संस्कृतम्

शमो हि परमं सुखम्

Karthik — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 13:55:00 +0000

सन्तोषः परमो लाभः सत्सङ्गः परमा गतिः।
विचारः परमं ज्ञानं शमो हि परमं सुखम्॥
—योग-वासिष्ठे
santoṣaḥ paramo lābhaḥ satsaṅgaḥ paramā gatiḥ |
vicāraḥ paramaṁ jñānaṁ śamo hi paramaṁ sukham ||
—yoga-vāsiṣṭhe

Contentment is the highest gain, Good Company the highest course,
Enquiry/Contemplation is the highest wisdom, and Peace the highest enjoyment.

हे कृष्ण रक्षस्व माम्

Karthik — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 05:47:06 +0000

कृष्णो रक्षतु नो जगत्त्रयगुरुः कृष्णं नमस्यामहम्
कृष्णेनामरशत्रवो विनिहताः कृष्णाय तस्मै नमः।
कृष्णादेव समुत्थितं जगदिदं कृष्णस्य दासोऽस्म्यहम्
कृष्णे तिष्ठति सर्वमेतदखिलं हे कृष्ण रक्षस्व माम्॥४४॥
kṛṣṇo rakṣatu no jagattrayaguruḥ kṛṣṇaṁ namasyāmaham
kṛṣṇenāmaraśatravo vinihatāḥ kṛṣṇāya tasmai namaḥ|
kṛṣṇādeva samutthitaṁ jagadidaṁ kṛṣṇasya dāso’smyaham
kṛṣṇe tiṣṭhati sarvametadakhilaṁ he kṛṣṇa rakṣasva mām||44||
May Krishna, the guru of the three worlds protect us. I bow to Krishna.
By Krishna, the enemies of the Devas (Asuras) were killed. Salutations to that Krishna.
From Krishna, has this entire world emanated. I am Krishna’s servant.
In Krishna stays this entire Universe. O Krishna, protect me!

This verse is from the Mukunda mala stotram. Note the use of all 8 cases of the noun कृष्ण , much like the Ramaraksha stotram

धर्मात्मा सत्यसन्धश्च

Karthik — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 11:20:26 +0000

धर्मात्मा सत्यसन्धश्च रामो दाशरथिर्यदि।
पौरुषे चाप्रतिद्वन्द्वश्शरैनं जहि रावणिम्॥६-७८-३१॥
—श्रीमद्वाल्मीकिरामायणे युद्धकाण्डे अष्टसप्ततितमः सर्गः
dharmātmā satyasandhaśca rāmo dāśarathiryadi |
pauruṣe cāpratidvandvaśśarainaṁ jahi rāvaṇim||6-78-31||
—śrīmadvālmīkirāmāyaṇe yuddhakāṇḍe aṣṭasaptatitamaḥ sargaḥ
If Rama, the son of Dasharatha, is a righteous person, and ever-truthful and is
unrivalled in His prowess, then, O Arrow! Defeat the son of Ravana!
These were the words uttered by Lakshmana as he discharged a powerful arrow to defeat Indrajit.

This appears to be 90-6-71 in the valmikiramayan.net version, as against the Muneo Tokunaga Version

सत्यव्रतं सत्यपरं त्रिसत्यम्

Karthik — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 21:25:43 +0000

सत्यव्रतं सत्यपरं त्रिसत्यं सत्यस्य योनिं निहितं च सत्ये।
सत्यस्य सत्यम् ऋतसत्यनेत्रं सत्यात्मकं त्वां शरणं प्रपन्नाः॥१०-२-२६॥
—श्रीमद्भागवते दशमस्कन्धे द्वितीयोऽध्यायः

This prayer was made by the Devas to Lord Maha Vishnu, as He was going to embark upon Shri Krishnavataram:
One Who always observes the vow of Truth (He never deviates from satyam, and protects the Truth); One Who is The Absolute Truth, One Who is the three Truths of Creation, Maintenance and Dissolution; One who is the cause of all Truths; entering the material world.
One who is the Truth among all Truths, One who has for His Eyes Satyam and Rtam, the Embodiment of all Truths, We surrender unto your protection.

