Sixty-one verses in praise of Sri Ranganayaki, the divine Mother of Srirangam, poured out by Bhattar, who was raised as a child in the sannidhi of the divine couple.
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Meaning
I fold my hands in worship before Sri Mahalakshmi. Sriman Narayana takes on the great work of creating and ruling all beings, living and non-living, but it is her approving glance that gives all that work its purpose and its fruit.
Meaning
We take refuge in Sri, the queen of Sri Ranganatha, who shines like an auspicious lamp-flame in the inner shrine of the Srirangam temple. The play of her glances, opening and half-closing, makes the seven worlds sprout into being, keeps them safe, and gathers them back again.
Meaning
Perumal is like a wish-giving tree whose branching arms reach out on every side, thrilled to embrace the tender creeper that clings to Him. May that wish-giving creeper, Sri Lakshmi, whose eyes are like bees hovering over her blossoms, send her kind glances towards me.
Meaning
The lift of her eyebrow decides the rank and order of everything Perumal creates, and the Upanishads recognise Him as the Supreme by the marks of her feet on His chest. For her, even His vast cosmic form is only a small prelude to her joy. May that Sri cover us with her glances, which surpass even waves of nectar.
Meaning
Your greatness is so vast that even wishing to compose a fitting hymn is far beyond me; Brahma and the ancient sages themselves said, 'Who are we to praise her?' Your true nature, Devi, lies beyond speech and mind, so what words could I gather? I try only so that my own speech may become blessed.
Meaning
Poets say that a true praiser is one who brings out the virtues of the one he praises. Then the task falls to me above all others, because your patience, generosity and compassion show their full greatness only when you accept the faulty words of someone like me.
Meaning
May Sri Lakshmi, the queen of Sri Ranganatha, perfect our hymn herself with her sweet glances. Then poets, eager to listen, will drink it in for its skilful weaving of sound and meaning.
Meaning
Sri, make my speech flow in many ways: free from every fault, rich in good qualities, pleasing to the heart, easy to know yet deep. Let its words sit together like brothers, so that listeners take it in without missing a moment.
Meaning
O Sri Ranganatha, Lord who gives glory even to Sri, listen closely: we are going to praise your beloved Sri even more highly than you. As you hear it, may your eyes sparkle with joy, and may your arms swell with delight until a hundred coats of armour burst.
Meaning
Devi, the great sages of old call the Veda a treasure-chest that holds the jewels of your virtues. The Itihasas, sound reasoning, the Smritis and the Puranas are the keys that open its door.
Meaning
Some said the Vedas are no authority, some that the world has no ruler, some that there is a Lord but He has no good qualities, and some even made a beggar the supreme king; these foolish people fought one another endlessly. O golden creeper of the Srirangam temple courtyard, it happened only because they never came within your glance, even for a moment.
Meaning
Blessed devotees put the collyrium of devotion on the eye of the mind. With it they see your greatness, hidden in the Upanishads like buried treasure, and enjoy it. Surely they are the ones born to the divine wealth that the Gita speaks of.
Meaning
The Veda calls you 'the ruler of this world', and the Sri Suktam in every branch of the Veda describes that glory at length. And the Lord whom the Purusha Suktam names as master of the world is declared, in the passage that follows it, to be your own husband.
Meaning
It is not just one Upanishad that raises its arms to proclaim you as the ruler of all. The Srimad Ramayana draws its very life from your story, and the authors of the Smritis, Mother, used the Itihasas and Puranas to show that the Vedas speak of your greatness.
Meaning
Beloved of Sri Ranganatha, think of all the power in this world, rising step by step from a village headman up to the one who sustains everything. All of it, and everything lofty, auspicious, bright, holy and blessed, is only five or six drops from the stream of your glance.
Meaning
One man rides a proud elephant under a pearl umbrella, his jewelled crown jingling, and does not even notice the kings bowing to him; another stands helpless and poor, baring his teeth as he begs. O beloved of Sri Ranganatha, the whole difference comes from your eyes turned towards the one and turned away from the other.
