''Shiva Tandava Stotra'' ( sa, शिवताण्डवस्तोत्र, śiva-tāṇḍava-stotra) is a Sanskrit ''

stotra ''Stotra'' (Sanskrit: स्तोत्र) is a Sanskrit word that means "ode, eulogy or a hymn of praise."Monier Williams, Monier Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Article on 'Stotra'' It is a literary genre of In ...

'' (hymn) that is dedicated to the

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

deity,

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one o ...

. Its authorship is traditionally attributed to

Ravana Ravana (; , , ) is a rakshasa king of the island of Lanka, and the chief antagonist of the Hindu epic '' Ramayana'' and its adaptations. In the ''Ramayana'', Ravana is described to be the eldest son of sage Vishrava and rakshasi Kaikesi. He ...

, the King of

Lanka Lanka (, ) is the name given in Hindu epics to the island fortress capital of the legendary asura king Ravana in the epics of the ''Ramayana'' and the ''Mahabharata''. The fortress was situated on a plateau between three mountain peaks known ...

, who is considered to be a great devotee of Shiva, composed during his plea for

moksha ''Moksha'' (; sa, मोक्ष, '), also called ''vimoksha'', ''vimukti'' and ''mukti'', is a term in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, enlightenment, liberation, and release. In its soteriologic ...

Etymology

''Shiva'' refers to the name of the destroyer deity, ''Tandava'' or ''Tandavam'' refers to a frantic dance, and ''Stotra'' or ''Stotram'' refers to a

panegyric A panegyric ( or ) is a formal public speech or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing. The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens. Etymology The word originated as a compound of gr ...

, a hymn of praise. This Sanskrit hymn is also referred to as ''Shiva Tandava Stotram'' in English.

Verse

The

has 16 syllables per line of the quatrain, with ''laghu'' (short syllable) and ''guru'' (long syllable) characters alternating; the

poetic meter In poetry, metre ( Commonwealth spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set o ...

is iambic octameter by definition. There are 17 quatrains in total. Both the ninth and tenth quatrains of this hymn conclude with lists of Shiva's epithets as destroyer, even the destroyer of death itself.

Alliteration Alliteration is the conspicuous repetition of initial consonant sounds of nearby words in a phrase, often used as a literary device. A familiar example is "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers". Alliteration is used poetically in various ...

and

onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such a word itself is also called an onomatopoeia. Common onomatopoeias include animal noises such as ''oink'', ''m ...

create rolling waves of resounding beauty in this example of Hindu devotional poetry. In the final quatrain of the poem, after tiring of rampaging across the earth, Ravana asks, "When will I be happy?" Because of the intensity of his prayers and ascetic meditation, of which this hymn was an example, Ravana received great power from Shiva, as well as a celestial sword called

Chandrahas In the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'', the Chandrahasa is an indestructible sword that Shiva gifts Ravana. Ravana lifting Mount Kailash The ''Uttara Kanda'' of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'' records that the ten-headed, twenty-armed mighty King Ravana ...

Legend

The ''Uttara Kanda'' of the

Hindu epic Mahākāvya (lit. great kāvya, court epic), also known as ''sargabandha'', is a genre of Indian epic poetry in Classical Sanskrit. The genre is characterised by ornate and elaborate descriptions of scenery, love, battles and so on — in short, ev ...

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th to 4th centuries BCE, and later stages ...

'' records that the ten-headed, twenty-armed mighty King Ravana defeated and looted

Alaka In Hinduism, Alaka (Sanskrit: अलक), which is also called ''Alakapuri or Alkavati'', is a mythical city. It is the home of Kubera, the king of the Yakshas and the lord of wealth. The Mahabharata mentions this city as the capital of the Yaksha ...

– the city of his step-brother and god of wealth

Kubera Kubera ( sa, कुबेर, translit=Kuberā) also known as Kuvera, Kuber and Kuberan, is the god of wealth, and the god-king of the semi-divine yakshas in Hinduism. He is regarded as the regent of the north (''Dikpala''), and a protecto ...

, situated near

Mount Kailash Mount Kailash (also Kailasa; ''Kangrinboqê'' or ''Gang Rinpoche''; Tibetan: གངས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ; ; sa, कैलास, ), is a mountain in the Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It has an altitude of ...

. After the victory, Ravana was returning to Lanka in the '' Pushpaka Vimana'' (the flying chariot stolen from Kubera), when he spotted a beautiful place. However, the chariot could not fly over it. Ravana met Shiva's demigod-bull attendant

Nandi Nandi may refer to: People * Nandy (surname), Indian surname * Nandi (mother of Shaka) (1760–1827), daughter of Bhebe of the Langeni tribe * Onandi Lowe (born 1974), Jamaican footballer nicknamed Nandi * Nandi Bushell (born 2010), South Afric ...

(Nandisha, Nandikeshvara) at the place and asked the reason behind his chariot's inability to pass over the place. Nandi informed Ravana that

and

Parvati Parvati ( sa, पार्वती, ), Uma ( sa, उमा, ) or Gauri ( sa, गौरी, ) is the Hindu goddess of power, energy, nourishment, harmony, love, beauty, devotion, and motherhood. She is a physical representation of Mahadevi i ...

were enjoying their dalliance on the mountain, and that no one was allowed to pass. Ravana mocked Shiva and Nandi. Enraged by the insult to his master, Nandi cursed Ravana that

monkeys Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incom ...

would destroy him. In turn, Ravana decided to uproot Kailash, infuriated by Nandi's curse, and his inability to proceed further. He put all his twenty arms under Kailash, and started lifting it. As Kailash began to shake, a terrified Parvati embraced Shiva. However, the omniscient Shiva realized that Ravana was behind the menace, and pressed the mountain into place with his big toe, trapping Ravana beneath it. Ravana gave a loud cry in pain. Advised by his ministers, Ravana sang hymns in praise of Shiva for a thousand years. Finally, Shiva not only forgave Ravana, but also granted him an invincible sword called the

a. Since Ravana cried, he was given the name "Ravana" – one who cried. The verses that Ravana sang were collected and became known as the Shiva Tandava Stotra.

In popular culture

Parts of the stotra was recreated as a song in the following Indian films: * '' Bhookailas'' (Telugu) * '' Sita Rama Kalyanam'' (Telugu) * '' Bala Ramayanam'' (Telugu) * '' Ranavikrama'' (Kannada), * '' Aabra Ka Daabra'' (Hindi) * ''

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References

{{Shaivism, state=collapsed Hindu devotional texts Shaiva texts