Ganesha's childhood shenanigans 1: maternal woes

Today's snippet is the introductory benediction of a 16th century treatise on muhoorta jyotisha (electional astrology) entitled Muhoorta Chintaamani (मुहूर्तचिन्तामणि). It was penned by Daivajna Raamaachaarya (दैवज्ञरामाचार्य), an authority on said branch of astrology that deals with determining the most auspicious time for the performance of an event (recall the Hindi word muhurat).     

गौरीश्रवःकेतकपत्रभङ्गमाकृष्य हस्तेन ददन्मुखाग्रे|

   विघ्नं मुहूर्ताकलितद्वितीयदन्तप्ररोहो हरतु द्विपास्यः||

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

gaurIzravaHketakapatrabhaGgamAkRSya hastena dadanmukhAgre|
vighnaM muhUrtAkalitadvitIyadantapraroho haratu dvipAsyaH||

Loose translation: May the Elephant-faced One dispel obstacles as he rips away the ketaka-petal that adorns Gauree's ear with his trunk (or hand), puts it in his mouth, and (in doing so) displays for a while, as it were, the sprouting of a second tusk.

The above translation probably does not make much sense unless one is familiar with the ketaka flower. So let us take this one step at a time.

Notes:

1. The ketaka (केतक), often feminized as ketakee (केतकी), is a flowering shrub that has been celebrated (or sometimes censured) in Indic literature and mythology through the ages. Called screw pine in English (scientific name: Pandanus fascicularis), the plant is noted for its extremely strong fragrance. The flowers have large white petals, each tapering to a sharp tip and thus resembling the blade of a sword. Our poet-astrologer has compared the tip of a ketaka petal to an elephant-calf's nascent tusk, and the aptness of the comparison can be judged from the image below. I will now attempt to describe in my own words the surreal pen-picture of the divine mother-son duo that the author has painted here:

As Gauree, wearing petals of ketaka as ear-ornaments, takes her hungry elephant-headed infant up in her arms, he tears away one of those petals and starts chewing it; the white forepart of the petal sticking out of the corner of his mouth with the missing tusk (recall Ganesha's name Ekdanta, "one-tusked") gives the impression that the tusk is growing out again (and this illusion lasts only a short time since the petal is soon drawn completely into the oral cavity).

This similarity between a ketaka-petal and a tooth/tusk (the same words are used in Sanskrit to denote a tooth and a tusk) was also noted by the renowned poet Jayadeva in his magnum opus Gita Govinda: 

विरहिनिकृन्तनकुन्तमुखाकृतिकेतकिदन्तुरिताशे (description of the spring season)

 – The quarters seem to have projecting teeth (दन्तुरित) on account of all the ketakee flowers resembling spearheads that torture (the hearts of) those separated from their lovers.

Ketaka petals and elephant tusks

source (left to right):The Mythnosis Blog, Wikimedia Commons

2. Our gifted author has chosen to use a rather obscure appellation of Ganesha – Dwipaasya (द्विपास्य) which means elephant-faced. It is a combination of dwipa (द्विप) which is another word for "elephant", and aasya (आस्य) which means "face". The etymology of the first word is quite interesting: it is derived from dwi (द्वि) which denotes the number "two" and the verb paa (पा), "to drink". Dwipa, thus, literally means "drinking twice", an allusion to the fact that an elephant typically sucks up water through its nostrils, and then transfers it to its mouth by bending its trunk inwards! Obviously, the first step in said process is not "drinking" per se, but the name is still justifiable if you interpret "drinking" as "sucking (liquid) in through any facial orifice" :). A synonymous (but etymologically more problematic) Sanskrit word is dwiraapa (द्विराप). 

3. In common speech, the word muhoorta (मुहूर्त), which appears here as part of the long compound muhoortaakalitadwiteeyadantapraroha (मुहूर्ताकलितद्वितीयदन्तप्ररोह), refers to any short period of time of unspecified length (and is often used in the same sense as the English words "while" or "instant") but, to be precise, it denotes a unit of measurement for time equal to the 30th part of one day (sunrise to sunrise). In astrology, the 30 muhoortas in a day all have names, mostly derived from the names of deities (there is more information on this Wikipedia page), and each one of them is considered good or bad for the performance particular events ranging from weddings to meditation.

