Stotra literature by time

 Stotra literature by type.

By

P.R.Ramachander

Most of the prayers in the vedic period were called Sukthams .Most probably they were used in Yajnas . The post Vedic Stotras can be classified as

1.Sahasranamams

These are the listing of thousand names of each God. If you go through them critically you may not find that all these thousand names are different and we find that several names are repeated. The most famous of the Sahasranamams are the Vishnu sahasranamam and the Lalitha Sahasranamam. Shiva Sahasranamam and Lakshmi Sahasranams are also relatively popular.Saharanamams are available for most of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu and all other Gods and Goddesses. Trisathi giving 300 names, ashtotharams giving 108 names, Satha Nama stotrams giving one hundred names , Shodasa nama stotram giving sixteen names and Dwadasa nama storams(12 names) also belong to this category of stotras.

2.Ashtakams

These are possibly the most popular form of Hindu stotras. These normally contain eight verses praising the God or Goddess. Most of them are very simple and easy to understand. There is a phala Sruthi attached to every ashtakam giving the possible effect of chanting that particular prayer.

3.Kavachams

These are another very popular form of prayers addressed to Gods as well as planets . Essentially they request God to protect different parts of our body as well as mind. It also requests God to protect us in different circumstances. Narayana Kavacham is one of the most famous in this category.

4.Dasakam

These are similar to ashtakam but with ten Stanzas.

5.Panchakam

These are prayers with five stanzas.

5.Shatkam

These are again similar to ashtakam but with six stanzas

6.Spathakam

These are prayers with seven stanzas.

7.Pancha Dasi

These are longer prayers with fifty stanzas

8.Pancha sathi

These are still longer poems with five hundred stanzas.

9.Sthava Raja

These are supposed to be the king of prayers addressed to a particular God. Though they are not available for all Gods, many of them are available.

10.Bhujanga Stotram

These as well as Bhujanga prayatha stotrams are supposed to move like a snake. Adhi Sankara is credited with composing many such Bhujangams. His “Subramanya Bhujangam” is very famous

11.Dandakam

These are stotras where there is no restriction on the length of a line of a stanza. Some of the Dandakams are very long prayers with just one line. Shyamala Dandakam of poet Kalidasa is the greatest in this category.

12.Karavalamba Stotram

These prayers are addressed to the God requesting him to extend his hand in support to us. The Lakshmi Narasimha Karavalamba stotram of Adhi Sankara is possibly the most famous.

13.Suprabathams

These are prayers addressed to the lord to wake him up. The oldest among this type of stotras are the thirupalliyezhuchi in Tamil and the most famous is the Venkateswara Suprabatham.

14. Lahari

Lahari means waves. In this form of prayer the stanzas follow each other like waves. Soundarya Lahari of Adhi Sankara is possibly the most famous.

15.Pasuram

These are tamil prayers written by the great Vaishnavite saints of Tamil Nadu called the Azhvars.

16.THiruvachakam

These are again Tamil prayers written by Nayanmars , the Tamil saints eulogizing Lord Shiva.

17. Aarthi

These are Hindi prayers praising a particular God. These are available addressed to almost all Gods.

18.Chalisa

These are again Hindi prayers but have forty stanzas each. The most famous is Hanuman Chalisa composed by saint Thulasidas.

19. Gadhyams

Gadhyam means prose . Some of the Vaishnavite saints wrote prayers in prose and the most famous is the Gadhya Thrayam written by Saint Ramanuja

20.,Abhangs

These are prayers written in Marathi by those great devotees of Pandharpur,

20. Mangalams

Mangalam means auspiciousness and thse are prayers which are sung at the end of chanting of prayer sessions as the last prayer.

Stotra literature over time.

 Stotra literature over time.

By

P.R.Ramachander

Stotra comes from the word Sthuthi and Sthuthi means praise.Some stotras are also called as Sthavas. Stotra could be broadly translated as “Praise of God”.

1.Stotras of the Vedic period

The foremost among the Vedic Stotras is Rudram and chamakam addressed to Lord Shiva, Narayana as well as Purusha Suktham addressed to Lord Vishnu and Sri Suktham, Durga Suktham, Lakshmi Suktham etc addressed to the Goddess. There are many other great Sukthams like Bhagya suktham , Ikamathya Suktham , Bhoo Suktham, Medha Suktham etc. The Ganesa Atharva Sira Upanishad , which is from Atharva Veda is again a prayer addressed to Lord Ganesa. Many of these are not praise of God as such but description of several aspect of the God including its philosophy. These Sukthas were used mostly for performing Yagas and even today , though in some places they are chanted mostly they are used in fire sacrifices.

2.Stotras of the Puranic period.

