Saturday, May 28, 2016

Bhujangams-Dandakams -Gadhyams translated in to English

Bhujangams-Dandakams  -Gadhyams  translated in to English        

BY
P.R.Ramachander

All  of us are   familiar  with normal prayers in Sanskrit called   Sahasranamams(1000 names) Trishathi  (300 names) Ashtotharam (108 names) , ashtakam (eight verses) , sapthakam (seven verses) , Shatkam( Six verses) , Panchakam (five verses) , Sthuthi (praise) , Sthava(hymns)  and  Stotra(ode) . WE do come across   some prayers   which  belong to  none  of these  categories.Some of them which are familiar to me  are  Bhujangam,   Dandakam  and Gadhyam . I have translated  in to English, very  few of  the  prayers (they are rare)  which fall  in these  category. Do know what they are  and enjoy  reading them.

I.Bhujangam
   Bhujangam  is a poem   resembling the sinuous  movement of a snake  . Though not many poets  could handle this method of writing, Adhi Sankara  was an exception .He has written several prayers adopting   this style  .Among them Subrahamanya  Bhujangam and  BHavani  Bujangam    are very famous  .If you come across  any other Bhujanga stotra   do send the url to me  (ramachander926@gmail.com)
6.       Hanumath Bhujanga prayatha  stotram- http://stotrarathna.blogspot.in/2009/07/adhi-shankaras-hanumath-bhujanga.html
9.       SAraswathi Bhujanga  Prayatha   Stotram- http://stotrarathna.blogspot.in/2009/11/saraswathy-bhujanga-prayata-stotram.html



II.Dandakam
  DAndakam is almost a prose poem. Unlike normal poems there are no restrictions  as to the number of letters  per line of the verse . Very few  poets have   attempted   to write  in this peculiar  meter . The most famous of course  is the  Shymala Dandakam , which is the first poem   written by   the great poet Kalidasa. Garuda Dandakam   is another famous  poem of this genera written by  the great  Vedanta  Desiga.There is also an Anjaneya  Dandagam  in Telugu , the lyrics of which  I could not get.

III.Gadhyam-
    Gadhyam is not a poem but prose  and so rarely used  to  write  prayers.  Saint Ramanuja   has written three  Gadhyams   and Vedantha Desika  who has come in his sishya parampara  has  written the   famous Raghu Veera Gadhya  which is the  story of Ramayana. Many translations  of  the Gadhya  thrayam ( Sri Vaikunta Gadhyam, SAranagathi Gadhyam    and Sri Ranga Gadhyam)   of Saint Ramanuja    are available   and so I did not attempt   to translate them myself. I also see  a reference to Srinivasa  Gadhyam, Lakshmi  Gadhyam etc



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