I believe that the author deliberately (and rather deftly) included the word muhoorta in his mangalaacharana to hint in the very first verse that the following treatise would be on muhoorta jyotisha (मुहूर्तज्योतिष). Such poetic allusions or suggestions are sometimes described using the word dhwani (ध्वनि; literally, "sound"); however, according to some exponents of Sanskrit literary theory, the word dhwani has a much deeper meaning and refers to the very "soul of poetry" (the 9th century scholar Anandavardhana's "Dhwanyaaloka" introduces this concept).

4. The word patrabhanga (पत्रभङ्ग) also deserves some attention. Here, it describes a "piece broken away" (bhanga (भङ्ग)) from a "petal" (patra (पत्र)); पत्र usually denotes a leaf but can also refer to "similar" things such as the petal of a flower (the meaning which applies here), the feather of a bird, a page or letter, or even the blade of a sword or knife! However, traditionally, पत्रभङ्ग is the name given to a kind of body painting: lines or designs drawn on the face or other part of the body with musk, sandalwood-paste, or other fragrant substances (I am unaware of the details of this art form). In this sense, the word occurs quite frequently in erotic literature, and this is, in fact, the first meaning which comes to mind when a reader of Sanskrit literature encounters said word. According to at least one commentator, the word पत्रभङ्ग is inappropriate in this context, and should be replaced with something like patrabhaaga (पत्रभाग; भाग=portion/fragment). 

5. Another word to be noted is hasta (हस्त) which refers to the human hand as well as to an elephant's trunk, presumably because they perform similar functions. Both meanings apply to Ganesha, and this leaves room for some ambiguity. Personally, I prefer the meaning "trunk" because it makes the picture so much more adorable :)

6. Some other facts about the verse that I gleaned from its Sanskrit commentaries are:

• The meter (rhythmic structure) used in the couplet is called Indravajraa (इन्द्रवज्रा). Sanskrit meter (chhandas (छन्दस्)) is a fascinating but complex topic, and I am most definitely not the right person to talk about it. The interested reader can find some information here.
• The alankaara (अलङ्कार) or literary trope used here is adbhutopamaa (अद्भुतोपमा) or "strange comparison" (that of a ketaka petal to an elephant's burgeoning tusk).

A mother's pride, a devotee's joy

The following is the introductory prayer of the Tantric treatise Swachchhanda Paddhati (स्वच्छन्दपद्धति) ascribed to one Chidaanandanaatha (चिदानन्दनाथ). The suffix naatha suggests that the author belonged to the famous Nath tradition of Indian ascetics.  

अगजाननपद्मार्कं गजाननमहर्निशम्|

अनेकदं तं भक्तानामेकदन्तमुपास्महे||

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

agajAnanapadmArkaM gajAnanamaharnizam|

anekadaM taM bhaktAnAmekadantamupAsmahe||

Loose translation: We always worship him who is a sun unto the face-lotus of the Moutain-born (i.e. Parvati), has the face of an elephant, is the giver of many (boons) to his devotees, and has a single tusk.  

Let us take this one word at a time:

1. agajaananapadmaarka (अगजाननपद्मार्क) breaks down as 

अगजा (the daughter of a mountain) + आनन (face) + पद्म (lotus) + अर्क (the Sun).

Agajaa, as already explained in "A paradoxical doxology 1", is one of the names of Ganesha's mother Parvati who is the daughter of Himavaan, the presiding deity of the Himalayas. To understand the rest of this long compound, one needs to know the relationship between the Sun and lotuses in Sanskrit literature in particular and Indian culture in general.

Ancient Indians divided lotuses (and similar aquatic flowers such as water-lilies) into two broad categories: those that unfurl their petals at sunrise and close them at night, and those that do the opposite. Unless otherwise stated, any Sanskrit word that is usually translated to English as "lotus" (for example, padma (पद्म), kamala (कमल), abja (अब्ज) etc.) refers to the former, i. e. diurnal, variety. For this reason, the Sun is very often associated with lotuses in literature and religious iconography. In most artistic portrayals, the sun god is seen holding at least one lotus in one of his hands (often two lotuses in two of his four hands), for which he is also called Abjahasta (अब्जहस्त) or Padmakara (पद्मकर), "lotus-handed". Moreover, any compound formed by prefixing any word which means "lotus" (like padma) or a "group of lotuses" (like padminee (पद्मिनी)) to any word which means "lord/husband/lover" (like pati (पति)) or "friend" (like bandhu (बन्धु)), is a valid word for the Sun in Sanskrit. Examples include Ambujabaandhava (अम्बुजबान्धव), Kamalineekaanta (कमलिनीकान्त), Padmineevallabha (पद्मिनीवल्लभ), and many more. 

