Yes, Ashok, clearly svāmin refers to Skanda, with or without “tilaka”. That much is clear also from Vācaspati’s verse that Tim Lubin cited. The issue is why “tilaka” is compounded with it and, with Tim’s other sources with different compounds: tilakeśvara, etc, it is clear that this is a compound. But what is the meaning of tilaka in these contexts?

On Aug 11, 2016, at 10:36 AM, Ashok Aklujkar <ashok.aklujkar@gmail.com> wrote:

On Aug 11, 2016, at 5:17 AM, Olivelle, J P <jpo@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

… clearly the Vulgate and Vijñāneśvara are wrong in their reading here. 

If Vijñāneśvara uses ādityaskandagaṇapatīnām, he must have seen a source for skanda in the verse and he must have seen the source between āditya and gaṇapati. Either he was undecided about the reading and tried to accommodate both the readings you discuss or he thought of svāmin as standing, by itself,  for skanda. 

a.a.