In a lighter vein, it is said (in a discourse of Shri Hariji) that the Devas were still in the [previous] Ramavataram mode, hence so many appellations of Satyam, which was a fundamental aspect of Lord Rama!

दीपज्योतिर्नमोऽस्तु ते

Karthik — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 21:07:06 +0000

शुभं करोति कल्याणम् आरोग्यं धनसम्पदः।
शत्रुबुद्धिविनाशाय दीपज्योतिर्नमोऽस्तु ते॥
śubhaṁ karoti kalyāṇam ārogyaṁ dhanasampadaḥ|
śatrubuddhivināśāya dīpajyotirnamo’stu te||
Bestows auspiciousness , good fortune, health,
Destroyer of evil thoughts (ignorance?) — Salutations to the light of the lamp

It is common to recite this shloka while lighting the lamp…

सा विद्या या विमुक्तये

Karthik — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 20:51:31 +0000

तत्कर्म यन्न बन्धाय सा विद्या या विमुक्तये।
आयासायापरं कर्म विद्यऽन्या शिल्पनैपुणम्॥१-१९-४१॥
—श्रीविष्णुपुराणे प्रथमस्कन्धे एकोनविंशोऽध्यायः
tatkarma yanna bandhāaya sā vidyā yā vimuktaye|
āyāsāyāparaṁ karma vidya’nyā śilpanaipuṇam||1-19-41||
—śrīviṣṇupurāṇe prathamaskandhe ekonaviṁśo’dhyāyaḥ
That is action, which does not promote attachment; That is knowledge which liberates [one from bondage]
All other action is mere [pointless] effort/hardship; all other knowledge is merely another skill/craftsmanship

मल्लानामशनिर्नृणां नरवरः

Karthik — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:02:19 +0000

मल्लानामशनिर्नृणां नरवरः स्त्रीणां स्मरो मूर्तिमान्
गोपानां स्वजनोऽसतां क्षितिभुजां शास्ता स्वपित्रोः शिशुः।
मृत्युर्भोजपतेर्विराडविदुषां तत्त्वं परं योगिनाम्
वृष्णीनां परदेवतेति विदितो रङ्गं गतः साग्रजः॥१७॥
—श्रीमद्भागवते दशमस्कन्धे त्रिचत्वारिंशोऽध्यायः
mallānāmaśanirnṛṇāṁ naravaraḥ strīṇāṁ smaro mūrtimān
gopānāṁ svajano’satāṁ kṣitibhujāṁ śāstā svapitroḥ śiśuḥ|
mṛtyurbhojapatervirāḍaviduṣāṁ tattvaṁ paraṁ yoginām
vṛṣṇīnāṁ paradevateti vidito raṅgaṁ gataḥ sāgrajaḥ||17||
—śrīmadbhāgavate daśamaskandhe tricatvāriṁśo’dhyāyaḥ
For the wrestlers, lightning; for the men, the best among men; for the women, the most handsome man; for all the Gopas, their relative; for all the bad men and kings, a punisher; for His parents, a child; for the King of Bhojas (Kamsa), Death; for the unintelligent, a helpless weakling; the Supreme Truth, for the Yogis; for the Vrishnis, the Supreme God; thus [Krishna was] understood, as He entered the arena with His Brother.

2010 in review

Karthik — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 02:30:38 +0000

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A helper monkey made this abstract painting, inspired by your stats.

This blog was viewed about 42,000 times in 2010.

In 2010, there were 26 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 381 posts. There were 2 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 1mb.

The busiest day of the year was June 24th with 386 views. The most popular post that day was About.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were learnsanskrit.wordpress.com, google.co.in, sanskritvoice.com, translate.google.co.in, and kalidasa.blogspot.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for shloka in sanskrit, sanskrit shloka, shlok, sanskrit shlok, and sanskrit shloka with meaning.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