The sun god Surya holding two stylized lotuses, British Museum

source: Wikimedia Commons

This association of the Sun with the opening of lotus buds is also the origin of the following literary trope in Indic literature: if X is the cause of the "blossoming" of Y,  where Y is any individual or community or suchlike, and "blossoming" figuratively refers to happiness or prosperity, then Y may be compared to a lotus and X to the Sun. For instance, Alexander the Great could be nicknamed "Macedon-lotus-sun"! In the above quote, Ganesha has been called his mother's "face-lotus-sun" for her countenance surely lights up in joy whenever he appears before her.

2. gajaanana (गजानन) or "elephant-faced" is a popular name of Ganesha.

3. aharnisham (अहर्निशम्) means "day (अहर्) and night (निशा)", hence "always". The suffix म् is the usual way of forming an adverb from a noun or adjective.

4. anekadaM taM bhaktaanaam (अनेकदं तं भक्तानाम्): Tam (तं) simply means "him" and bhaktaanaam anekadam is "much-giver to devotees." Aneka literally translates to "not-one" and the suffix da (द) derives from the verb daa (दा), "to give".

5. ekadanta (एकदन्त), "one-tusked", is another commonplace descriptor of Ganesha. It alludes to the fact that, in most standard depictions, the elephant-headed god has one tusk intact while all that is left of the other is a small cylindrical stump; he is sometimes also shown sporting the broken tusk in the grip of one of his hands. It is said that the single tusk is symbolic of Ganesha's association with the Advaita philosophy, sometimes called "non-dualism" or "monism" in English. However, there are several mythological stories that seek to provide less spiritual explanations of Ganesha's missing tusk, the most popular one being that Parashurama chopped it off with his famous axe. You can read more about it here. 

As the popularity of Ganesha grew, multiple manifestations called roopas (रूप) and incarnations called avataaras (अवतार) of the deity began to emerge particularly within the Ganapatya sect – the sect that worships Ganapati as the Supreme Being – and what had merely been different names of the one and only Ganesha came to be applied to his particular forms. According to the Mudgala Purana, Ekadanta is the second of the eight incarnations of Ganesha and was manifested in order to kill the demon Madaasura (मदासुर). Ekadanta Ganapati also refers to two distinct forms of the god mentioned in separate traditions: one blue-black in complexion (the twenty-second of the thirty-two forms of Ganapati recognized in the 19th century treatise Shreetattvanidhi) and the other red-skinned! Details are available in this compilation by the Kamakoti Mandali (Sanskrit descriptions in Devanagari on pages 6 and 14,  Roman transliterations on pages 37 and 48 respectively).

Ekadanta Ganapati, Shreetattvanidhi
(N.B. All illustrations of forms of Ganapati in this manuscript have a fair complexion but the text clearly states that the color of the above form is blue-black.)

source: Wikipedia

6. upaasmahe (उपास्महे) means "we worship"; the underlying verbal root is upa-aas (उप-आस्) which literally means "to sit near", hence "to wait upon", hence "to pay homage to".

Notes:
The appeal of today's quote undoubtedly lies in its wordplay: there is a yamaka (यमक) in each half-verse (I introduced the yamaka in my post "A paradoxical doxology 2")! As a quick reminder, yamaka refers to the presence of two or more strings of syllables, that sound identical but differ entirely in meaning, close to one another; in fact, one (or more) of said strings might actually be a non-isolable component of a bigger sequence, the whole of which must be considered for it to make sense. 

