Om Gam Ganapataye Namah

The mantra addressed to Ganesha, and by long convention the one said before other undertakings — including before beginning other jaap.

What it says

Gaṁ is a bija, a seed syllable, associated with Ganesha. It carries no dictionary meaning; bijas are sound rather than vocabulary, and are not translated. Gaṇapataye is the dative of Gaṇapati — lord of the gaṇas — and namaḥ is the bow. Read together: oṁ, gaṁ, I bow to Ganapati.

Why it comes first

Ganesha is invoked at beginnings — of a journey, a business, a text, a wedding, a recitation. The convention is old enough that many manuscripts open with an invocation to him before their first line. If you keep a sequence of mantras, this is customarily where it starts.

How it is counted

One repetition per bead, 108 to a mala. It is longer to say than a single name, so a mala takes a little more time — commonly twelve to twenty minutes.

It is often chanted at the start of Ganesh Chaturthi, and during the ten days that follow, sometimes to a resolved total across the festival.

Counting it here

Tap anywhere to count. Root Jaap keeps your total on your own device and needs no account to begin.

Opens the counter with this mantra chosen. No account, works offline.