About March 2006
80 comments

स्तोत्रसङ्ग्रहः [stotra book] September 2010
5 comments

जननी जन्मभूमिश्च स्वर्गादपि गरीयसी September 2005
5 comments

व्यालं बालमृणालतन्तुभिः June 2006
3 comments

स्तोत्रसङ्ग्रहः June 2009
22 comments

ददृशेऽच्युतं च

Karthik — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 11:58:58 +0000

तां देवमायामिव धीरमोहिनीं सुमध्यमां कुण्डलमण्डिताननाम्।
श्यामां नितम्बार्पितरत्नमेखलां व्यञ्जत्स्तनीं कुन्तलशङ्कितेक्षणाम्॥५१॥
शुचिस्मितां बिम्बफलाधरद्युति शोणायमानद्विजकुन्दकुड्मलाम्।
पदा चलन्तीं कलहंसगामिनीं सिञ्जत्कलानूपुरधामशोभिना॥५२॥
विलोक्य वीरा मुमुहुः समागता यशस्विनस्तत्कृतहृच्छयार्दिताः।
यां वीक्ष्य ते नृपतयस्तदुदारहास व्रीदावलोकहृतचेतस उज्झितास्त्राः॥५३॥
पेतुः क्षितौ गजरथाश्वगता विमूढा यात्राच्छलेन हरयेऽर्पयतीं स्वशोभाम्।
सैवं शनैश्चलयती चलपद्मकोशौ प्राप्तिं तदा भगवतः प्रसमीक्षमाणा॥५४॥
उत्सार्य वामकरजैरलकानपङ्गैः प्राप्तान्ह्रियैक्षत नृपान् ददृशेऽच्युतं च।
तां राजकन्यां रथमारुरक्षतीं जहार कृष्णो द्विषतां समीक्षताम्॥५५॥
रथं समारोप्य सुपर्णलक्षणं राजन्यचक्रं परिभूय माधवः।
ततो ययौ रामपुरोगमः शनैः शृगालमध्यादिव भागहृद्धरिः॥५६॥
—श्रीमद्भागवते दशमस्कन्धे त्रिपञ्चाशत्तमोऽध्यायः
tāṁ devamāyāmiva dhīramohinīṁ sumadhyamāṁ kuṇḍalamaṇḍitānanām|
śyāmāṁ nitambārpitaratnamekhalāṁ vyañjatstanīṁ kuntalaśaṅkitekṣaṇām||51||
śucismitāṁ bimbaphalādharadyuti śoṇāyamānadvijakundakuḍmalām|
padā calantīṁ kalahaṁsagāminīṁ siñjatkalānūpuradhāmaśobhinā||52||
vilokya vīrā mumuhuḥ samāgatā yaśasvinastatkṛtahṛcchayārditāḥ|
yāṁ vīkṣya te nṛpatayastadudārahāsa vrīdāvalokahṛtacetasa ujjhitāstrāḥ||53||
petuḥ kṣitau gajarathāśvagatā vimūḍhā yātrācchalena haraye’rpayatīṁ svaśobhām|
saivaṁ śanaiścalayatī calapadmakośau prāptiṁ tadā bhagavataḥ prasamīkṣamāṇā||54||
utsārya vāmakarajairalakānapaṅgaiḥ prāptānhriyaikṣata nṛpān dadṛśe’cyutaṁ ca|
tāṁ rājakanyāṁ rathamārurakṣatīṁ jahāra kṛṣṇo dviṣatāṁ samīkṣatām||55||
rathaṁ samāropya suparṇalakṣaṇaṁ rājanyacakraṁ paribhūya mādhavaḥ|
tato yayau rāmapurogamaḥ śanaiḥ śṛgālamadhyādiva bhāgahṛddhariḥ||56||
—śrīmadbhāgavate daśamaskandhe tripañcāśattamo’dhyāyaḥ
These wonderful verses describe the beauty of Shri Rukmini Devi, as She stepped out of the Ambika temple,
and pushing away the strands of her curly hair, glanced at the Lord, described as Acyuta, because He never fails His devotees
(Shri Rukmini Devi in this case, who completely surrendered unto Him, requesting Him to marry Her).
The Lord then lifted Shri Rukmini Devi onto His chariot, and made away for Dwaraka