Here, in the first line, the string gajaanana (गजानन) appears twice, first as part of the adjective agajaananapadmaarka (अगजाननपद्मार्क), and then as a word in its own right to denote Ganesha. In the second hemistich, a similar role is played by the string ekadanta (एकदन्त):  its first occurrence is as part of the two-word sequence anekadaM taM (अन्-एकदं तम्), and the second is as an independent word. It must be noted that visually the last two strings mentioned do not look quite the same. Indeed, the anusvaara (अनुस्वार) or bindu (बिन्दु) – here, the dot above the da (द) in anekadaM (अनेकदं)) – is a pronunciation-modifier that in general denotes a nasalization of the vowel to which it is attached; but it can alternatively be pronounced as a constantal na (न्) if followed immediately by any of the dental consonants ta (त), tha (थ), da (द), dha (ध) or na  (न). Going by this alternative pronunciation, it is easy to see how this is an example of the yamaka alankaara.

A quick note

Before the next real post, I thought I should draw your attention to a variant of the excerpt in "A paradoxical doxology 1" that I came across in a couple of Vijayanagara inscriptions (of the reign of Tirumala I and Ranga Raya II). It differs from said verse only in the last quarter: instead of harinaapi cha poojyate (हरिणापि च पूज्यते), it reads panchaasyenaapi laalitam (पञ्चास्येनापि लालितम्) which means "caressed by a lion/caressed by Shiva", [panchaasya = panchaanana = "five-faced", literally]. The exegesis of this version is  quite understandably similar to that of the second quote in the same vein (A paradoxical doxology 2).

Another point to be noted is that all adjectives used to describe Ganesha in both versions of the stanza under consideration are in the neuter gender. This is because Ganesha is referred to as gajaratna ("a gem of an elephant"/"an excellent elephant"); the grammatical gender of ratna ("gem") in Sanskrit is neuter, and in Sanskrit grammar, an adjective has the same gender, number, and case-ending as the noun it qualifies. This rule is quite convenient, especially in poetry, since an adjective can be placed practically anywhere in a sentence and yet it is possible to figure out precisely, more often than not, which noun it is associated with! Thus the sentence

सुशीलः बालकः उष्णं दुग्धं पिबति|

 (The well-behaved boy drinks warm milk.)

can be rewritten as  

उष्णं पिबति सुशीलः दुग्धं बालकः|

without changing its meaning. (Of course, it is possible to construct pathological examples where this idea breaks down. )

A paradoxical doxology 2

I apologize in advance for the elephantine (see what I did there?) size of this post :) 

As you might have guessed from the title, today's snippet is yet another fine specimen of the virodhaabhaasa (विरोधाभास) trope that, loosely translated, refers to a paradox. And, just as in the previous quote, the paradox is in the second half-verse and alludes to the celebrated enmity between the lion and the elephant! It was penned by a poet called Chakra (चक्र) who hailed from Southern India and is placed in the 17th century by the renowned Sanskrit scholar T. Ganapati Sastri. Chakra's magnum opus "Jaanakeeparinaya" (जानकीपरिणय) or "The Wedding of Jaanaki (Sita)", an epic poem based on the Ramayana, begins with cleverly worded invocations to several deities – the third couplet of the work, which is excerpted below, glorifies Ganesha. My source is the scanned version of Trivandrum Sanskrit Series publication No. XXIV (1913), available here.

गजरत्नं चिरत्नं तदद्भुतं श्रेयसेऽस्तु यत्|
पञ्चाननो लालयति क्षोणीभृद्भूगुहाश्रयः||

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

gajaratnaM ciratnaM tadadbhutaM zreyase'stu yat|

paJcAnano lAlayati kSoNIbhRdbhUguhAzrayaH||

Reading 1 (self-contradictory and inadmissible): May that ancient and extraordinary gem of an elephant produce welfare – which is caressed by a lion that frequents mountainous terrain and dwells in caves. 

Reading 2 (admissible): May that ancient and extraordinary gem of an elephant produce welfare – which is caressed by the Five-faced Man (i.e. Shiva) in whom the Mountain-born (i.e. Parvati) and Guha (i.e. Skanda) find refuge. 

Notes:

1. The magic, as already stated, lies in the second hemistich "पञ्चाननो लालयति क्षोणीभृद्भूगुहाश्रयः". The second word laalayati (लालयति) is unambiguous and means "he/she/it caresses". Let us take up the remaining two words one by one.

