Vakratunda Mahakaya: Lyrics and Meaning
वक्रतुंड महाकाय
Traditional
Vakratunda Mahakaya is a one-verse Sanskrit prayer to Ganesha, the god with the elephant's head, who is worshipped first, before any other god or any new work. It calls him "the one with the curved trunk and the great body, as bright as ten million suns" and asks him to keep every task free of obstacles, always. Families say it in the morning, before study or work, and at the start of a puja.
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Verse
वक्रतुंड महाकाय सूर्यकोटिसमप्रभ ।निर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव सर्वकार्येषु सर्वदा ॥
Vakratunda mahakaya suryakotisamaprabhaNirvighnam kuru me deva sarvakaryeshu sarvada
IAST
vakratuṃḍa mahākāya sūryakoṭisamaprabha |nirvighnaṃ kuru me deva sarvakāryeṣu sarvadā ||
In simple wordsO Ganesha, you have a curved trunk and a big body, and you shine as brightly as ten million suns. O Lord, please always keep everything we do free from things that get in the way.
For grown-ups: our full explanation Word by word: vakra-tuṇḍa, O you with the curved trunk; mahā-kāya, O you of the great body; sūrya-koṭi-sama-prabha, whose light equals ten million (koṭi) suns; nirvighnam, free of obstacles; kuru, make; "me", "for me"; deva, O god; sarva-kāryeṣu, in all tasks; sarvadā, always. The verse addresses Ganesha by his curved trunk, his great body and his brightness, and asks: "make all my tasks free of obstacles, always". It is a request; it makes no promise. The 1910 book gives it after washing the face in the morning.
हिंदी अर्थ शब्दार्थ: वक्रतुंड, हे टेढ़ी सूँड वाले; महाकाय, हे विशाल शरीर वाले; सूर्यकोटिसमप्रभ, करोड़ों (कोटि) सूर्यों के समान प्रभा वाले; निर्विघ्नं, विघ्न से रहित; कुरु, करो; मे, "मेरे लिए"; देव, हे देव; सर्वकार्येषु, सब कामों में; सर्वदा, सदा। श्लोक का भाव: गणेश जी को उनकी टेढ़ी सूँड, विशाल शरीर और तेज से पुकारकर प्रार्थना की गई है: "मेरे सब काम सदा विघ्न से रहित करो"। यह एक प्रार्थना है, कोई वचन नहीं। 1910 की पुस्तक इसे सुबह मुँह धोने के बाद बोलने को देती है।
Word by word
Every word, with its dictionary page
Word by word
- वक्रतुंड vakratuṃḍa · O you with the curved trunk (Ganesha) (compound, vocative singular) Dictionary: vakra-tuṇḍa, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 911, col. 1 “N. of Gaṇêśa”
- महाकाय mahākāya · O you of the great body (compound, vocative singular) Dictionary: mahā-kāya, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 795, col. 1 “large-bodied, of great stature, tall, bulky”
- सूर्यकोटिसमप्रभ sūryakoṭisamaprabha · whose light equals ten million suns (compound, vocative singular) Dictionary: sūrya, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1243, col. 1 “the sun or its deity”; koṭi, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 312, col. 3 “a Krore or ten millions”; 2. sama, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1152, col. 1 “same, equal, similar, like, equivalent”; prabhā, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 683, col. 3 “light, splendour, radiance”
- निर्विघ्नम् nirvighnam · free of obstacles (adjective, accusative singular) Dictionary: nir-vighna, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 542, col. 1 “uninterrupted, unhindered”
- कुरु kuru · make (imperative, 2nd person singular) Dictionary: 1. kṛ, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 301, col. 1 “to do, make, perform, accomplish, cause, effect”
- मे me · "for me" or "my" (pronoun, dative or genitive singular) Dictionary: 1. mad, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 777, col. 2 “base of the first pers. pron. in the sg. number”
- देव deva · O god (noun (masculine), vocative singular) Dictionary: deva, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 492, col. 2 “a deity, god”
- सर्वकार्येषु sarvakāryeṣu · in all tasks (compound, locative plural) Dictionary: sarva, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1184, col. 3 “whole, entire, all, every”; kārya, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 276, col. 1 “work or business to be done”
- सर्वदा sarvadā · always (indeclinable) Dictionary: sarvadā, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1189, col. 2 “always, at all times”
3 printings differ
Edition differences. Another printing or text reads this place differently.
