The Ardhanarinatesvara (Ardhanarisvara) Stotra
Hymn to the Lord of Dance who is Half Woman
( extracts from "The Lord who is Half Woman: Ardhanarisvara in Indian and Feminist perspective/ Ellen Goldberg, 2002-)
The Ardharinatesvara
Stotra is
a devotional poem attributed to Adi Sankara, the principal expounder of the advaita school of Indian Philosophy. Stotras, or hymns of praise, to a
particular deity are typically eulogistic (a speech or writing in praise of a
person or thing, especially a set oration in honor of a deceased person) in
nature and, as Jan Gonda (1977) suggests, trace their roots in uninterrupted
continuity from the Vedic age to the present. Bruce Long (1983) agrees, and he
claims that the invocation of the pantheon of deities though such hymns of
praise was “common practice” in Vedic Period….
…
The arhanarinatesvara stotra in which the emblems, attributed, and qualities of
Siva-Siv`a (Siva-PArvathi) are praised by its (anonymous) author is of
particular interest here. Averall it provides an excellent illustration of the
strotra tradition and the doctrine of Bhed`abheda (unity-in-difference) and is
a rich primary source of poetic iconography embellishing our typology and
diagnostic features that informs the image of Ardhanarisvara.
The
strotra is a simple formulaic device recited or chanted by the worshipper as an
integral part of ritual puja… It involves a string of simple epithets declaring
obeisance to the deity, Below is a transliteration of the Ardharinatesvara
stotra from the devanagari script, a translation, and a brief analysis of the
hymn.
The Ardhanarinatesvara (Ardhanarisvara) Stotra:
1. 1. Cāmpeya
gaurārdha śarīrakāyai
Karpūra gaurārda śarīrakāya.
Dhammillakāyai ca jaţadhrāya
Namah Śivāyai ca namah Śivāya.
Her
body is fair like campā flower
His body
is like camphor
She
has a braided hairstyle ornamented with pearls
And he
has matted hair
I bow
to Śivā and I bow to Śiva