सा तत्र ददृशे विश्वम्

Karthik — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 15:02:45 +0000

सा तत्र ददृशे विश्वं जगत्स्थास्नु च खं दिशः।
साद्रिद्वीपाब्धिभूगोलं सवाय्वग्नीन्दुतारकम्॥१०-८-३७॥
ज्योतिश्चक्रं जलं तेजो नभस्वान्वियदेव च।
वैकारिकाणीन्द्रियाणि मनो मात्रा गुणास्त्रयः॥१०-८-३८॥
एतद्विचित्रं सहजीवकाल स्वभावकर्माशयलिङ्गभेदम्।
सूनोस्तनौ वीक्ष्य विदारितास्ये व्रजं सहात्मानमवाप शङ्काम्॥१०-८-३९॥
—श्रीमद्भागवते दशमस्कन्धे अष्टमोऽध्यायः
sā tatra dadṛśe viśvaṁ jagatsthāsnu ca khaṁ diśaḥ|
sādridvīpābdhibhūgolaṁ savāyvagnīndutārakam||10-8-37||
jyotiścakraṁ jalaṁ tejo nabhasvānviyadeva ca|
vaikārikāṇīndriyāṇi mano mātrā guṇāstrayaḥ||10-8-38||
etadvicitraṁ sahajīvakāla svabhāvakarmāśayaliṅgabhedam|
sūnostanau vīkṣya vidāritāsye vrajaṁ sahātmānamavāpa śaṅkām||10-8-39||
—śrīmadbhāagavate daśamaskandhe aṣṭamo’dhyāyaḥ

She saw there the entire universe (vishvam), including the moving entities and the non-moving, the sky and all the directions,
With moutains, islands, oceans, the surface of the Earth, with Air, Fire, Moon and the Stars.
The planetary systems, water, light, outer space, the Sky,
Creation by the transformation of Ahamkara, the senses, along with the duration of life of all living entities.
The natural insticts and the resultant karma and desires for material enjoyment, the varieties of bodies according to these,
In the body of Her Son, in His wide-open mouth, [she saw] Vrajam (the abode of Nanda Maharaj), along with Herself, stricken with doubt/wonder/amazement!

गुरुर्न स स्यात्

Karthik — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 20:27:27 +0000

गुरुर्न स स्यात् स्वजनो न स स्यात्
पिता न स स्याज्जननी न सा स्यात्।
दैवन्न तत् स्यात् न पतिश्च स स्यान्-
न मोचयेद्यः समुपेत-मृत्युम्॥५-५-१८॥
—श्रीमद्भागवते पञ्चमे स्कन्दे पञ्चमोऽध्यायः
gururna sa syāt svajano na sa syāt
pitā na sa syājjananī na sā syāt|
daivanna tat syāt na patiśca sa syān-
na mocayedyaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum||5-5-18||
—śrīmadbhāgavate pañcame skande pañcamo’dhyāyaḥ
One is not a guru (worthy of being a guru); one is not a relative
One is not father; one is not a mother;
One is not a deity; one is not a husband;
If they cannot guide those dependent from [the cycle of birth and] death.

Basically, the one who cannot guide their dependents in the path toward moksha, is not worthy of being a guru/relative or well-wisher/father/mother/deity or husband!

प्रतिवचः कृष्णस्य पुष्णातु नः

Karthik — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 20:40:03 +0000

कस्त्वं बालः बलानुजः किमिह ते मन्मन्दिराशङ्कया
युक्तं तत् नवनीतपात्रविवरे हस्तं किमर्थं न्यसेः।
मातः कञ्चन वत्सकं मृगयितुं मा गा विषादं क्षणात्
इत्येवं वरवल्लवी प्रतिवचः कृष्णस्य पुष्णातु नः॥
kastvaṁ bālaḥ balānujaḥ kimiha te manmandirāśaṅkayā
yuktaṁ tat navanītapātravivare hastaṁ kimarthaṁ nyaseḥ|
mātaḥ kañcana vatsakaṁ mṛgayituṁ mā gā viṣādaṁ kṣaṇāt
ityevaṁ varavallavī prativacaḥ kṛṣṇasya puṣṇātu naḥ||
This verse (from Shri Krishna Karnamrtam) outlines a conversation between Krishna and a Gopi (Krishna is (as usual) at her place, eating butter!):
Gopi: Who are you!
Krishna: The brother of Balarama (to sound more imposing through Balarama’s balam!)
Gopi: What are you doing here?
Krishna: Thought this is my house [and came in]
Gopi: That’s ok, why is your hand in the butter pot!?
Krishna: I am looking for a calf (!!!), [please] do not get upset mother (ah, what pleasure it must have been to be addressed as mAtaH by Krishna!)
May the [wonderful] repartees of Krishna to the best of the cowherd women invigorate us!