- The printed edition reads: वक्रतुंड महाकाय सूर्यकोटिसमप्रभ ।
निर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव सर्वकार्येषु सर्वदा ॥ ३ ॥ The book's running verse number '३' (this is verse 3 of its morning prayers) is dropped; the verse stands alone here. - Word The 1895 Bombay printing reads: वक्रतुंड महाकाय कोटिसूर्यसमप्रभ ॥ निर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव सर्वकार्येषु सर्वदा 'कोटिसूर्यसमप्रभ' for 'सूर्यकोटिसमप्रभ': the same words in another order, with the same meaning (p. 79, leaf n86).
- Word Today's text from Gita Press, Gorakhpur reads: वक्रतुण्ड महाकाय कोटिसूर्यसमप्रभ । निर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव सर्वकार्येषु सर्वदा ॥ Today's Gita Press book of daily rites (p. 186, leaf n195) has 'कोटिसूर्यसमप्रभ', as the 1895 book does. A present-day Ramakrishna Mission prayer sheet and Sanskrit Wikisource have 'सूर्यकोटि समप्रभ', as the 1910 book does. The same words in another order, with the same meaning.
Sanskrit text: Bhaktimārgapradīp (भक्तिमार्गप्रदीप), a book of daily prayers, Sanskrit verses and Marathi saint-poetry, edited and published by Laxman Ramchandra Pangarkar, 1910. Meanings: written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition. Source and changes
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Vakratunda Mahakaya
वक्रतुंड महाकाय सूर्यकोटिसमप्रभ ।
निर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव सर्वकार्येषु सर्वदा ॥
Vakratunda mahakaya suryakotisamaprabha
Nirvighnam kuru me deva sarvakaryeshu sarvada
Word by word: vakra-tuṇḍa, O you with the curved trunk; mahā-kāya, O you of the great body; sūrya-koṭi-sama-prabha, whose light equals ten million (koṭi) suns; nirvighnam, free of obstacles; kuru, make; "me", "for me"; deva, O god; sarva-kāryeṣu, in all tasks; sarvadā, always. The verse addresses Ganesha by his curved trunk, his great body and his brightness, and asks: "make all my tasks free of obstacles, always". It is a request; it makes no promise. The 1910 book gives it after washing the face in the morning.
(Meaning written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition.)
Text: Laxman Ramchandra Pangarkar (Mumukshu office), Pune, 1910 (public domain).
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About the Vakratunda Mahakaya
The verse is traditional and has no named author. It is read here from Bhaktimargapradip, a Marathi book of daily prayers printed in Pune in 1910, where it is the third morning verse, under the heading "after washing the face". An 1895 Bombay book prints it in the Ganesha worship at the start of a rite, with the words in a different order: "koṭi-sūrya-sama-prabha" for "sūrya-koṭi-sama-prabha". Both mean "as bright as ten million suns".
How to say it
The 1910 printing writes the nasal before a consonant as a dot (anusvāra): वक्रतुंड, which the IAST line writes "vakratuṃḍa". It is spoken as the nasal of the next consonant: "vakratuṇḍa". The final "ṃ" of "nirvighnaṃ" before "kuru" is spoken as "ṅ" or a nasal "m".
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Who wrote the Vakratunda Mahakaya?
Traditional.
Which text does this page follow?
Sanskrit text: Bhaktimārgapradīp (भक्तिमार्गप्रदीप), a book of daily prayers, Sanskrit verses and Marathi saint-poetry, edited and published by Laxman Ramchandra Pangarkar, 1910. Meanings: written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition. See the source
Source and licence
- Text
- Bhaktimārgapradīp (भक्तिमार्गप्रदीप), a book of daily prayers, Sanskrit verses and Marathi saint-poetry, edited and published by Laxman Ramchandra Pangarkar (Laxman Ramchandra Pangarkar, Laxman Ramchandra Pangarkar (Mumukshu office), Pune, 1910). Public domain. The Sanskrit on these pages was read from this printing’s page images.
- Our explanation
- Explanation written for this site from the sources listed here, and checked against the cited edition. It is not a translation and not the only way to read the text. Free to quote with credit.
- Checked
- Checked against the cited edition, October 15, 2026.
- Updated
- October 27, 2026