “we know / may we know”vakratuṇḍāya — “to the One whose trunk is curved”dhīmahi — “we meditate / may we meditate”tat naḥ (tanno) — “that, to us / us that”dantī (dantin) — “the Tusked One,” Gaṇeśapracodayāt — “may he impel / may he kindle”