The ''Asitakrutam Shivastotram'' (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

: असितकृतं शिवस्तोत्रम्) is a

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 ...

composed by the

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed ...

sage

Asita Asita or Kaladevala or Kanhasiri was a hermit ascetic depicted in Buddhist sources as having lived in ancient India. He was a teacher and advisor of Suddhodana, a sage and seer, the father of the Buddha, and is best known for having predicted t ...

in praise of

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

Description

The ''Asitakrutam Shivastotram'' is described in the ''Brahma Vaivarta Purana''. The hymn consists of nine verses that praise Shiva with various epithets. It begins with the sage Asita extoling Shiva as the great teacher, referring to him as

Jagadguru , literally meaning " of the universe", is a title used in . Traditionally, it has been bestowed upon or used for belonging to the school (among the six traditional schools of thought in Hinduism) who have written Sanskrit commentaries on the ...

and Yogendra. He is acknowledged as the destroyer of the universe and the god of death, followed by a depiction of Shiva as ''kalarupa'', the supreme god of time. The hymn continues by celebrating Shiva as the embodiment of virtues and qualities, the source of all good traits, and the teacher of the virtuous. It identifies him with absolute truth (Brahman) and the seed of the Vedas. The author is described to express profound emotion at the end of the hymn, shedding tears in front of Shiva.

References

Shiva Hinduism Sanskrit literature {{Hinduism-stub