Stotra · स्तोत्रMantra

Annapurna Stotra — opening verse

Shankara's opening verse to Annapurna of Kashi: give alms, mother.

Annapurna Stotra 1edition

Sanskrit · संस्कृत

नित्यानन्दकरी वराभयकरी सौन्दर्यरत्नाकरी निर्धूताखिलघोरपावनकरी प्रत्यक्षमाहेश्वरी । प्रालेयाचलवंशपावनकरी काशीपुराधीश्वरी भिक्षां देहि कृपावलम्बनकरी मातान्नपूर्णेश्वरी ॥

nityānandakarī varābhayakarī saundaryaratnākarī nirdhūtākhilaghorapāvanakarī pratyakṣamāheśvarī । prāleyācalavaṃśapāvanakarī kāśīpurādhīśvarī bhikṣāṃ dehi kṛpāvalambanakarī mātānnapūrṇeśvarī ॥

Read in another script

Meaning

She who brings unending joy, who grants boons and freedom from fear, who is an ocean of beauty, who purifies by dispelling all that is terrible, who is Maheshvari made visible; who sanctifies the lineage of the snow mountain, sovereign of the city of Kashi — give alms, you who extend compassion, mother Annapurneshvari.

This rendering is by a DharmSetu editor, not a quotation from a published translation. Compare with the public-domain translation.

A Hindi meaning has not been written for this mantra yet. Hindi is authored by a named editor rather than machine-translated, so it arrives more slowly.

How to recite

Shardulavikridita, four padas of nineteen syllables. The -karī endings give you a landing point in each half-pada; use them to keep the long compounds from running away. मातान्नपूर्णेश्वरी is mātā + annapūrṇā + īśvarī, three words fused; the doubled nn is audible and should be held. निर्धूताखिल is nirdhūta + akhila, with the two a-sounds merging to ā.

Repetitions: 1
Time: sunrise, before meals

Pronunciation key — sounds commonly got wrong

ट ठ ड ढ ण · ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ: Retroflex — the tongue curls back and touches the roof of the mouth. Distinct from the dental त थ द ध न, where the tongue touches the teeth.
श ष स · ś ṣ s: Three different sounds: ś as in “shy”, ṣ retroflex and further back, s plain. Collapsing them changes words.
ः · ḥ (visarga): A soft outward breath echoing the preceding vowel — not a hard “ha”.
ं · ṃ (anusvara): Nasalises the vowel; the closing sound follows the consonant that comes next.
Long vs short vowels — a / ā, i / ī, u / ū: Vowel length is meaningful in Sanskrit. Hold the macron vowels roughly twice as long.
Aspirated consonants — kh, gh, ch, th, dh, ph, bh: A distinct puff of breath. ph is an aspirated p, never an English “f”.

Word by word

नित्यानन्दकरीnityānandakarī: bringing unending joy(nom. sg. f.)
वराभयकरीvarābhayakarī: granting boons and freedom from fear(nom. sg. f.)
सौन्दर्यरत्नाकरीsaundaryaratnākarī: an ocean of jewels of beauty(nom. sg. f.)
निर्धूताखिलघोरपावनकरीnirdhūtākhilaghorapāvanakarī: purifying by dispelling all that is terrible(nom. sg. f.)
प्रत्यक्षमाहेश्वरीpratyakṣamāheśvarī: Maheshvari made visible(nom. sg. f.)
प्रालेयाचलवंशपावनकरीprāleyācalavaṃśapāvanakarī: sanctifying the lineage of the snow mountain(nom. sg. f.)
काशीपुराधीश्वरीkāśīpurādhīśvarī: sovereign of the city of Kashi(nom. sg. f.)

Context

Every pada of the Annapurna Stotra ends the same way: a string of epithets in -karī, then the refrain bhikṣāṃ dehi — 'give alms'. Shankara, a sannyasin whose only possession was a begging bowl, addresses the goddess who feeds Kashi in the exact words he would have used at a householder's door. The hymn is a beggar's request, kept literal. prāleyācala-vaṃśa, 'the lineage of the snow mountain', identifies her as Parvati, daughter of Himalaya. So the verse moves in three steps: cosmic principle, then the mountain king's daughter, then the woman who runs the kitchen of a particular city. Annapurna's temple stands beside the Kashi Vishwanath temple, and by tradition the food cooked there is never allowed to run out.

Shadanga — the six limbs

The traditional analytic frame for a mantra. Blank limbs are simply not recorded for this text.

chhanda: Shardulavikridita
devata: Annapurna

Recited at / traditionally recited for

Naivedya (food offering)Avahana (invocation)Dhyana (meditation)

Classified as Stotra — Devotional hymn literature — praise poetry rather than a Vedic formula. Basis for this classification.

← All mantras

Related mantras

VedicSukta (hymn)

Purusha Sukta — opening verse

The thousand-headed Purusha — the first verse of the Purusha Sukta, Rigveda 10.90.1.

Rigveda 10.90.1Vishnu

TantricMantra

Navarna Mantra (Chamunda nine-syllable)

The nine-syllable Devi mantra used in the recitation of the Durga Saptashati.

Durga Saptashati (Devi Mahatmya) Navarna vidhiDurga9 syllables

VedicMantra

Aham Brahmasmi

The mahavakya of the Yajurveda — I am Brahman. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.10.