Stotra: Ornamented Speech
The Lalitā Sahasranāma is a text I keep returning to, and last year, a friend gave me a fine edition of this work with the commentary of the sage Bhāskararāya. As I want to get back to my work on the Saundaryalahari this year, I thought a good starting point would be to say something about the Stotra genre in general, along with reflections on some of the themes in Lalitā Sahasranāma.
What is Stotra? Stotra (from the Sanskrit root stu – “to praise, extol, celebrate”) refers to a religious literary genre whose stanzas directly and repeatedly address a deity in praise, the act of which is held to be beneficial for those persons that make the recitation. Stotras are offerings to the deity, speech acts that not only please the deity in a manner similar to physical offerings but which shape the reciter’s consciousness in the sentiment attributed to the deity to which the Stotra is offered.
These hymns of praise may be offered up to deities (i.e. Śiva, Viṣṇu, or the various forms of the Devī), but also to religious teachers (gurus or ācāryas), pilgrimage sites, and religious actions or events. They are recited in public, in temple rituals, and as private acts of devotion. As a mode of expression, Stotra is extremely flexible: for example, Stotras may offer images for meditation (dhyāna) and the poems themselves can be seen as acts of meditation. Some composers are known to insert complex passages into their works which are likened to “knots” (granthi) which a speaker must mentally “untie”. 1 Whilst many Stotras are eulogistic, some are philosophical and esoteric in character. Some Stotras are written in a relatively simple and accessible style, whilst others are highly complex kāvya productions, employing stylistic ornamentation, puns and poetic meters. Some Stotras fulfill specific purposes – for example, some are considered to be kavacas (“armours”) which are recited for protection. Above all though, these texts are performative – the recital brings about the presence of the goddess in an intense act of devotion, whether it is performed publically or privately.
This form of devotional poetry can be found in all the religious traditions of India – for example within the heterodox traditions of the Jains and Buddhists; the Śaivas and Vaiṣṇavas, etc. Some very early examples of Stotra directed at the goddess can be found in the Mahābhārata – the Durgāstava and the Durgāstotra – both of which are thought to predate the 6th century Devīmāhātmya. Stotras are also to be found, of course, in tantric literature, and one of the most well-known examples of tantric Stotra in the West is the Kālī Karpūrādi-stotra – a short hymn of 22 couplets translated by Sir John Woodroffe (aka “Arthur Avalon”) and published – in a somewhat bowdlerised form – in 1922.
Lalitā Sahasranāma
So to the Lalitā Sahasranāma. “The Thousand Names of Lalitā” is an extremely popular example of Stotra literature, performed in both public recitals, in temple puja and privately across India (and amongst diasporic communities). When the reading is ritualised, each verse is often framed by the syllable “OṂ” and by a formulaic greeting. 2 In public ritual, a flower petal is usually offered to the goddess with each verse – and in personal recitation, this petal may be offered mentally. Some practitioners insist that – as every single one of the names of the goddess is a mantra, then the pronunciation of the verses requires strict attention to pronunciation; others, however, take the view that if the Lalitā Sahasranāma is recited with the appropriate attitude of love and devotion to the goddess, she will forgive any errors made by the devotee.
The Lalitā Sahasranāma (LS) appears within a larger work, the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa (the early parts of which have been speculatively dated to between the 4th-6th century CE). The LS itself is divided into three parts: the pūrva bhāg , stotra bhāg and uttara bhāg. The pūrva bhāg (“preceding part) takes the form of a dialogue between Hayagrīva and the sage Agastya wherein Hayagrīva (the horse-faced one, an avatar of Viṣṇu) extols the deeds and virtues of Lalitā. The stotra bhāg is the section of the text which gives the epithets, or mantras, of the goddess. The uttara bhāg (sometimes referred to as the phalaśruti – “hearing the fruits”) extols the benefits acquired by those who repeat this Sahasranāma, as well as instruction as to which days are considered to be most auspicious for the practice (i.e. Fridays, the day of the Full Moon) although the ideal devotee should recite the text daily. The benefits are both spiritual and worldly and include both liberation and health, melodious speech, and so forth.
The Commentarial Tradition
Some of the most popular examples of Stotras are accompanied by Commentaries. These commentaries serve several functions. Commentaries can be viewed as embellishments or ornamentations of the original text – so that a commentary can become a powerful means of re-experiencing the text. More importantly though, commentaries serve to align texts with traditions, as can be seen, for example, when contemporary commentaries on Saundaryalahari interpret and embellish the verses in a way that supports Vedantin, as opposed to Kaula interpretations of the Stotra’s message (see Reading the Saundaryalahari – an aside for some related discussion). 3
Bhāskararāya Makhin was an eighteenth-century tantric practitioner and polymath who is revered for his commentaries, not only on Lalitā Sahasranāma but also the Kaula Upaniṣad and other texts associated with Śrī Vidyā. He wrote over 40 works on a wide variety of subjects. Throughout LS there are a wide variety of epithets which relate the goddess to the chakras and Kuṇḍalinī. I will turn to some of these verses, which illustrate how Bhāskararāya brings a tantric perspective to the text.
The verses 475-534, in Bhāskararāya’s commentary refer not to Lalitā herself, as such, but to the Yoginīs that preside in the chakras. For example, the epithet given to the goddess in verse 475 is Viśuddhi-chakranilayā – “She who abides in the Viśuddhi centre”. Bhāskararāya’s commentary expounds on this epithet thusly:
“Now he proceeds to praise Devī, by sixty-two names, according to the Yoginīnyāsa, under the forms of the seven Yoginī deities who preside over the seven chakras, Viśuddhi etc., whose names begin with the syllables Da, ra, la, ka, sa, ha, ya (respectively). The meditation on the Dākinī is: “In the Viśuddhi centre, which is in the cavity of the throat, in the sixteen-petalled lotus, I adore Dākinī, the rosy, three-eyed, armed with club, the sword, the trident and a large skin, having one face, striking the ignorant with terror, ever fond of sweet food (Pāyasa), the deity presiding over the organ of touch, whose form is surrounded by Amritā and other deities, and worshipped by warriors”.
Verses 476-484 give the various epithets of the Yoginī Dākinī, then from verse 485 Anāhatābjani-layā – “She who abides in the Anāhatā lotus” Bhāskararāya gives the dhyana of the Yoginī Rākinī, and verses 486-494 relate the various epithets of Rākinī. And so on.
The order given is Viśuddhi (Dākinī); Anāhatā (Rākinī); Manipūra 4 (Lākinī); Svādhisthāna (Kākinī); Mūlādhāra (Sākinī) – then Ājnā (Hākinī); and finally Sahasrāra (Yākinī, attended by the Śaktis of the letters). This is clearly a sequence of dhyanas to be followed – the worship the Yoginīs seated in the chakras, i.e. Yoginīnyāsa – but is unusual perhaps for those accustomed to the idea that the only sequence is Mūlādhāra > Sahasrāra (or indeed, vice versa). One possibility for this sequence is that the dhyanas focus attention on the Yoginīs presiding over the different layers of the human body: Dākinī – Skin; Rākinī – Blood; Lākinī – Flesh; Kākinī – Fat; Sākinī – Bones; Hākinī – Marrow; Yākinī – Semen. These are of course the dhātus or constituents of the human body. They are identified with Yoginīs in texts such as the Yoginīhṛdaya – which follows the same sequence as the LS. 5
This is only a small taste of the delights to be found in the Lalitā Sahasranāma – it’s a text which repays many studies, and performing it – even in its English translation – will bring the devotee into a closer relationship and understanding of the goddess.
Sources
Yigal Bronner Singing to God, Educating the People: Appayya Dīkṣita and the Function of Stotras (Journal of the American Oriental Society 127.2 (2007))
Douglas R. Brooks The Secret of the Three Cities: An Introduction to Hindu Śākta Tantrism (University of Chicago Press, 1990)
Thomas B. Coburn, The Structural Interplay of Tantra, Vedānta, and Bhakti: Nondualist Commentary on the Goddess in K.A. Harper, R.L. Brown (eds) The Roots of Tantra (State University of New York Press, 2002)
Jonathan B. Edelman, Introduction to Special Issue: Stotra, Hymns of Praise in Indian Literature (International Journal of Hindu Studies 20. . 10.1007/s11407-016-9201-x)
André Padoux, Roger Orphé Jeanty, The Heart of the Yogini: The Yoginīhṛdaya, a Sanskrit Tantric Treatise (Oxford University Press, 2013)
R. Ananthakrishna Sastry Lalita Sahasranama with Bhaskararaya’s Commentary (Gyan Publishing House, 2015)
Annette Wilke & Oliver Moebius Sound and Communication: An Aesthetic Cultural History of Sanskrit Hinduism (Walter de Grutyer GmbH, 2011)
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