In one of the discourse of Shri Hariji that I heard recently, he mentions this story, also adding to it: Krishna actually reasons with the Gopi about the missing calf:

Krishna: Why do we have calves?
Gopi: So as to obtain milk?
Krishna: Why do we get milk?
Gopi: To set curd, and then obtain butter
Krishna: When the butter pot itself is here, why should I look for the calf (with the end in hand, why should I look for the means!)

Indeed, may that mischievous ever-endearing Krishna and Krishna-lilas bless us with bhakti!

कृष्णकथाः पुण्या माध्वीर्लोकमलापहाः

Karthik — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:38:47 +0000

ब्रह्मन् कृष्णकथाः पुण्या माध्वीर्लोकमलापहाः।
को नु तृप्येत शृण्वानः श्रुतज्ञो नित्यनूतनाः॥१०-५२-०२०॥
—श्रीमद्भागवते दशमस्कन्दे द्विपञ्चाशत् अध्यायः
brahman kṛṣṇakathāḥ puṇyā mādhvīrlokamalāpahāḥ|
ko nu tṛpyeta śṛṇvānaḥ śrutajño nityanūtanāḥ||10-52-020||
—śrīmadbhāgavate daśamaskande dvipañcāśat adhyāyaḥ
Parikshit exclaims to Shuka Maharshi:
O Brahmana! The stories of Lord Krishna are pious, nectarine, removing the ills of the world.
Who (who listens and understands the stories) could ever be satisfied listening to these ever-novel stories!

Parikshit is indeed the true example of one attaining moksham by श्रवणम् (listening to the wonderful stories of the Lord!). See also the nine forms of bhakti.

This is reminiscent of what Arjuna tells Krishna in the Gita:
विस्तरेणऽऽत्मनो योगं विभूतिं च जनार्दन।
भूयः कथय तृप्तिर्हि शृण्वतो नास्ति मेऽमृतम्॥१०-१८॥
—श्रीमद्भगवद्गीतायां दशमोऽध्यायः
This is reminiscent of what Arjuna tells Krishna in the Gita:
vistareṇa”tmano yogaṁ vibhūtiṁ ca janārdana|
bhūyaḥ kathaya tṛptirhi śṛṇvato nāsti me’mṛtam||10-18||
—śrīmadbhagavadgītāyāṁ daśamo’dhyāyaḥ
Elaborately describe the process of devotion to you and your great vibhutis.
There is no satiation for me hearing this nectar [from you].

अयोध्या नाम नगरी

Karthik — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 19:43:44 +0000

कोसलो नाम मुदितः स्फीतो जनपदो महान्।
निविष्ट सरयूतीरे प्रभूत-धन-धान्यवान्॥१-५-५॥
अयोध्या नाम नगरी तत्रऽऽसीत् लोकविश्रुता।
मनुना मानवेन्द्रेण या पुरी निर्मिता स्वयम्॥१-५-६॥
—श्रीमद्वाल्मीकीरामायणे बालकाण्डे पञ्चमोऽध्यायः
kosalo nāma muditaḥ sphīto janapado mahān|
niviṣṭa sarayūtīre prabhūta-dhana-dhānyavān||1-5-5||
ayodhyā nāma nagarī tatra”sīt lokaviśrutā|
manunā mānavendreṇa yā purī nirmitā svayam||1-5-6||
—śrīmadvālmīkīrāmāyaṇe bālakāṇḍe pañcamo’dhyāyaḥ
By the name of Kosala, [there exists] a joyous and a vast great kingdom
Situated on the banks of the river Sarayu, abound with wealth and foodgrains,
[In that kingdom]Was Ayodhya [that which cannot be conquered], a city, world-renowned.
Built by Manu himself, the foremost ruler of man.

