Dharma’s Stotra to Śiva at Dharmāraṇya
This is a stotra of forty names that Dharma sang to Bhagavān Śiva at Dharmāraṇya. Dharma is the divine embodiment of dharma itself. The stotra is found in the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, in the Brahma Khaṇḍa, Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa, Pūrvārdha, chapters 3 and 4. Bhagavān Śiva was pleased with it and became Dharmeśvara at Dharmāraṇya.
The setting
Dharma performed tapas (austerity) at Dharmāraṇya. He wished to settle in that kshetra (sacred land) for ever, as its presiding principle of dharma. While he was at his tapas, the apsarā Vardhanī came to Dharmāraṇya. She was drawn there by the power of his tapas. Dharma then offered this stotra to Bhagavān Śiva, praising him with forty names.
Bhagavān Śiva was very pleased. He appeared before Dharma and gave him the vara (boon) of living in Dharmāraṇya for ever as Dharmeśvara.
The forty names
The stotra calls Bhagavān Śiva by these names. Each shows one side of his nature.
- Īśvara, the supreme ruler
- Yogarūpa, whose form is Yoga itself
- Nīlakaṇṭha, the blue-throated one, who held the kālakūṭa poison
- Tejorūpa, whose form is tejas (radiant energy)
- Brahmarūpa, who has the form of Brahman
- Vishṇurūpa, who bears the form of Vishṇu
- Sūkshma, the subtle one, beyond gross sight
- Aṇurūpa, of atomic, tiny form
- Kāmarūpa, who takes any form he wishes
- Srishṭi-sthiti-antakārī, the cause of creation, keeping and dissolution
- Nitya, the eternal, ever existing
- Saumya, the gentle, auspicious and kind
- Mṛḍa, the merciful, the giver of bliss
- Hari, the remover of pāpa (sin)
- Ushṇarūpa, of fiery, hot form
- Śītalakiraṇa, of cool rays, the bearer of the moon
- Srishṭirūpa, whose form is creation itself
- Lokapāla, the protector of all the worlds
- Ugra, the fierce, the terrible
- Bhīma, the awesome, who inspires dread
- Śāntarūpa, whose form is perfect peace
- Anantarūpa, of endless form, without end
- Viśvarūpa, whose form is the whole universe
- Bhasmadhara, the bearer of sacred ash (bhasma)
- Candraśekhara, who wears the crescent moon as his crest
- Pañcamukha, the five-faced one
- Trinetra, the three-eyed one
- Sarpadhara, the bearer of serpents
- Gocīdhara, the bearer of the cow’s essence (or Gaṅgādhara)
- Andhakanihanta, the slayer of the asura Andhaka
- Dakshapāpanāśaka, the destroyer of Daksha’s pāpa, the one who cleansed the wrong done at Daksha’s yajña
- Kāmadahana, the one who burned Kāma (Manmatha) with his third eye
- Tripurāri, the enemy and destroyer of the three cities (Tripura)
The remaining seven of the forty names come inside the verses of the stotra. They are not listed one by one.
The phalaśruti
The phalaśruti (the fruit of reciting) is declared with great force. Some people carry the heaviest mahāpāpas (great sins): gauhatyā (killing a cow), brahmahatyā (killing a brāhmaṇa), gurutalpaga (violating the guru’s wife), and others like them. If such a person comes to Dharmāraṇya and recites this stotra with devotion, he is freed from all those pāpas and reaches Kailāsa.
The chapter also declares the holiness of Dharmāraṇya. By the joint word of Brahmā, Keśava, Yama and Bhagavān Śiva himself, no mahāpāpa clings to anyone who seeks refuge in this kshetra.
Sources
- Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa, Pūrvārdha, Chapters 3–4