Meaning
Companion of nectar, wherever your creeper-like eyebrow wishes to move, love, wisdom, eloquence, courage, plenty, success and wealth all rush that way, each eager to be first. Like rivers overflowing their banks, they flow to that person as willing servants.
Meaning
This world is full of high and low: Brahma with all moving and unmoving beings, the poor and the trees, wise Brihaspati, the mighty and the timid. Sri Lakshmi, all of it is nothing but the dance of your glance and of its absence.
Meaning
At the proper time, when souls and matter lay entwined and ready for creation, your Beloved willed it. He made the elements, the ego-principle, the intellect, the senses and the mind, and with them a thousand cosmic eggs with their coverings, holding the worlds Bhuh, Bhuvah and Suvah. Sri Ranganayaki, He did all this for your play.
Meaning
The Supreme Person shows souls the objects of the senses, makes them forget their true nature as His servants, and sweeps them along in Vishnu's maya of the three gunas. He wears them out like idlers chasing an actor dressed as a dancing girl, and all of this, Sri Ranganayaki, is just a playful jest for you.
Meaning
The supreme abode of Vishnu is beyond the mind and beyond darkness, ever wondrous, untouched by time; beside it even heaven is a hardship. There souls come to share the Lord's bliss, and it is beyond my words to grasp. The scriptures declare, Mother, that it exists for your sake.
Meaning
Sri Ranganayaki, this whole world of moving and unmoving things is your play, and the higher realm, where the holy Nityasuris always behold the Lord as they serve, is your enjoyment. We are the ones who live by your grace alone; the Supreme Person is the master; and all of these exist to spread your glory.
Meaning
Lakshmi of Sri Ranganatha's home, the wise know Sri Vaikuntam as the capital of you both. Its guardians are stern in carrying out commands and gentle in grace; it is known as Ayodhya and Aparajita, it stands beyond the heavens, and it is filled with wondrous joys flowing with nectar.
Meaning
There, they say, stands the jewel among halls belonging to you both, Sri: wide enough to match your grace and to give rest to countless souls. It is crowded with blissful servants holding the tools of service, and guarded by the Sarnga bow, the Chakra and the sword, who out of love keep watch even where there is nothing to fear. It is an ocean of joy.
Meaning
There your Beloved spreads out Adisesha as a couch, soft and fragrant like a garland, with a canopy of light from the gems on his hoods, and rules the universe under one umbrella. With His countless qualities, calm yet radiant, He is worthy of you, Devi, and together you share joys so deep that you are as one.
Meaning
Bhumi Devi, Nila Devi and the thousands of other consorts go with your joy like flowers and sandal paste, and they act as channels for the overflowing flood of love. Through them, as if through your own arms and eyes, you delight your Beloved.
Meaning
Mother, the Nityasuris are like the Lord in qualities, form, dress, conduct, nature and enjoyment, and they are forever free of any fault. O Sri, their hearts are so melted with love for the feet of you and Sri Ranganatha that they are drawn helplessly into service, and that service is their only joy.
Meaning
Moon-faced Devi, when we look closely, the Lord's very nature and independence come from the glory of your embrace. Mother, you became His Sri, and that is what makes Him what He is. Because you are contained within Him in this way, even the Veda does not speak of you separately.
Meaning
Kamala, it is by touching you that the Lord comes to be called 'auspicious'. Auspiciousness is not something added to you, for you are Sri herself. Fragrance is what makes a flower lovely, and no poet says that something else makes the fragrance lovely; in the same way, no one says the Lord lends His charm to you.
Meaning
The One on whom your glances rest in abundance is the Supreme Brahman; those who receive just two or three become Indra and the lesser gods below Him. So when the Veda praises them both, it is really praising you, just as praise of a king's capital and treasury is praise of the king.