कोसलेन्द्रोऽवतान्नः

Karthik — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 10:28:15 +0000

गुर्वर्थे त्यक्तराज्यो व्यचरदनुवनं पद्मपद्‌भ्यां प्रियायाः पाणिस्पर्शाक्षमाभ्यां मृजितपथरुजो यो हरीन्द्रानुजाभ्याम्।
वैरूप्याच्छूर्पणख्याः प्रियविरहरुषारोपिता-भ्रू-विजृम्भ-त्रस्ताब्धिर्बद्धसेतुः खलदवदहनः कोसलेन्द्रोऽवतान्नः॥९-१०-४॥
—श्रीमद्भागवते नवमस्कन्धे दशमोऽध्यायः
gurvarthe tyaktarājyo vyacaradanuvanaṁ padmapadbhyāṁ priyāyāḥ pāṇisparśākṣamābhyāṁ mṛjitapatharujo yo harīndrānujābhyām|
vairūpyācchūrpaṇakhyāḥ priyaviraharuṣāropitā-bhrū-vijṛmbha-trastābdhirbaddhasetuḥ khaladavadahanaḥ kosalendro’vatānnaḥ||9-10-4||
—śrīmadbhāgavate navamaskandhe daśamo’dhyāyaḥ

Who, for the sake of [keeping the promise of] His father, giving up the kingdom, wandered from forest to forest [with His beloved wife (Mother Sita)] on His Lotus feet, which were so soft to even not be able to bear the touch of Sita’s palm, and whose fatigue was relieved by being accompanied by the King of Monkeys (Hanuman/Sugriva) and His younger brother [Lakshmana].
Having disfigured Shurpanakha and separated from His Wife, in His anger He raised His eyebrows frightening the ocean; constructed a bridge over the ocean, killing wicked persons [like Ravana] as though devouring a forest like a fire, the King of Ayodha; may He deign to protect us!

Pardon the ugly translation; it is impossible to retain the beauty of Sanskrit!

What a wonderful one shloka rendition of Ramayana by Shuka Maharshi!!!

अपश्यत् तन्मयं जगत्

Karthik — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 09:58:27 +0000

आसीनः संविशंस्तिष्ठन् भुञ्जानः पर्यटन् महीम्।
चिन्तयानो हृषीकेशम् अपश्यत् तन्मयं जगत्॥१०-२-२४॥
—श्रीमद्भागवते दशमस्कन्धे द्वितीयोऽध्यायः
āsīnaḥ saṁviśaṁstiṣṭhan bhuñjānaḥ paryaṭan mahīm|
cintayāno hṛṣīkeśam apaśyat tanmayaṁ jagat||10-2-24||
—śrīmadbhāgavate daśamaskandhe dvitīyo’dhyāyaḥ

While sitting, sleeping, staying anywhere, eating or [while] walking here and there
Always thinking of [worrying in fear] Lord Krishna (one who controls everything), saw Him everywhere!

Thus, thinking of Krishna (albeit out of fear) all the time, Kamsa attained Moksham!

See also http://vedabase.net/sb/10/2/24/en

गोप्यः कामात् भयात् कंसः

Karthik — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 20:00:14 +0000

गोप्यः कामात् भयात् कंसः द्वेषात् चैद्यादयो नृपाः।
सम्बन्धात् वृष्णयः स्नेहात् यूयं भक्त्या वयं विभो॥७-१-३१॥
—श्रीमद्भागवते सप्तमस्कन्धे प्रथमोऽध्यायः
gopyaḥ kāmāt bhayāt kaṁsaḥ dveṣāt caidyādayo nṛpāḥ |
sambandhāt vṛṣṇayaḥ snehāt yūyaṁ bhaktyā vayaṁ vibho ||7-1-31||
—śrīmadbhāgavate saptamaskandhe prathamo’dhyāyaḥ
By dedicated affection, the Gopis; by fear, Kamsa; by hatred Shishupala and other kings.
By association (relatedness) the Vrishnis, by friendship you all (Pandavas) and by sincere devotion, we [attain Krishna] Oh Great King!

