Know About the Eight Commanders of Lord Ganesha's Ganas

In the battle between Matsarasura and Lord Ganesha in his avatara as Vakratunda, we were seeing

• How Prahlada employed Narayanastra on Lord Vishnu himself.
• How Lord Shiva countered it with Pashupatastra.
• And then, with his Trishoola, hit Prahlada on his chest, and Prahlada fell down like a huge tree.

At that time, the two sons of Matsarasura, Sundarapriya and Vishayapriya, entered the battleground to face Shiva.

They told Mahadeva, 'You have already displayed your valor, your veerya. You have killed so many of our brave warriors and commanders. Now you see our manliness and power. First, we are going to kill you in front of him, whoever it is who is sitting on top of the lion. Then we will kill him. Then we will kill everyone on your side, whoever it is—devas, munis.'

Lord Shiva told them, 'That is all fine, but now the story has changed. Lord Vakratunda is here now. He has taken avatara to reduce the load on Earth that you evil people have created through your cruelties and atrocities. By getting rid of you, the unnecessary load on Earth will be gone. This is what we are all going to do under his protection.'

Saying this, Lord Shiva started showering arrows on Sundarapriya and Vishayapriya. But they created a barrier with arrows to protect themselves and killed many soldiers on the deva side with their own arrows. Shiva took out his Trishoola and threw it at the asura brothers. You know what they countered it with? Pashupatastra!

Just like how, in Agni’s presence itself, Agneyastra was employed on the devas, just like how Prahlada hit Lord Vishnu with Narayanastra, here the asuras countered and neutralized Mahadeva’s Trishoola with Pashupatastra itself, and the same Pashupatastra went and hit Lord Shiva on his chest. Shiva fell down unconscious.

Seeing this, Lord Vakratunda told eight of his commanders to attack the asuras with their own armies. Their names are प्रमोद, आमोद, ब्रह्मप्रिय, योगप्रिय, स्वानंदभोक्ता, ज्ञानमय, सर्वग, सर्ववित्.

Seeing the enormity of their sizes, the soldiers on the deva side themselves got scared and fainted. The number eight is very important for Lord Ganesha—his avataras are eight, and even the commanders of his ganas are also eight in number.

In the meantime, Shukracharya, through his mantra shakti, revived most of the asuras who had fallen down, including Prahlada. They all started roaring loudly. Devas blew shankhas. The sky was filled with all these sounds—the sound of drums, even the sounds of the wheels of chariots. Soldiers on both sides were fainting from the impact of this noise itself.

The commanders of Vakratunda unleashed terror upon the asuras. Brahmapriya, one of the commanders of Vakratunda, saw that Shukracharya was helping them. He took hold of Shukracharya and locked him up in a cave.

This unnerved the asuras. Their guru was gone. 'What should we do now? Should we fight here or try to get Shukracharya released?' They became confused. 'Without Shukracharya, anyway, we will all be dead.' But they decided to continue fighting on the battlefield. They killed many deva soldiers.

The gana commanders of Lord Ganesha showered axes, daggers, and spears on the asura sena, killing many of them. At that time, Sundarapriya and Vishayapriya faced the gana commanders. From the ganas, Sarvaga and Sarvavit faced them. A fierce fight happened.

The asura princes mounted Agneyastra on their bows and were just about to shoot at Sarvaga and Sarvavit. Suddenly, two Parashus—two axes—appeared out of nowhere and beheaded both of them. Sundarapriya and Vishayapriya were dead. Nobody could realize whether the gana commanders did that or if they came from elsewhere.

The asuras reported this to Matsarasura. They said, 'We have never seen anything like this. This Vakratunda is something else, not like the other devas.

वक्रतुण्डसमश्चैव न भूतो न भविष्यति

There was never anyone like him before. Also, there cannot be anyone equal to him in the future.

Hence, your majesty,

मा गर्वं कुरु देवं तं शरणं व्रज

Discard your pride, fall at his feet. Otherwise,

नो चेत् दैत्यगणाः सर्वे नाशं यास्यन्ति निश्चितम् दैत्यान् रक्ष महामते

The entire asura kula will be wiped out. We know you are intelligent. Please save us by falling at his feet,' said the asuras to Matsarasura.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi