Introduction to Short religious poems

Religious poems, like the ethical ons, comprise prayers, praises, and psalms, and describe how the Hindus "prayed to to the one Supreme Lord of the Universe and in what words they derived solace in the hour of their trial or gave praise in the hour of their so-called triumph." They are spread over the whole of Sanskrit literature. They have been gathered together in several collections from the Vedas, the Aranyakas, the Upanishads, the, Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Bhagvad-git, the Srimad Bhagavata, the Puranas, the Agamas, the Tantras, from the classical poetry of Kalidasa, Bharavi, Magha, Mayura, Bana, Subandhu Bhavabhuti, Krishna Misra, Sri-Ilarsha, Vaidya Gadadhara, Shavananda, Sankaracharya, Utpaladevacharya, Sri Kanthacharya, Yamunacharya, kamanujacharya, Srivatsanka Misra, Parasara-Bhatta, Vedacharya, Vedantadesika, Venkatadhvarin, Vallabhacharya, Vitthalesvara, Haridasa, Madhavacharya (Ananda-tirtha), Vadiraja, Chaitanyadeva, Rupagosvamin, and fifty other. praises (stotra) to the gods and goddesses, of which the authorship is uncertain." The gods and goddesses who received adoration in the Hindu period were, however, different from those praised by the Vedic Aryans. Besides the old gods Siva Vishnu, Surya, there appeared new goddesses and gods like Durga, Ganesa, and the cult of Krishna and Rama became prominent The collections of a hundred or thousand names of a god or goddess became numerous. The number of Stotras preserved are vast. The higher poetry invaded this field also. The philosophers also took part in the composition of the songs of praise (stotra) and lent digrity to the art. But many are of no poetic worth. 1 3 Mahatma M. K. Gamlhi (foreword to Nidin's collection). 9 For illu-trations paddliched by (i. N. 2ºater au & (% vide 3 Trofessor Kenh bas l ibid pp. 310-221). ! : 1, and Psalio Mad I (1978). at d k + casmone on the to (vide,

The Chandi ataka of Bana (seventh century) is a collection of 102 verses in praise of Durga for slaying the demon Mahisa. The Subhashitavali of Mayura contains verses in praise of Siva and Parvati. The Bhaktamara-stotra of Jain Manatunga who is probably same as Matanga Divakara also called Chandala of Harsha's court is in honour of the Jain saint Rishabha. The Kalyana mandira stotra of Jain Siddhasena Divakara is of less poetical value. The Ashta-Mahasri-chaityastotra and the Suprabhata-stotra attributed to Harshavardhana and Sriharsha of Naishadhiya are Buddhist hymns. The Sragdhara-stotra of Sarvajnamitra is in praise of the Buddhist deity Tara, the mother goddess and saviour. The Vakrokti-Panchasika of Kashmirian Ratnakara in praise of Parvati and Siva "shows a remarkable power of illustrating the ambiguities of which the Sanskrit language is capable." The Sivaparadha-Kshamapana-stotra of Sankaracharya contains hymns to Devi, the moti er-goddess whom the Saktas adored as the expression of the highest power in the universe; his other Devi hymns are collected in the Bhavanyashtaka in eight verses and the Anandalahari in twenty verses. The Ambashtaka and the Pancha-stavi in five hymns of unknown authorship. contain praises of Durga. The Syamalandakamainly in prose in praise of the goddess Kali, the Sarasvati stotra in praise of the Goddess of learning, and the Mangalashtaka in eight verses of the Devi of unknown authorship are wrongly attributed to Kalidasa. The Paschasati of some Muka is a book of hymns in 500 verses. The Devisataka of Anandavardhana (850) in praise of Durga contains a hundred verses of no poetic merit. The Stotravali of Utpaladeva (925) consists of a series of twenty verses in praise of Siva of no outstanding merit. The Mukundamala of Vaishnava Kulasekhara (tenth century) is in praise of Vishnu. The KrishnaKarnamrita of Krishna lilimrita Lilasuka Bilvamangala (eleventh century) in 110 verses in praise of Lord Krishna exhibits some merits and is very popular. The Padyavali of considerable poetic merit of Rupagosvamin, contemporary of Jayadeva at the court of Lakshmanasena (twelfth century), in praise of Radhi and Krishna, contains quotations from Dhoyi, the Brutalhara or Srutidhara (of strong memory) and Kaviraja (poet-king) and others. or of The

famous Mahimnah-Stava of Pushpadanta is in praise of Siva as well as Vishnu. The Chandr-kucha-Panch- sika of certain Lakshmana Acharya in praise of Durga contains in fifty verses religious fervour of a peculiar kind. The Bhikshatava-Kavya of Sivadasa or Utprekshavallava in praise of Siva "describes the feeling of Apsaras when Siva in the garb of an ascetic comes to seek alms in Indra's heaven." There are numerous other and later works on praise (stotra) of gods and goddesses mentioned here and there without historical particulars. Of these a mere reference may be made to the Stotras of Malhana, Bilhana, Dandin, Halayudha, and to the Charchastava, Ghatastava, Sakalijani-stava, Stuti kusumanjali of Jagaddhara, Kuvalayananda's Varadarajastava, Atmarpanastuti, and Manollasa, Nilakantha-dikshita's Anandasagara-stava, Jagannatha's Karuna-lahari, SadasivaBrahmendra's Kirtanas, Ramabhadra Dikshita's Ramastava-Karna-rasiyana, Rama-Prasada stava, Visvagarbha-stava; and Brahmananda's Bhagavat-Saranastotra.¹ This short survey should be enough to refute the false notion that the "Vedic literature is essentially religious and Sanskrit literature is profane." In fact the Hindu society is still essentially religious and their literature in Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, including those of the Buddhists and the Jains, as well as the modern languages including Hindi, Bengali, Gujerati, Maharashtri, Tamil, Telegu and Canarese, etc., give abundant evidence and retain the religious nature although developed in every other direction.