Panchaanana (पञ्चानन): The word pancha (पञ्च), which means "five", suffixed with any word which means "face", such as aanana (आनन), vaktra (वक्त्र), mukha (मुख), aasya (आस्य) etc., is a popular appellation of Shiva since he is often represented as five-faced, especially in the Tantric tradition. The faces even have names: Ishaana (ईशान), Tatpurusha (तत्पुरुष), Aghora (अघोर), Vaamadeva (वामदेव), and Sadyojaata (सद्योजात). Each face is said to point in a particular direction, and is identified with one of the five syllables of the most important mantra (मन्त्र = sacred formula) associated with Shiva: Namah Shivaaya (नमः शिवाय). The five-headed ten-armed form of the deity is sometimes called Sadaashiva (सदाशिव). 

Five-headed Shiva, Nurpur, Himachal Pradesh, 1696

source: Wikimedia Commons

Panchaanana, as well as its above synonyms, is also another Sanskrit word for "lion"! According to lexicographers, panchaanana is figuratively used to mean "very fierce or passionate."¹ It is presumably for this reason that this surprising epithet was given to the formidable, albeit one-faced, predator! But again, the 13th century Jain scholar Hamsadeva in his Mrigapakshishaastra, "The science of animals and birds", restricts the meaning of the word panchaasya (पञ्चास्य), which is semantically identical to panchaanana, to the third of the six varieties of lion he recognizes; according to him, the distinguishing characteristics of this type include whitish color, a short tail, dense body hair, a short mane, a long body, perpetual sleepiness, and a walk accompanied by frequent jumps and turning of the head. Here is the scanned version of said text for your reference. 

The last word of the verse kshoneebhRdbhooguhaashraya (क्षोणीभृद्भूगुहाश्रय) is even more interesting. Kshonee (क्षोणी) denotes the earth (and hence "soil" or "land"), and in Sanskrit any word for the earth, followed by a suffix which means "supporter" such as -dhara (-धर) or -bhRt (-भृत्), refers to a king or a mountain. It is understandable why a king would be called kshoneebhRt or "earth-supporter" – his foremost duty is to sustain a piece of land and the life forms that thrive on it. But what entitles a mountain to be honored with the same epithet? Isn't it rather the other way around? One of the most important Shakta scriptures, the Devee-Bhaagavata Puraana (देवीभागवतपुराण), solves the mystery. 

"... [the earth] is called Mahî because it is great, ... . O King! the Ananta serpent is holding it on [his] thousand-hoods. To make the earth remain solid and compact, Brahmâ built at places mountains. As iron nails in a log of wood, so these hills and mountains within this earth made it fixed. Therefore the Pundits call these mountains “Mahîdhara,” holder of the earth."

– Devi-Bhagavata Purana, Book 3, Chapter 13, Verses 9-10 (link)

There is no way to know what the person/people who coined these terms actually had in mind. But it can be guessed that the "earth" here refers to the "flat" hard crust on which we live and some ancients believed that it was held in place by mountains driven, as it were, right through it so as to have their "roots" embedded in a perhaps softer substratum.

Now, bhoo (भू) is another word for "the earth", "soil", or "land" and hence the compound kshoneebhRdbhoo (क्षोणीभृद्भू) may be translated as "mountain-soil" or "hilly land." Guhaa (गुहा) means "cave" and is connected with the verb guh (गुह्), "to conceal". Finally, aashraya (आश्रय) is "shelter". Putting the pieces together, we have the first interpretation of the word: "one who uses mountainous regions and caves for shelter" – an apt description of the Asiatic lion. Here is a (by no means exhaustive) list of Sanskrit appellations of the lion that literally mean "moutain-dweller" or "mountain-wanderer": agaukas (अगौकस्), nagaukas (नगौकस्), shailaata (शैलाट), shaileya (शैलेय).

But how does the adjective under consideration relate to Shiva? The verb bhoo (भू) means "to be", "to become" or "to be born" and hence, when used as a suffix, can be interpreted as "born from" or "offspring of". So kshoneebhRdbhoo can refer to Shiva's consort Parvati who is the daughter of the mountain-king Himalaya (both the meanings "king" and "mountain" of kshoneebhRt apply here). Guha (गुह) is a popular name of Shiva and Parvati's other son Skanda (स्कन्द) or Kaartikeya (कार्तिकेय), and Shiva is, of course, "one who offers shelter to the mountain-born Parvati and Guha"! 

