Vakratunda Mahakaya, the Ganesha Shloka
वक्रतुण्ड महाकाय सूर्यकोटि समप्रभ ।
निर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव सर्वकार्येषु सर्वदा ॥
Vakratuṇḍa mahākāya sūryakoṭi samaprabha
Nirvighnaṃ kuru me deva sarva-kāryeṣu sarvadā
“O Lord with the curved trunk and the mighty form, whose radiance equals ten million suns, make all my undertakings free of obstacles, always.”
Traditional invocation, widely used to open any undertaking
Word by word
A shloka a child understands is a shloka they keep. Here is what each word is actually doing.
Before beginning anything new, a school year, an exam, a journey, a performance, or the first page of a new notebook. It is also the standard opening verse for a class or a puja.
- A short, confident opening ritual before anything daunting
- Two lines only, so success comes quickly and early
- Trains clear articulation of Sanskrit conjunct consonants
- Gives a child a settled moment before a test or a stage
This is almost always the first shloka a child learns, and for good reason. The imagery is vivid and immediately funny-serious to a young mind, an elephant-headed god as bright as ten million suns, and the ask is something a child understands perfectly: please let this go smoothly. Most four-year-olds have it by heart within a week.
Shloka Classes
Reading a shloka and chanting it correctly are different things. In our live online classes a mentor corrects your child’s pronunciation in the moment, teaches the meaning alongside the sound, and builds a repertoire verse by verse. Ages 4-14 · 45 min · Weekly.
Questions parents ask
It means “O Lord with the curved trunk and the mighty form”. The full verse asks Ganesha to keep all one’s undertakings free of obstacles, always. Vakra means curved, tunda means trunk, and mahakaya means great-bodied.
Learn these next
All 28 shlokas
Teach your child Vakratunda Mahakaya, properly
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