Siva Panchastavi - a short profile

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Dear readers,

 

This is just a short profile of Siva Panchastavi. I would like to

take up a serious study of each and every hymn of this panchastavi in this forum

after sometime when time permits. But as of now, a short

cursory glance.

 

Siva panchastavi:

 

Just as Devi Panchastavi which constitutes 5 stavAs namely Laghu (Bharati)

stava, Charcha stava, GhaTa (haTha) stava,

ambA stava, sakalajananI stava, there are also 5 stavAs for Siva namely 1)

kAtyAyana vararuchi (puShpadantAchArya)

Sivamahimnah Stavah 2) Acharya DanDi virachita AnAmaya stavah 3) halAyudha kavi

virachita siva stavah 4) malhaNa virachita siva stuti 5) malayarAja virachita

siva stuti.

 

Regarding the Devi Panchastavi, there is a commentary written by a Kashmiri

Scholar by name Pundit Harabhatta Sastry which is usually known by name

" Harabhatti " . The commentatator concludes the authorship of Devi Panchastavi to

be Dharmacharya rather than Kalidasa which is the popular belief held by the

scholars. This conclusion was also accepted by Shri Lakshman Joo. But as per

the observations of some scholars in the south including my gurunatha,

it seems this was the work of Shri Kalyanacharya which was also the consent of

Shri Narayana Bhatt and Shri Bhaskararaya Makhin.

 

Now, coming to the topic of discussion, among the siva panchastavi, a great

sroutha saiva scholar Shri VishWArAdhya of 11 century wrote a wonderful

commentary on Siva Panchastavi. Apart from Shri VishwArAdhya, Shri Madhusudhana

Saraswati, a great advaitic scholar of " advaita siddhi " fame also wrote a

wonderful gloss on the 1st hymn ie., PushpadantAchArya krita

Siva Mahimnah Stavah.

 

Let us have a cursory glance at the siva panchastavi.

 

1) PUSHPADANTACHARYA (KATYAYANA VARARUCHI) VIRACHITA SIVA MAHIMNAH STAVAH

 

This Siva Mahimnah Stavah was first observed as the " engravings " on the temple

walls in the garbhAlaya of Amareshwara Jyotirliga

at Omkareshwar of Madhya Pradesh which dates back to 985 AD. The mUla slokas on

the temple walls are from 1 - 31 slokas only

and the rest of the slokas were incorporated later.

 

This hymn was probably composed in the year 548 - 513 BC and the author is

KatyAyana Vararuchi alias PushpadantAchArya.

 

KatyAyana Vararuchi

 

A great mahArashtra smArta brahmin by name Deva Dutta who wrote " vArtikAs " on

Panini Vyakarana, author of patra kaumudi, svargarohana,katyAyana srauta sutras.

Since gotra is kata, hence known as kAtyAyana. Also a great grammarian.

 

There is a tradition among great grammarians that Siva exclusive is worshipped

in Sriyantra as Agni-tattva which can be

traced out in Mahabharata. So, if we carefully observe the Mahimnah Stavah,

kAtyAyana vararuchi belonged to this

class of upasakas of srividya. This hymn is a masterpiece and a feat that

demonstrates the grammatical knowledge of

Vararuchi alias Pushpadantacharya.

 

Katyayana Vararuchi stotra composed by my gurunatha:

 

katagotramahambhOdhi - rAkApUrNanishAkaram

puShpadanta maham vandE - nAmnA vararuchim munim

 

namo vararuchE tubhyam - sarvAgamavishArada

pANinIyamahambhOdhi - karNadhArAya sUrayE

 

sabdasAstrapayOvArdhEh - pratibhA yasya mandarah

kAtyAyanamunim vandE - mAnyam vararuchim hridA

 

sivatattvanidhim stotram - mahimnahpadapUrvakam

yO(a)karottam vararuchim - puShpadantam namAmyaham

 

bhAsyArthabhAsanE yasya - vAk cchruteh sarvathA samA

namAmi puShpadantam tam - shAbdikam haravandinam

 

siddhapramyam puShpadantam - kAtyam vararuchim munim

sivavandigaNashrEShTham - namAmi karaNaih stribhih

 

anugrahENa kAtyasya - yathAshakti niruchyatE

sItarAmAnjanEyEna - shaivOham mahimastavah

 

anugrihNAtu bhagavAn - mahAdEvO jagatguruh

anugrihNAntu guravah - santaschEmam janam hridA

 

// iti shrI sItArAmAnjanEya kavi virachita vararuchi stotram //

 

2) DANDI KAVI VIRACHITA ANAMAYA STAVAH

 

AnAmaya means " without any diseases " . Since, Siva is a great doctor (as

described in Shatarudriya), this hymn removes all the samsara tapatraya and

disorders. Authorship is ascribed to Dandi.

 

Dandi kavi belonged to 9-10 th century. Originally from Kashmir but settled in

South. Composed this hymn probably in 9th century.

 

3) HALAYUDHA KAVI VIRACHITA SIVA STUTI

 

Pl. refer my earlier post on this stotra and the authorship of the hymn who is

halAyudha kavi.

 

4) MALHANA VIRACHITA SIVA STUTHI

 

Malhana is the contemporary of Bilhana Kavi. Malhana in the begining had a lose

character who fell in love with a prostitute. Later, it is the same prostitute

who admonished Malhana saying being a siva bhakta how can he still cling

to kamini and kanchana. The next moment gushes forth this hymn.

 

5) MALAYARAJA KAVI VIRACHITA SIVA STUTI

 

Authorship is ascribed to MalayarAja which lived between 1150-1160 AD. Hailed

from Pampa kshetra of Anegondi and gotra is Atreyasa gotra. Original name seems

to be Mallikarjuna. Was encouraged by the Hoyasala kings.

 

This hymn is the essence of some of the shatarudriya mantras and the same fruits

are ordained if recited by uninitiates in Veda.

 

With regards,

sriram