Sivatandava-stotram of Ravana I behold the great lord Chandrasekhara With the matted locks whirling in fury As Ganga thrusts him with the shower! Beneath the waters in mirth is the flame Swirling up and down between the eyes
(1)
Gangā, the gigantic fall, down to the neck With the lord’s fiery spirit in her bosom Thrashes the snakes to make them swirl And the drum is set to thunder the sky Upon the Mount, the terrific dance is on
(2)
I behold you at 12 steps below the nostrils Sporting with the daughter of the spine In delight and casting auspicious glances You uphold the whole universe in your mind I beseech grace with hands below your feet
(3)
The swirling cobra with the crested gem Fills the directions with the blood-red glow Your chest is bristling like a mad elephant And the ghosts are out to make merry O’ Lord, I too seek delight in your dance
(4)
Awesome shower of flowers at your feet But the Gods outwitted by the crescent atop The cobras in delight upon the matted locks Lord of the Mount you are matchless in glory Graceful are my palms under your sacred feet
(5)
The forehead and the central blazing fire Make the Gods fall perennially at your feet They shiver in flashback of the ill-fated Cupid O’ Lord! Let the crescent be of cool blaze And the matted locks be the my source of boons
(6)
The fire god arches out in long and wide tongues To give the impression of a crater at the nosetip Cupid and his flowers had got lost in that flame Artist you are upon the great mounts she wields I beseech your pardon for spoiling your night
(7)
This night is dark like the newmoon of cancer O’ the elephant killer crowned with the Ganges Like the flooding arrays of the new rain clouds The snakes on your neck have eclipsed the moon Bless me! O’ lord adorned with the crescent atop
(8)
O’ Nīlakanth! The blue neck is glowing like the lotus Dark in hue like a garden of the bloomed blue lotus Killer you are of the Cupid and the demons of tripura Also vanished by your look are the Yama and Gaja Andhaka too perished! My Lord, I seek refuge in you
(9)
Flattened you are in beholding her exquisite beauty Like the earth’s axis getting flowered around polestar And you are desperate to have all those honey dews No ease! The killer of death and demons like Gaja At your wit’s end in devouring her to your content
(10)
O’ Great God! You are adorned by the swirling snakes And the nose tip resemble a crater of volcanic flames Tumultous thunder is happening all around and rains I see her latent spirit aroused in nature by your steps Amazing is this rhythm I feel and the grace you release
(11)
Misery happens, my Lord! As the mind qualifies things In names like pearls and stones, king and the commons Lotus is special and the grass worthless in many a ways It is my great longing to be absorbed to your sacred feet In grace, with equanimity to all and everything I see
(12)
In those thickets on the banks of your crested Ganges Devoid of the ills of my mind, intelligence and ego When shall I have rest away from wine and women? O’ Grea Lord! I earnestly hope to chant your name Folding my hands raised to your feet: Sivaya Nama:
(13)
I have praised and prayed in distress that you caused To keep my hands folded and delusions in check Whosoever reads, listens or remembers this song No other way in fact to earn his grace in abundance O’Lord Siva, your name alone is the cure for deluded
(14)
Whosoever keeps these verses in his daily worship At the dawn or dusk or on the tithis of pradosha He bestows him or her with the abode of Lakshmi In smile She grants them with the abundance of all
(15)
No translation of these great verses can be free from blemishes. This is just an attempt to glean the spirit of the great prayer in a different language. Ravana is there within all the beings – he is the Jiva endowed with the Mahā-Mohas. These Mahā-Mohas or the great fulfillments sought by Jiva are ten in number and Vālmīki chose to portray them as the ten heads of Rāvana. Ravana means one who cries – the Jiva – the Apāna whose abode is at Mūlādharam – the equator of the human body or Lanka. Undoubtedly every Jiva is a natural, matchless devotee of Siva.... chandra_hari18@yahoo.com