INTRODUCTION : In this post, we will discuss ONLY about the Greatness of Shri Rudhram mantra and not about what is Rudram or what’s the content or meaning that’s in there in this great mantra, because that itself is a separate topic to deal with as the meaning of Rudra mantra should be explained even elaborately than this …

All the different names refer to the same mantra…

A very powerful Vedic mantra is this Sri Rudram. Some call it as ‘Rudra Prashnam’ and some as ‘Rudram Namakam Chamakam’ and in the northern part of India, it is familiar as ‘Rudri path’ or Rudrashtadhyayi (Rudrāṣṭādhyāyī). But all refer to this same mantra…

But in Puranas, it is mostly referred to in the name as ‘Shatarudriyam‘. i.e., when you look to find reference to Sri Rudram mantram in the Itihasas and the Mahapuranas, in all those places, it will be mentioned mostly as ‘Shatharudriyam‘.

It’s because of the name confusion in most cases, we aren’t aware that those rishis were actually referring to this Vedic mantra in the itihāsa puranās. So, if we are clear at the beginning itself regarding the names, then it will be very helpful to follow along since many of us may not be familiar with these interchangeable names used for this ‘Rudra’ mantra.

A different effort to explain the greatness of śrī rudram

that one may find it useful for future references too.

Many of you would have heard or read about ‘Sri Rudram’ from many sources but what you will find here will be interesting and different. That is, we strive to share those pieces of information by mentioning the original sources, like which Itihasa, Purana, Veda, or in the which Rishi’s Smruti Grantas that those information are present, along with the sections or verse number wherever possible. By taking such effort, we thought it would be very much rewarding for many people in many aspects… Like :

In the gory Mahabharata war, after killing Bheeshma pitamaha, one of the most skillful archers Arjuna, along with the rest of the Pandavas with much strain and strategy, killed their most beloved Guru Dronacharya with the help of Dhrishtadyumna. All of us should be familiar with this episode. Dronacharya is not Guru just to Pandavas, he is also the Guru to all the Kauravas too. So, after he is killed, there broke a fierce battle between both armies.

At that time, to the surprise of arjuna, he saw a wonderful scene before his very eyes. When he was like that in a shock, there in the middle of the battlefield, Bhagavan Vyasa appeared before Arjuna. With due respect, arjuna saluted Vyasa and asked about the wonderful scene that he just saw.

Arjuna Said :

Oh, Bhagavan Vyasa! What is this wonder? If this seems to continue for some more time, then the Pandavas will surely have their victory very soon. Because even before by virulent arrows strike my enemies, a superhuman being with a brilliance that of a sun, destroyed all of them. Surprisingly, his brilliant form was visible just to me. When he just lifted his Trishul and faced any direction, I saw all my enemies die instantly. Everybody thought that it was me who killed them all, but I was actually just marching on the dead troops. He was possessed with such a brilliant Tejas. Also, He didn’t even strike with his majestic Trishul, but, what a wonder, just by His mere energy, thousands of arrows left from His Trishul and killed my enemies. Even more wonderful was, that His divine feet never touched the ground.

Having said this much, arjuna ended his question. Now,

Vyasa replied :

My dear Partha! that supreme, mysterious being is none other than Bhagavaan Shankara. The only Lord of this whole universe. The Creator of these 3 worlds, and the one who protects all of us. And also, at the time of prayala, He acts as the destroyer of the 3 worlds and makes them dissolve within Him. He is Lord Rudra.

Having said this much, He composed a stotra in praise of lord Rudra that’s similar to the Vedic Hymn ‘Sri Rudram’. This beautiful stotra composed by Vyasa is also referred to as Shatarudriyam.

All these episodes are found in Mahabharata – Drona Parva. This sloka wonderfully depicts the greatness of Lord Shiva who is in the form of Rudra…

Once dharmaraja Yudhishthira asked Bhagavaan Krishna about the greatness of worshipping the Brahmanas. In reply,

Sri Krishna said:

By sharing the divine knowledge to all, and by restraining his worldly pleasures with conscious effort, and to whom attaining liberation is the ultimate goal of life; to such a brahmana, serving them, not hurting them even with words or any other means, and also worshiping such pure souls will yield unlimited merits Or Punya.

आशीविषविषं तीक्ष्णं ततस्तीक्ष्णतरो द्विज:।
ब्रह्माशीविषदग्धस्य नास्ति कश्चिच्चिकित्सकः॥

There would certainly be a remedy for even the deadliest snake bite, but there is none who is bitten by the anger of a pure souled brahmana…

Mahābhārata – Anuśāsana Parvā

Having said so, Lord Krishna narrated an incident that happened between him and druvasa, who was none other than Bhagavan Rudra… born as a powerful brahmana.

Everybody should be familiar with sage durvasa’s anger.

Sri Krishna said:

Because of the fear of getting cursed severely, that too for a silly mistake, none invited durvasa to their home. Seeing this, I invited Him to Dwaraka once. Bhagavan durvasa too accepted my invitation and stayed at my palace for some time.

During his stay, Nobody could guess his way. Somedays, he would single-handedly eat food that’s sufficient for 1000 people. And on other days, He would eat very very little. He would laugh aloud for no reason, and would sometimes throw things out of his house and break them into pieces, Or, other times would cry incessantly. Many things like this were going on for some days and one fine day, He called me and said, Krishna, I would like to have payasam today. Since I understood his mind and intentions perfectly, I ordered my attendants to prepare every kind of dish and drink and kept them ready for him. And when he asked me, I even served Him that freshly prepared, hot payasam. He too ate some of it, and then, asked me to take some payasam and apply it all over my limbs. Without any second thought, I too applied them all over my body. Now he saw my wife Rukmini laughing at me as she was watching all this drama standing next to me all the while. Now, Bhagavan Durvasa himself took some of the payasam and applied them upon Rukmini as well.

