Dāruvana Ṛshi Stotram

The Dāruvana Ṛshi Stotram is the hymn in two parts that the assembled great ṛshis sang to Parameśvara (Bhagavān Śiva) in the Dāruvana forest. The ṛshis were Bhṛgu, Aṅgiras, Vasishṭha, Viśvāmitra, Gautama, Atri, Sukeśa, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Marīci, Kaśyapa, Kaṇva, Saṃvarta and many others. It is found in the Liṅga Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha.

The first praise (Chapter 31) was sung while they worshipped the digambara (sky-clad) Śiva, before he showed his divine form. The second, longer praise (Chapter 32) was sung after Bhagavān Śiva showed his divine, shining and beautiful form and gave them divyadṛshṭi (divine sight). Parameśvara himself said that those who recite or hear this stotra, or have dvijas hear it, will reach his Kailāsa after death and become Prathama Gaṇādhipatis.

The setting

The great ṛshis had spent a year in tapas (austerity), japa (repeating a mantra) and dhyāna (meditation) in Dāruvana. Then Parameśvara came to them in a form he had chosen to hide himself. He was smeared all over with bhasma (sacred ash). He was naked (digambara) and carried a burning firebrand. His eyes were deep red. He danced, sang and acted like a madman, and he went from āśrama to āśrama asking for alms.

At first the ṛshis were disturbed. Their wives fell under his spell, and the ṛshis themselves acted harshly. But then their vinaya (humility) came back. They knew the Supreme Presence and worshipped him with pādya (water for the feet), bhasma, fragrant sandalwood, flowers, bilva leaves, incense and lamps. With their wives, children and households they fell prostrate and sang the first praise.

Maheśvara was pleased. He gave them divyadṛshṭi and showed his true, brilliantly beautiful form. The ṛshis were overcome with joy, and they sang the second, longer praise.

The first stotra (Chapter 31)

The ṛshis sang the first stotra in the form of praise in prose. It begins with an apology for their first failure to know Parameśvara. Then it praises his endless forms.

“Devadeveśvara! Forgive what we have done wrongly with mind, speech and body through our lack of viveka (discernment)! Your deeds are wondrous and secret, and beyond what even Brahmā can understand. We cannot know your path or your steadiness, Viśveśvara! No one knows who you truly are. The great ones praise you in countless ways.”

Then the ṛshis named his attributes: Bhava, Bhavya, Bhāvana, the one of boundless strength and heroism, Bhūtapati, Saṃhārakartā, Piśaṃga (of saffron-tawny radiance), Avyaya (the imperishable), Vyayakāra (the dissolver), the one on whom the streams of Gaṅgā fall, the foundation of all worlds, Triguṇātmaka, Tryambaka (the father of the three guṇas, with Ambā, that is Pārvatī, who holds them), Trinetra, the bearer of the triśūla, Kandarpa (the one who gladdens through joy: kam is sukham, and tena darpayati is harshayati), Hutāśana, Paramātmā, Śaṃkara, Vṛshāṅka, Gaṇādhipati, Daṇḍahasta, Kāla, Pāśahasta, Vedamantra-pradhāna, Śatajihva.

“All of the past, present and future, all that moves and does not move, comes out of your divine body. Whatever human beings do, knowing or not knowing, you are the one who causes all of it to happen, O Bhagavān Śiva! We beg you, show us your true form.”

The second stotra (Chapter 32)

When Parameśvara had shown his divine form and given them divine sight, the ṛshis sang this longer hymn. It begins with these Sanskrit lines.

Nīlakaṇṭhāya devāya citābhāsmāṃgadhāriṇe
Tvaṃ brahmā sarvādevānāṃ rudrāṇāṃ nīlalohitaḥ

Their meaning is: “Salutation to the Nīlakaṇṭha, to the Deva, to the one whose body bears the ash of the funeral pyre. Among all the immortals you are Brahmā, and among the Rudras you are Nīlalohita.”

Then the ṛshis gave a flood of epithets, each with its deeper meaning.

  • Digambara, the sky-clad one.
  • Pralayakartā, the agent of pralaya (the cosmic dissolution).
  • Triśūlī, the bearer of the triśūla.
  • Sundara, the supremely beautiful one.
  • Karāḷa, the one who is like an axe that cuts the tree of saṃsāra.
  • Arūpa, the one without any material (prākṛta) form.
  • Surūpa, the one of supremely beautiful form.
  • Viśvarūpa, the one of cosmic form.
  • Kalaṃkaṭa, the one who lovingly tends the head of Gaṇapati with affection (kaṭam is the head of Gaṇapati; kalati is lālayati).
  • Rudra, the great Rudra.
  • Svāhākāra, the yajamāna form (the one in the form of the one who performs the yajña).
  • Sarvaprāṇatadeha, the one of divine body to whom devas, munis and all human beings bow.
  • Nityānīlaśikhaṇḍa, the ever-young one with black-blue matted locks.
  • Śrīkaṇṭha, the one whose throat shines with the radiance born of drinking the hālāhala poison.
  • Nīlakaṇṭha, the blue-throated one.
  • Deva, the self-luminous one.
  • Citābhāsmāṃgadhārī, the one who wears the ash of the cremation ground.

The ṛshis went on in these words.

“Parameśvara! Among the immortals you are Brahmādeva. Among the Rudras you are Nīlalohita. In all creatures you are the Jīvātmā. The Sāṃkhyas call you Purusha. Among mountains you are the great Meru. Among stars you are the moon. Among ṛshis you are Vasishṭha Maharshi. Among the hosts of the immortals you are Devendra. In all the Vedic texts you are Oṃkāra. Among the Sāma hymns you are the highest Sāma mantra. Among forest creatures you are the lion. Among creatures of the village you are the bull. Among those the world worships you are the one who holds the six supreme qualities. From time without beginning you are the one who gives form to all that moves and does not move!”

“Show us the form that Brahmā described to us! Kāma, Krodha, Lobha, Vishāda and Mada (desire, anger, greed, grief and pride) are like the flames of the fire in your forehead, when you burn the world with the fire of your anger. We are being burned by the fire of our śivāpacāra (wrong done to Śiva). Protect us! After pralaya, at the time of new creation, you bring all the jīvātmās back to life with your streams of amṛta. Command us, what are we to do? O Deva of devas, you shine in crores of beings in crores of forms! We cannot find your beginning or your end. Be gracious to us! We bow to you in sāshṭāṅga praṇāma (the prostration with eight limbs touching the ground)!”

The phalaśruti

Parameśvara himself said what this stotra gives.

“Those who recite this stotra that you have sung, those who hear it, and those who have dvijas (the twice-born) hear it, will reach my Kailāsa after their death. They will become Prathama Gaṇādhipatis, the chiefs of the foremost gaṇas.”

Sources

  • Liṅga Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapters 31 and 32