Shiva Namavalyashtakam (Namavali Ashtakam)
Shiva Namavalyashtakam (Namavali Ashtakam)
Shiva Namavalyashtakam (Namavali Ashtakam)
śiva nāmāvalyaṣṭakaṃ (nāmāvalī aṣṭakaṃ)
he candracūḍa madanāntaka śūlapāṇe
sthāṇo girīśa girijeśa maheśa śambho |
bhūteśa bhītabhayasūdana māmanāthaṃ
saṃsāraduḥkhagahanājjagadīśa rakṣa || 1 ||
he pārvatīhṛdayavallabha candramaule
bhūtādhipa pramathanātha girīśacāpa |
he vāmadeva bhava rudra pinākapāṇe
saṃsāraduḥkhagahanājjagadīśa rakṣa || 2 ||
he nīlakaṇṭha vṛṣabhadhvaja pañcavaktra
lokeśa śeṣavalaya pramatheśa śarva |
he dhūrjaṭe paśupate girijāpate māṃ
saṃsāraduḥkhagahanājjagadīśa rakṣa || 3 ||
he viśvanātha śiva śaṅkara devadeva
gaṅgādhara pramathanāyaka nandikeśa |
bāṇeśvarāndhakaripo hara lokanātha
saṃsāraduḥkhagahanājjagadīśa rakṣa || 4 ||
vārāṇasīpurapate maṇikarṇikeśa
vīreśa dakṣamakhakāla vibho gaṇeśa |
sarvajña sarvahṛdayaikanivāsa nātha
saṃsāraduḥkhagahanājjagadīśa rakṣa || 5 ||
śrīmanmaheśvara kṛpāmaya he dayālo
he vyomakeśa śitikaṇṭha gaṇādhinātha |
bhasmāṅgarāga nṛkapālakalāpamāla
saṃsāraduḥkhagahanājjagadīśa rakṣa || 6 ||
kailāsaśailavinivāsa vṛṣākape he
mṛtyuñjaya trinayana trijagannivāsa |
nārāyaṇapriya madāpaha śaktinātha
saṃsāraduḥkhagahanājjagadīśa rakṣa || 7 ||
viśveśa viśvabhavanāśaka viśvarūpa
viśvātmaka tribhuvanaikaguṇādhikeśa |
he viśvanātha karuṇāmaya dīnabandho
saṃsāraduḥkhagahanājjagadīśa rakṣa || 8 ||
gaurīvilāsabhavanāya maheśvarāya
pañcānanāya śaraṇāgatakalpakāya |
śarvāya sarvajagatāmadhipāya tasmai
dāridryaduḥkhadahanāya namaḥ śivāya || 9 ||
iti śrīmatparamahaṃsaparivrājakācāryasya śrīgovindabhagavatpūjyapādaśiṣyasya śrīmacchaṅkarabhagavataḥ kṛtau śrīśivanāmāvalyaṣṭakaṃ sampūrṇam ||
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About This Stotram
Overview
The Shiva Namavalyashtakam is a Sanskrit devotional hymn of 9 verses that enumerates a garland of Shiva's names and epithets, including Chandrachuda, Madanantaka, Shulapane, Girisha, Mahesh, and Jagadisha. Each verse invokes a different cluster of Shiva's divine attributes, asking for rescue from worldly suffering. It belongs to the Shaiva stotra tradition; the author is unknown.
What are the benefits of chanting Shiva Namavalyashtakam?
- Supports liberation from the cycle of worldly sorrow through repeated invocation of Shiva's names
- Offers protection by invoking Shiva's role as Pashupati, lord of all beings
- Purifies the mind through systematic meditation on Shiva's attributes
- Cultivates devotion and deepens familiarity with Shiva's many forms
When is the best time to recite this?
The Shiva Namavalyashtakam is typically recited during morning and evening prayers, during Shiva Puja, and on auspicious days such as Maha Shivaratri, the Shravana month, and Mondays dedicated to Shiva.
What is the historical and traditional background?
The Shiva Namavalyashtakam does not appear in any single canonical Vedic or Puranic text and has no identified author. The format — presenting Shiva's epithets in clustered verse form — is characteristic of the Bhakti devotional literature that developed through the Puranic and medieval periods. Hymns of this type were composed to give devotees an accessible, structured means of connecting with the divine through the recitation of divine names (nama japa). The text is included in several collected editions of Shaiva stotra literature.
Available scripts
This text is available in 14 scripts: devanagari, tamil, telugu, kannada, malayalam, gujarati, bengali, iast, gurmukhi, oriya, assamese, sinhala, itrans, hk. Use the script selector above to switch between them.
Related Texts
- Shiva Mahimna Stotram — a 43-verse philosophical hymn to Shiva that similarly draws on a wide range of divine epithets
- Shiva Sahasra Namavali — the thousand-name listing of Shiva's epithets, representing the extended form of the namavali tradition