Somaskanda, representation of Shiva with Uma and a dancing infant Skanda (Guha),  Nayak Palace Art Museum, Tanjore

source: Wikipedia

And just in case someone fails to see why the above stanza is an illustration of virodhaabhaasa or "apparent contradiction", here is a reminder: the lion is notorious in Sanskrit literature for (supposedly) being innately hostile towards the elephant. So a lion showering love on an elephant would come across as a shocker to most readers targeted by our poet. Let me take this opportunity to present you with another list of Sanskrit names (given by lexicographers and/or used by littérateurs) of the lion: 

• ibhaari (इभारि), kunjaraarati (कुञ्जराराति), gajaari (गजारि), dvipaari (द्विपारि), sindhuradveshin (सिन्धुरद्वेषिन्), "the enemy/hater of elephants";
• ibhamaacala (इभमाचल), karidaaraka(करिदारक),  karimaacala(करिमाचल),  dviradaantaka (द्विरदान्तक), "elephant-destroyer";
• garjitaasaha (गर्जितासह), "one who does not tolerate (an elephant's) trumpets"!

2. Another noteworthy feature of the couplet is the duplication of the segment ratnaM (रत्नं) in the first half-verse. Since consonants are repeated, you might be tempted to call this an instance of anupraasa. But here the embellishment consists of more than just recurring sounds; we have multiple copies of a sequence of syllables, differing in meaning. The ratna part of gajaratna means "gem" and, as a suffix to the name of a demographic or species, signifies a member enjoying a position of superiority; gajaratna means "the best among elephants" (gaja = elephant). The second ratna is part of chiratna (चिरत्न) which means "ancient" – a rather obscure derivative of chira (चिर), "lasting a long time". Rhetoricians have not subsumed this special type of shabdaalankaara (शब्दालङ्कार) under anupraasa and have given it the name yamaka (यमक; literally, "twin"). In all the examples of yamaka I have seen, the repeated chunk of text spans multiples syllables and at least of the occurrences includes a complete word that may or may not be part of a compound. For instance, here the first ratna, although embedded in the longer word gajaratna, is capable of making sense on its own while the second is non-isolable since chiratna, at least in this context, cannot be broken down into chi and ratna.

We just saw that, in order to label a trope as a yamaka, the meaning or sense must be taken into account. Why then is it not considered an arthaalankaara (अर्थालङ्कार) or "embellishment of the sense"? My knowledge of the subject is limited but here goes my understanding: in a shabdaalankara, the beauty or appeal derives primarily from the sounds themselves and not from the objects or ideas they denote. More simply, a literary device qualifies as a shabdaalankaara if it is possible to make the alankaara vanish by replacing the words involved by some synonymous words or expressions. In our specimen, this can be confirmed by replacing, say, chiratna with its synonym puraana (पुराण). 

That's all for today. And in case your thirst for wordplay is still unquenched, I leave you with the assurance that the next post will be mainly about yamakas!

¹ In this context, it is worthwhile to mention the related Bengali idiom proshongsay ponchomukh howa (Bengali: প্রশংসায় পঞ্চমুখ হওয়া) which literally means "to become five-faced (or five-mouthed) in praise" and is used to describe a person showing excessive enthusiasm in extolling someone or something.↩

A paradoxical doxology 1

Today I am going to present yet another gem from the literary treasure trove of Vijayanagara. But first I must mention my sources – something I forgot to do in my previous post. All the Sanskrit quotes in my collection that come from the Vijayanagara Empire were gleaned either from the book Prachina-Lekha-Mala, mentioned in this post, or from some the earliest volumes of Epigraphia Indica, the official publication of the Archeological Survey of India, available here. 

Now that we have got the issue of attribution out of the way, let us get to the point. The following couplet has been used as the introductory benediction of the inscriptions of several Vijayanagara emperors. 

कल्याणायास्तु तद्धाम प्रत्यूहतिमिरापहम्|

यद्गजोऽप्यगजोद्भूतं हरिणापि च पूज्यते|| 

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

kalyANAyAstu taddhAma pratyUhatimirApaham|

yadgajo'pyagajodbhUtaM hariNApi ca pUjyate||

As the title of this post suggests, there is a paradox in the above verse, specifically in the second half. To be more precise, the author has employed an interesting type of shabdaalankaara – a literary trope that relies on wordplay – called virodhaabhaasa (विरोधाभास) or "the appearance of a contradiction": this alankaara is characterized by a piece of text that has multiple readings, only one of which is admissible in the given context, the other readings being self-contradictory (hence nonsensical or shocking). Here are the two most relevant readings of the stanza above (of course, the language being Sanskrit, other readings might also be possible).