It was the advent of Puranas that we started praying of worship of Individual Gods. Some of the greatest Hindu Stotras originated at this time, The most famous are the Adithya Hrudayam which is a part of Valmiki Ramayanam , Vishnu Sahasranamam which is a part of Maha Bharatham, Lalitha Sahasranamam and Lalitha Trishathi which are both part of the Markandeys puranam , The Devi Mahatmyam which is again a part of Markandeya puranam, the Gopika Gita , a part of Maha Bhagawatham and very many other Sahasranamams and stotras which are part of several Puranas. The prayers called Kavachams (Armours to protect ourselves) again originated during this period.Till this period Stotras were written only in Sanskrit.

3.Post Puranic Stotras

Possibly after all the Puranas were written, a vast outpouring of composition of prayers in almost all the spoken languages by very many poets took place . Many Prayers which originate in the earliest period are not available. The stotra as a vehicle of prayers was greatly popularized by Adhi Sankara and his disciples. We find Sankara ‘s prayers addressed to all most all gods. Apart from prayers eulogizing Gods , he also wrote several very philosophical prayers. Soundarya Lahiri and Shivananda Lahari are possibly the greatest stotras written by him. He also wrote several prayers using the Bhujanga meter. His disciples continued this trend. Almost in the same period , the Nayanmars of Tamil Nadu who were Saivite saints contributed largely to the Saivite Stotra literature which were all in tamil . There was also a great upsurge of Tamil prayers written by various great saints praising Lord Subramanya /Muruga.

Saint Ramanuja did not write many stotras b ut the Gadhya thrayam which are prose prayers are really great prayers. His disciple Vedant Desika has written very large number of very excellent prayers in Sanskrit as well as Tamil . There was also an outpouring outpouring of stotras mainly in tamil were written by the Azhvars who were all Vaishnavite saints. Saint Madhwa and his followers and the Hari Dasas of Karnataka also wrote many prayers

The Thulasi Das, Kabir Das, Sur Das , and many such great ones contributed to the Hindi prayers. Poet Jayadeva wrote his Gita Govindam in Sanskrit and a very large number of prayers were written by the great Krishna and Durga devotees of Bengal. There was also a great Bhakthi movement in Maharashtra and the stotras of this genre are called Abhangs.

The Stotra literature is not growing as it should in the modern times except for rare compositions .

Who should Garland the Bharata Rathna?

 Who should Garland the Bharata Rathna?

Rewritten from Tamil post

By

P.R.Ramachander

(Shaking hands –Pani Grahana is the present day culture even between all men and ladies..

But once we lived differently?. I could have simply translated the tamil post but some thing in me,

Wanted me to write it in my own words)

Once MS, the nightingale of south india,

Was supposed to be honoured,

And the great Semmangudi,

The maestro of carnatic music was presiding.

A great garland of flowers was brought to stage,

And the organizers wanted the Maestro to Garland the Nightingale

Maestero hesitated and asked her husband,

“Is it Okay “ and he nodded his head saying yes

Then the Mastero asked the audience ,

They said yes, then he asked the Nightingale herself,

And she nodded her head and then he asked his own wife,

And she also said “yes” and semmangudi went near the mike

He said , “even if the entire world say yes,

I am not willing “ and gave the garland to herr husband,

And requested him to garland her and he did with a smile,

And the entire audience gave a standing ovation.

That which made the maestro hesitate was due to,

The civilization, culture and heritage of India,

It is this that makes the world applaud India,

And feel that this culture is the greatest

ஒரு சமயம்

எம் எஸ் சுப்புலட்சுமி

அவர்களுக்கு பாராட்டு விழா நடைபெற்றது.

செம்மங்குடி சீனிவாச ஐயர்

தலைமை தாங்கினார்.

ஒரு பெரிய மாலையை

அவருக்கு அணிவிக்க

செம்மங்குடியிடம் வழங்கப்பட்டது.

அவரும் அதனை பெற்று

எம் எஸ் க்க அணிவிக்கும்

முகத்தான் மைக்கை பிடித்தவர்

“எம் எஸ் பெண்மணி

அவருக்கு நான் மாலை போட

இந்த சபை அனுமதிக்கிறதா?”

என்று கேட்டார்.

அவையில் இருந்தவர்கள் அனுமதி தந்தனர்.

அடுத்து எம் எஸ் சுப்புலட்சுமி கணவர் சதாசிவம்

அனுமதி அளிக்கிறாரா? என்று கேட்டார்.

அவரும் அனுமதித்தார்.

அடுத்து என்னுடைய துணைவியார்

இதனை அனுமதிக்கிறாரா? என்று கேட்டார்.

அவரும் சம்மதம் தெரிவித்தார்.

இறுதியாக எம் எஸ் சுப்புலட்சுமி

இதற்கு ஒப்பு கொள்கிறாரா? என்று கேட்டார்.

அவரும் மகிழ்ச்சியாக தலையை ஆட்டினார்.