That Tejasvin brahmana Durvasa, who was shining brilliantly like a fire, took my youthful wife Rukmini and tied her to a chariot. Climbing upon it, he started to hit her and asked to pull the chariot treating her like an animal. She too tried her best to pull the chariot and many a time, stumbled upon and fell down on the ground. Watching all these with my very eyes, I stood there, even without the slightest of anger or sadness upon Durvasa. He too noticing all these and my reactions, that great Mahatapasvin brahmana, was very much pleased and satisfied with me. Now,

Durvasa said :

Krishna ! You have conquered your anger by your very nature. Not just that, I couldn’t find even the slightest of fault in your treatment all these days. I’m very much pleased. And continued…

        As long as the devas and the humans would cherish a desire for food, so long they would cherish the same love upon you.
And as long as there would be Virtue in the three worlds, so long there will be your fame, dear Krishna.

Saying so, He blessed both of us. Thus, Krishna concluded the greatness of Brahmanas…

Having respectfully listened to all these episodes, King Yudhishtira asked Krishna again. This time, he asked him to instruct the knowledge that he received from Bhagavan Durvasa.

For that, Bhagavan Krishna said: Oh, King Yudhishtira! Now, carefully listen to what I’m going to say. Saying so, He only instructed him this great Shatarudriyam, which contains the glory of the supreme Lord Rudra. And also said that He would wake up early in the morning and with utmost devotion, salute Lord Rudra, and would himself recite this Shatharudriyam daily.

And then said, both of them, i.e., that which is in the Vedas and the which was composed by Vyasa, both are called Shatarudriyam. And with shatarudriyam, one can attain anything he wants and there is nothing that one cannot attain by Shatarudriyam. This was declared by Krishna himself to King Yudhishthira… That much powerful is this Shatarudriya stotra and mantra… All these episodes can be found in Anushana Parva of Mahabharata…

Now, What to recite ? śri rudram mantra or Stotra ?

As we have said earlier, śri rudram (Śatarudriyam) is available both in ‘Mantra’ and in ‘Stotra’ form. The one that is in the Veda is of the mantra form, and that which are available in the itihāsās and the purānās, are in the stotra form’.

Now the problem is, though the power of both the Mantra and the Stotra is the same, there is a common notion that Mantra is superior to stotra, and those who recite stotra is considered inferior. That’s absolutely a wrong idea. In fact, with mantra recitation, the problem is much more when compared to stotra recital. For simply to recite any mantra, there are more rules and regulations on when to recite and when not to recite, etc., and the actual mantra itself involves many nuances to properly follow (like udāta, anudāta, swaritā, etc), which only an adept guru can guide and correct the mistake that we make in the learning process. Plus, the most important thing is, to attain mantra siddhi, i.e., the mantra to actually give its effect, the traditional initiation (deeksha) is very much necessary. This great Vedic culture has come down to this day only because it is built on the ‘Tradition’ – ‘Guru – Shishya parampara’. If this core value is understood properly, people will not start to question, ‘Why should I not recite Veda mantra?’ and all that.

Moreover, it’s the amount of devotion and faith (bhakti) that gets to decide the power of the prayer. So, in the first place, it’s mental quality of the person who recites than what he or she recites, whether it is a stotra or mantra. Finally, it’s the result or goal that we are more concerned than with what we attain that goal. If Stotra gives what you want, that too without much of a strain, why fight for unnecessary rights?

To Learn śri Rudram in mantra form

To Learn śri rudram in stotra form.

Now, is the interesting part. This śri Rudram or Śatarudriyam stotrams as they are referred, are found in the itihāsa purānās in three different places. One is found in Skanda purāna, and the other two is available in the drōna parva and anuśāsana parva of Mahābhāratā.

First, we will see a very short introduction to the śatarudriya stotra from skanda purāna.

        It’s a wonderful stotra that lists 100 different lingās names which are worshipped by 100 divine special devotees like brahma, indra, ravana etc. Also, these 100 bhaktas while worshipping those 100 lingas, which mantra or nama of the lord that they recited. Since it contains 100 names of our beloved lord who is in the lingā form, this stotra is called śata (100) rudriyam.

There is much significance attached to this stotra and fruits of reciting it. It has also got relevance to this ‘Mahi sāgara saṁgana’ kshetra in gujarāt. Please find the stotras below in your preferred language and enjoy reciting the stotras to your heart’s content. . (If you’re not able to load the stotra pdfs below in Mobile devices, use PC.)

The other two version of śri rudra stotras is from the Mahābhāratā. Among them, one is from drōna parva and anuśāsana parva.

Now, we’ll see the one from Drona parva. For this we have already shared the story part related to this stotra above. Here Bhagavān vyāsa composes a beautiful shatarudriya stotra in praise of Lord rudra that describes the greatness of lord. Basically the Stotra is logically split into 3 parts, first section deals with the praising the lord, the second section explains the ‘Daksha Yajna destruction’ and also ‘Tripura samhara’ (Desctruction of the 3 flying magical city) by lord shiva, and the final section deals with explanation of some of the most popular names of the lord beautifully which many of will like it when you get to know the meaning. So, here is the great Sri Rudra stotram composed by Vyāsa.

The last and final, and yet a smaller version of all the above can be found in anuśāsana parva of Mahābhārata. The one that Bhagavān Śrī Krishna Himself recited daily. In fact, this is a smaller extract from Bhagavān Vyāsa’s stôtra from drôna parva. Though it is not exactly the same verse by verse, the content is more or less the same and it is beautiful. May this collection be helpful to the ardent devotees of Lord Śhiva. OM.