Reading 1 (self-contradictory and inadmissible): May that luster produce welfare – which dispels the darkness of obstacles, and which, though an elephant, was born from a non-elephant, and is revered even by a lion. 

Reading 2 (admissible): May that luster produce welfare – which dispels the darkness of obstacles, and which, though an elephant, was born from the daughter of a mountain, and is worshiped even by Hari (i.e. Vishnu).

N.B. The above loose translations are heavily influenced by the translation of Indologist E. Hultzsch in Epigraphia Indica. 

Notes:

1. The apparent contradiction here is effected by the use of two ambiguous words, agajodbhoota (अगजोद्भूत) and hari (हरि). The first can be split either as अगज (=non-elephant) + उद्भूत (=born) or as अगजा + उद्भूत, where Agajaa (अगजा; literally, "mountain-born", feminine gender) is one of the names of Ganesha's mother Parvati. Hari is a word with a ridiculously large number of meanings: as most of us know, it is a popular name of Vishnu or Krishna (or sometimes "God" in general; find out more on the Wikipedia page) but it also denotes several animals including the lion. The word occurs in the Rigveda where it refers to certain shades of green, yellow or brown (Sanskrit color terminology is quite interesting!) and is especially applied to bay horses, as noted by Monier-Williams. Presumably, the lion got this name from the color of its hair coat which, as Wikipedia notes, 'varies from light buff to yellowish, reddish, or dark ochraceous brown'. 

In most lexicons and literary references, hari is just a synonym for "lion" but the 13th century Jain author Hamsadeva, in his Mrigapakshishaastra (मृगपक्षिशास्त्र) or "The science of animals and birds", identifies six varieties of lion and gives the name hari to only one of them! A lion of this kind, according to said author, is 'very short', 'whitish-red' and 'very fond of moon-light'; for a more detailed description of the physical and behavioral characteristics of this and other purported types of lion, please refer to an English translation of said treatise, available here (pages 3 - 7 of main text). Of course, there is no way to tell how much of this work was based on actual observation and how much on hearsay or imagination.

2. What is so surprising  about a lion revering an elephant? In Indic literature, the lion is portrayed as an arch-enemy of the elephant and the only beast capable of taking down the otherwise invincible giant; the technique that the ferocious feline is said to employ to this end is to pounce upon the pachyderm's head and rip apart one or both of the fleshy protuberances on the latter's forehead, called kumbhas (कुम्भ; literally, "pitcher") in Sanskrit. This belief appears to have some basis in reality – a Google image search with the keywords "lion hunting elephant" throws up quite a few photos of lionesses taking on elephants, although mostly from behind. This is also the source of a Sanskrit cliché: if Tom defeats or destroys Harry, then Tom may be described as "a lion unto the elephant that is Harry", or, in classic Sanskrit agglutinative style, "Harry-elephant-lion"! Even beyond the realm of literature, the motif of a stylized lion subduing an elephant is ubiquitous in Indian temple architecture, and is given various symbolic meanings by scholars. Hence, in Sanskrit literature, an elephant-revering lion is nothing but an oxymoron!  

Statue of a lion rearing over an elephant, Sun Temple at Konark (photo taken: 1890)
source: Old Indian Photos

3. By this time, the reader must have got thoroughly acquainted with the literary device of indirect reference: Ganesha is referred to here as the light (dhaama (धाम)) that is  the remover of the "darkness'' of impediments: 

प्रत्यूहतिमिरापह = प्रत्यूह (obstacle)+तिमिर(darkness)+अपह(repelling/keeping back). 

The word pratyooha (प्रत्यूह) or "obstacle" used in this context deserves special mention; it shows up repeatedly in the Ganesha-centric literature since the elephant-headed god's primary role in the Hindu religion is to remove obstacles.

4. The fact that Vishnu here is presented as a worshiper of Ganesha might raise some eyebrows. It goes on to show that our poet and presumably his patron as well were anything but devout Vaishnavas. Moreover, the Sanskrit verb pooj (पूज्) that is used here, whence we obtain the word poojaa (पूजा), is usually translated as "to worship" but does not carry the same connotations as said English verb. Although the term poojaa has now taken on an entirely religious color (a one-way symbolic service performed by a devotee in honor of a divinity), it originally simply denoted a show of respect or a greeting. There are frequent casual mentions in Sanskrit literature of two parties exchanging poojaas regardless of their age and social standing, and there is even a term pratipoojaa (प्रतिपूजा) for a poojaa that you offer a person in return for the poojaa they have accorded to you! 