This was told by Narada to King Yudhishtira (narrated to Parikshit by Shuka Maharshi)

Announcing StotraSamhita

Karthik — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 15:24:10 +0000

I am delighted to introduce StotraSamhita (http://stotrasamhita.net/), a wiki of stotrams and namavalis, displayed in many Indian scripts.

Earlier this year, Saketh was suggesting that we come up with a usable wiki for stotras, just like how http://sahityam.net/ is a fantastic resource for carnatic sahityam (lyrics). The basic idea was to borrow TransLipi (a versatile tool for transliterating text to different Indian scripts, created by Shri. Srikanth Subramanian), so that the text can be viewed in multiple scripts (Devanagari/Telugu/Kannada/Roman/Malayalam). The StotraSamhita wiki is our first attempt in this direction. We started work on this wiki on Vinayaka Chaturthi day this year .

The intention of this wiki is to provide easy access to different stotras (in a script of the user’s choice). Currently, there are only a few stotras/namavalis. In the long run, with God’s grace, we hope it develops into an encyclopaedia for stotras, namavalis and puja vidhanams — with the significance/translations and brief commentaries. Being a wiki, it also provides a collaborative platform to edit (proof-read and correct) stotras.

I believe that another important aspect of this site is that it makes accessible works such as Tiruppavai to the non-Tamil speaking/reading public. I similarly hope that some special stotrams from other languages can be accessible, transcending language barriers. There are many better resources on the web for sanskrit stotras/texts, such as sanskritdocuments.org; I just hope that this site fills in a small gap left by some of the other sites — that of transliterating stotras into different scripts. The site also hosts a couple of nice PDF books of stotras, in devanagari; I hope to add PDFs in other languages shortly.

I look forward to your comments and suggestions on the wiki; the site is still in a very nascent stage — I see a huge scope for improvements (a help page for starters!). ~~It is presently running on my home computer and is accessible from goo.gl/dnNB/ (or alternatively stotrasamhita.dyndns.org).~~ I had hoped to make several more improvements before releasing it widely, but thought it would be nice to release it on Vijayadashami Day! I will think about hosting it, once I get some more feedback! I would really welcome feedback on the content and any other criticisms/suggestions!

Happy Vijayadashami!

p.s. To view the StotraSamhita wiki in different scripts, use the drop-down box in the left navigation panel of the wiki

edit: StotraSamhita.net (http://stotrasamhita.net/) is now online, since 4-Mar-2011.

कृष्णावतारे नवरसम्

Karthik — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 19:13:30 +0000

शृङ्गारं व्रजसुन्दरीविहरणे हास्यं च चौर्ये तथा
कारुण्यं मथुराप्रयाणसमये गोवर्धने चाद्भुतम्।
रौद्रं कंसवधे च वीरं भीष्मसविधे भयं चोरगे
भीभत्सं कोटरप्रतिहरे शान्तं प्रभासे तथा॥
śṛṅgāraṁ vrajasundarīviharaṇe hāsyaṁ ca caurye tathā
kāruṇyaṁ mathurāprayāṇasamaye govardhane cādbhutam|
raudraṁ kaṁsavadhe ca vīraṁ bhīṣmasavidhe bhayaṁ corage
bhībhatsaṁ koṭarapratihare śāntaṁ prabhāse tathā||

Affection, during the rāsalīlā with the beauties [gopikas] of vrajadeśam, humour, during the stealing [of butter]
Compassion, when leaving for Mathura, [leaving behind Yashoda, Gopis et al]; marvel, during the lifting of Govardhanagiri
Anger/fury, during the killing of Kamsa; Courage, near (towards) Bhishma [when running towards Bhishma with the rathacakram], Fear, when inside the snake [Aghasura]
Disgust, at Kotara (mother of bāṇāsuraḥ); Tranquility at prabhāsakṣetram

[This shloka, composed by Shri Krishna Premi Anna, was rendered by Shrimati Vishakha Hari, during her Rukmini Kalyanam discourse]

p.s. Not sure if I have transcribed it perfectly; will be glad if someone can correct!

स्तोत्रसङ्ग्रहः

Karthik — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 13:47:49 +0000

Check out the second edition of स्तोत्रसङ्ग्रहः at the new ‘page’.