Meaning
You are Sri by your very nature, and you belong to Vishnu as His own; so even though His wealth rests on you, His glory depends on no one else. A gem made precious by its own radiance is not called worthless, or dependent, or said to have borrowed its worth from outside.
Meaning
Power, strength, radiance, knowledge, lordship, victory and fame; welcoming those who bow, love for them, and doing them good; fragrance, beauty, grace and splendour. All these treasures of qualities, Indira, are shared alike by you and the Lord.
Meaning
Victory-banner of the auspicious glory of Srirangam, youth and many other qualities are also common to you both. Your qualities shine in Him and His in you, as in a mirror, and so they become ever more delightful.
Meaning
Though you are equal in youth and the rest, Bhagavati, you divide the qualities between you: to Him the manly ones, such as independence and firmness in destroying enemies; to you the womanly ones, such as gentleness, devotion to your husband, compassion and patience. You make this difference within your shared life only to enjoy each other more.
Meaning
Dweller in the lotus, it seems you share things out between Hari and yourself: to Him the colour of a rain cloud, to you the glow of gold; to Him full youth, to you tender maidenhood; and to each the ornaments that suit. Then you enjoy them together.
Meaning
Your form is woven of softness, coolness, charm, sweetness and generosity. Shall we say that the moon, the wish-giving creeper and nectar, which rose from the milk ocean with you, gave you their essence and became empty husks? Sri Ranganayaki, such muddled comparisons do not fit your divine form, which no one may call something made.
Meaning
Your noble form bends forward, eager to answer those who bow before you, and leans to one side, longing to serve your Beloved. Shining like a champak garland against a golden touchstone, it lies beyond all words.
Meaning
Mother, may we see you at every moment seated like this. One lotus foot is lowered so that I can bow to it and the other is folded; your lotus hand is raised in the sign of 'fear not'; and your sweet, gentle face bears waves of glances that overflow with compassion.
Meaning
May I worship your two feet, Indira, soft as lotus petals and fragrant with the Upanishads. When they press the Vaijayanti garland on your Beloved's chest, it grows fresh again, as if sprinkled with cool water.
Meaning
The eyes of kings, swollen with pride at a tiny share of your favour, are not worth describing. The Veda calls your Lord lotus-eyed only because of His eyes, which are always drunk, like bees, on the honey of your beauty. Sri Lakshmi, in what words and in what tone could the glory of your glance ever be told?
Meaning
Padma, protect me, who have no other refuge, with your glances. They are joy itself; they make even the Lord languid with delight; they overflow with love and with grace that floods people like me; and even a single drop of them is enough to raise up a Brahma.
Meaning
Even lotus pollen hurts your feet, Mother; your body wilts when your maids gaze at you too eagerly; just holding a play-lotus is a bold effort for you; and when you swing on the forest garland on Hari's arm, we cry, 'Alas, how hard!' How then can your body, so tender, bear the rough press of my words?
Meaning
Your form stays forever at the meeting point of girlhood and youth. That natural meeting gives your limbs a fragrance all their own, and your Beloved himself, like a teacher holding your hand, leads you into the stream of shared joy.
Meaning
Sri Ranganayaki, your tender body is like a garland of flowers: wondrously fragrant, opened by youth, never fading, cooled by the nectar of beauty and strung on the thread of loveliness. It is fit only to be worn on your Beloved's chest, not to be handled by a poet's words. Shame on me for rushing in!
Meaning
Like a garland of flowers enjoyed by a bee who knows their sweetness, you are cherished by your Beloved in loving play. In this way, Devi, you always bring joy to Mukunda.
Meaning
Life of Janardana, your body is sweet by nature, yet it shines with lovely ornaments: a golden girdle, pearl ear-studs, necklaces, a forehead jewel, strings of gems and anklets. They are like bits of sugar dropped into milk, or like flowers on a wish-giving creeper.