An elephant in its natural habitat

Here is another alliterative snippet from the Vijayanagara empire – the introductory blessing of the Satyamangalam 'copperplate' inscription of Emperor Deva Raya II. In ancient India, mainly in the South, such inscribed copperplates usually recorded land grants, royal genealogies, and suchlike, and today serve as reliable aids for the reconstruction of history (you can find more information here). Although these were official documents, their language was often no less flowery than that of court poetry! 

भूयस्यै भवतां भूत्यै भूयादाश्चर्यकुञ्जरः|

विहारविपिनं यस्य विदुर्वेदान् पुराविदः||

 Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

bhUyasyai bhavatAM bhUtyai bhUyAdAzcaryakuJjaraH|

vihAravipinaM yasya vidurvedAn purAvidaH||

Loose translation: May the extraordinary elephant bring about a prosperous existence for you all – knowers of the events of yore are aware that the Vedas themselves serve as the grove where this elephant wanders about playfully. 

Notes:

1. The word Aashcharyakunjara (आश्चर्यकुञ्जर), which denotes Ganesha here, is a combination of aashcharya (आश्चर्य) which means 'astonishing/marvelous/extraordinary' and kunjara (कुञ्जर), another word for elephant. The grammarian Panini explains that kunja refers to an elephant's tusk or jaw, and the suffix ra denotes 'laden with' or 'characterized by', hence the name. Instead of taking the usual route of describing Ganesha as an elephant-faced humanoid, our poet insinuates that the god is a sort of super-elephant with a human torso. And, as we shall see later, they are not the only person to have done so.

2. The second half-verse is a roundabout way of asserting that Ganesha is a deity sanctioned by the Vedas – it is as natural for Ganesha to be spoken of in the Vedas as it is for an elephant to roam around in a grove of trees. The word used here in this connection, vihaaravipina (विहारविपिन), is a compound of विहार, which will be explained shortly, and विपिन which means 'grove' or 'forest'.

Vihaara (विहार) originally referred only to walking for amusement but over time came to denote engagement in any recreational activity (usually outdoors). It has been used repeatedly in the literature as a euphemism for amorous dalliance! It also means "a place for walking or making merry", and was adopted by Buddhists and Jains as the name of their sanctuaries where monks could move around freely, meeting each other and carrying out delightful intellectual discourse. And the current Indian state of Bihar derives its name from the large number of Buddhist viharas it used to house.  

A male Indian elephant (Elephas maximus indicus), Bandipur National Park

source: Wikipedia

3. Is Ganesha as we know him today really mentioned in Vedic texts? Well, that is a hard question to answer. Throughout the centuries, several ideological communities have emerged in the Indian Subcontinent that have claimed to be aastika (आस्तिक) or believers in the supremacy of the Vedas, as opposed to naastika (नास्तिक) or repudiators of the Vedas (there is more information here and here), and it is these aastika schools of thought that are the major components of the huge collage of beliefs and practices that we call Hinduism today. And each of these aastika philosophies, no matter how different from each other they appear prima facie, asserts that it is the most accurate interpretation of the Vedas. The samhitaa (संहिता) texts, that constitute the core of the Vedic corpus, are essentially anthologies of 'mystical' poetry, and hence open to interpretation. Even the philosophical treatises – the aaranyakas (आरण्यक) and upanishads (उपनिषद्) – that are said to form the 'concluding' part of the Vedas have been painstakingly interpreted and reinterpreted in unique ways by different scholars over the ages. The scope of Vedic literature is also defined variously: the number of 'canonical' Upanishads varies across traditions, and sometimes even the itihaasas and puraanas are subsumed under "Vedic scriptures"! But what is common to all aastika traditions that believe in a God or a group of divinities is the conviction that the object of their devotion is the entity actually eulogized in the Vedic hymns – a conviction often based on subjective definitions and interesting interpretations. Hence, devotional poetry is replete with such allusions to the Vedas as we have seen in today's quote.