Stotra

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Stotra (T. bstod pa). Translated as "eulogy", "ode" "praise", "hymn of praise", etc.[1][2][3] A literary genre of Indian religious texts designed to be melodically sung, in contrast to a shastra which is composed to be recited.[1]

A stotra can be a prayer, a description, or a conversation, but always with a poetic structure. It may be a simple poem expressing praise and personal devotion to a deity for example, or poems with embedded spiritual and philosophical doctrines.[4]

Etymology

Stotra comes from the Sanskrit root stu- which means "to praise, eulogize or laud".[4] Literally, the term refers to "poems of praise".[5]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Monier Williams, Monier Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Article on Stotra
  2. ↑ Apte 1965, p. 1005.
  3. ↑ 84000 Glossary
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Nancy Ann Nayar (1992). Poetry as Theology: The Śrīvaiṣṇava Stotra in the Age of Rāmānuja. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. ix–xi. ISBN 978-3447032551. 
  5. ↑ Nancy Ann Nayar (1992). Poetry as Theology: The Śrīvaiṣṇava Stotra in the Age of Rāmānuja. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-3447032551. 

Sources

  • Apte, Vaman Shivram (1965), The Practical Sanskrit Dictionary (Fourth revised and enlarged ed.), Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, ISBN 81-208-0567-4 

External links