Meaning
The Kaustubha gem, the Vaijayanti garland and the five divine weapons are ornaments for both of you to enjoy, yet your Beloved wears them all himself. Jewel-cluster of the Srirangam shrine, it is as if He wants to spare you their weight, and so He holds you close.
Meaning
Mother, whose long eyes are like a lotus just opening, whenever the Lord plays at being born as a man or an animal, you take a matching birth beside Him. Had you not come down with Him, His divine play would have lost all its sweetness.
Meaning
Bhagavati, when Murari churned the ocean, His bracelets and garlands slipping from His arms with the effort, you rose from the whirl of nectar waves to ease His tiredness. Like moonlight, you bathed Him in the cool nectar of your smiling eyes.
Meaning
Mother Maithili, you protected the demonesses from Hanuman at the very moment they had wronged you, and that made Rama's court seem small beside you, for He protected the crow and Vibhishana only after they cried 'refuge'. May that forgiveness of yours, which needs no asking, bring comfort to us, laden as we are with great sins.
Meaning
Mother Lakshmi, just as the people of Mithila looked on Rama as their son-in-law, we too, proud that serving you is our only joy, look on Hari as 'your beloved, our son-in-law'. Here and hereafter, may we see Him through our bond with you, go to Him, ask for His service and rejoice in it.
Meaning
Mother, like a father who wants his child's good, your beloved sometimes grows stern with people full of faults. Then you ask Him, 'What is this? Who in this world is without fault?', make Him forget their faults by fitting means, and make them His own. That is why you are our Mother.
Meaning
Mother, ever-companion of the Lord, you came into this world to save us, and in a world deaf to your greatness you suffered much: your jasmine-soft feet were hurt on stones, and you lived in the forest, parted from your Lord. In loving anger the poet cries: shame on such compassion, and shame on the boundless freedom of you both!
Meaning
Maithili, for your sake the Lord lay on the ocean, churned it and bridged it; He snapped Shiva's bow as easily as breaking a creeper; He cut off the ten heads of the demon and made the headless trunk dance. What will your husband not do, when His one wish is to be clever at pleasing you?
Meaning
Kamala, your lover delights you with thousands of hands, feet, faces and eyes, with all the glories of His cosmic form and its matching qualities, and with His many incarnations. Yet at times He is lost, sinking into the whirlpool of your charm.
Meaning
Mother, you honour the milk ocean because it was your birthplace, and you cherish the supreme abode out of love for your Beloved. Yet you forget them both and delight even more in Srirangam, thinking, 'This is the place where I can protect people like him.'
Meaning
Mother, generosity, compassion, love for those who depend on you and all such qualities reach their height here in Srirangam. What people point to elsewhere, such as your incarnation as Sita, was only a rehearsal for this.
Meaning
Mother, when someone merely joins his palms before you, you give him wealth, the bliss of the self, or even the supreme abode. Then you feel shy, thinking, 'I have done nothing worthy for him.' Tell me, what kind of generosity is this?
Meaning
Devi, I have no wealth of knowledge, good works or devotion, and I do not even know the longing, fitness, ability or remorse that surrender asks for. I keep piling up offences that even you two can hardly bear; acting like a fool, I am a heavy burden to you.
Meaning
Mother, with a hundred such false confessions I am only imitating the truthful sages of old. Or rather, I have no strength of my own to reach your lotus feet; you alone have been made my refuge by divine ordinance.
Meaning
May we live in Srirangam for a hundred years with our fellow devotees, free from trouble and sorrow, happily enjoying the great wealth of loving service. May we be the dust within your lotus feet. You are our mother and father, our everything and even our path; be ours alone, and accept us with your grace that needs no cause.
The text is checked verse by verse against prapatti.com, sanskritdocuments.org, sadagopan.org. The meanings are simple ones to help the reader; learn the recitation from an adhyapaka.
These are short introductions to help the reader; the works themselves are best studied under one's acharya.
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