மீண்டும் மைக்கை பிடித்த செம்மங்குடி

எத்தனை பேர் அனுமதி தந்தாலும்

எனக்கு ஏதோ ஒன்று உறுத்துகிறது

அதனால் திரு சதாசிவம் அவர்களே

மாலை அணிவிக்கும்படி கேட்டு கொள்கிறேன்

என்று கூறி மாலையை சதாசிவத்திடம் ஒப்படைத்தார்.

சதாசிவமும் மாலையை பெற்று எம் எஸ் க்கு அணிவித்தார்.

அவையின் கரகோஷம் விண்ணை பிளந்தது.

செம்மங்குடியை தடுத்த அந்த

ஏதோ ஒன்றுதான் என்ன ???

அதன் பெயர்தான்

பண்பாடு கலாச்சாரம் பாரம்பரியம்.

இது இன்றளவும் இந்தியாவில்

ஒட்டிக்கொண்டு இருக்கிற காரணத்தால் தான்

உலகமே இந்தியாவை பார்த்து வியந்து கொண்டிருக்கிறது.

ஒரு பண்பாடு இல்லையென்றால் பாரதம் இல்லை

நம் பண்போடு வாழ்ந்திருந்தால் பாவமும் இல்லை

I re-dedicate all my work done after retirement to my best half

 

I re-dedicate all my work done after retirement to my best  half

 

By

P.R.Ramachander

 

(Six years back , I did it  and now again, With heart  full of gratefulness  to her , I am doing it)

 

My efforts in the last few days in highlighting my hobbies were intended in making all of you aware of the work done by me as also to encourage people who are retiring to take up some hobby like these so that they never feel that “They are not wanted by anyone.”

 

All that I do has been made possible only by the blessing of God. I always consider that He in his great majesty, composes what needs to be done and I am but his key board. The key board being constantly engaged does not get bored and wants to thank God by offering Him , crores of Pranams to him for choosing it . I do not know about the quality of my work but the sheer quantity of what I have done amazes even me.

 

My wife Smt.Jayalakshmi . my partner in Dharma has been great source of inspiration to me , through thick and thin. She understands that I get pleasure in doing what I do and never disturbs me from what I have been doing, even when I some times work lot of time, in spite of my very old age.

 

But for her and the blessings of God I would not have been able to do this immense amount of work. Side by side I have been trying my best to look after my obligations in running my little family too. Whenever I do not attend to it properly what else can I tell her except the pretty lines,

I have the shell and the pearl within it but I do not have time to open it,

I have the words , I have the meter but I do not have time to write a poem.

 

All my work before 60 were dedicated to my office and today when I am 81 I want to dedicate all the work done by me after 60 to my dear wife Smt.Jayalakshmi .

 

A poem to super star Idli

 A poem to  super star   Idli

 

Translated by

P.R.Ramachander

 

(Thanks to sister  Anandi  Lakshmi  for posting it)

You  are nectar  fed by mother’s to their kids

Tou are  the full moon  rising on breakfast table

You the nectar which came like a white and soft cloud

You are  the mother  to babies   after  the mother’s milk

You are   flower of jasmine  touched by my wife

You    are the reddish  mountain  along with c hutney powder

You are nectar of devas  , if accompanied  by  coconut chutney

You are  the golden puff  along with tomato chutney

You are  green flower    along   with mint chutney

You got boon of immortality    along with sambar

You are   the victory along with any  of your friends

You are  the food recommended  by doctors

You are   the perennial   super star  of entire  south india

 

The thirty which are good

The   thirty which are  good

 

By

P.R.Ramchander

 

(Based on a tamil  write up)

 

1.Do  , what  you want to do , just now

2. Drink as much water  you can daily

3.Daily  laugh   at least  once

4.Daily  know one   good thing

5.Daily   read  at least one page  of the  book that you love

6.Daily   try to meet or talk to one of your old friends

7.Daily   walk   at least a mile

8.Daily  eat  some  fruit  and vegetable

9. Daily  share some thing you love  with the person you love

10. Daily   try to read  good poem or good story  or good essay

11.Daily  encourage  atleast  some one

12.Daily  make  others happy

13.Pardon everything

14.Leave out anger  , pride , avarice

15.Boldly face  everything

15.Be  optimistic

16.Show  only love  towards  children

17.Look after  your  mental and physical  health

18.Undestand that always  victory  is impossible

19.Do not get  upset by defeats

20. your family  is crux of your life

21..hope  for good  and faith in God  are  essential

22.See  only  good  of others

23.Past  should  be your greatest  teacher

24.  use  properly  the future

25.Show your   pleasant face to others

26Savings  in youth  for old age  is essential

27.Understand  that beliefs changes   with  time

28. humanness is the  universal religion

29.helping  the poor  should be motto of life

30.no one is  greatest , some one else would always be  greater  than you