Soundarya Lahari - Overview

For Saakthas (Devi Upaasakas), one of the important composition is Soundarya Lahari. Written and compiled by Adhi Sankara Bhagavathpada, this explains how to create the different yantras and worship them to attain a specific benefit - ideally anything under the sun in this physical world.

Soundarya Lahari means Waves of Beauty. It consists of two parts
Anandha Lahari - the first 41 stanzas meaning Waves of Happiness and
Soundarya Lahari - the next 59 stanzas meaning Waves of Beauty.

The first part of Anandha Lahari is believed to have been composed by Lord Shiva Himself. It is said Lord Shiva had a collection of poems on Paarvathi. When Adhi Sankara Bhagavathpada visited the divine couple in Kailaya, Lord Shiva gifted this verse to Him. Lord Shiva's vehicle - Nandikeshwara (Bull) was also near by. Nandi had a jealous feeling - 'What is this? I'm with the Lord for ever and now a mere mortal came from earth and got gifted with the Divine Verse. I should not let it' and so he tried to snatch the same. Only a part went with him and those were the latter 59 stanzas. Adhi Sankara was dumbstruck. He lamented to the Lord that he lost almost half of the verses. Then Lord Shiva consoled Adhi Sankara that the latter could fill the lost part Himself. When Adhi Sankara was still clueless as to what He could write, Lord Shiva asked Him to describe the Universal Mother Paarvathi from head to toe (keshaadhi paadhantham). So Adhi Sankara wrote the latter 59 verses of Soundarya Lahari following this logic.

There is also a belief that Lord Ganesha etched this Ananda Lahari in the rocks of Mount Meru. Another belief is Adhi Sankara's Guru Sage Goudapaada read this from Mount Meru and taught this to Adhi Sankara and He later filled the remaining 59 stanzas.

Immaterial of the actual source, let us all read this Soundarya Lahari and enjoy endless waves of Happiness. There are many bhaashyas (commentaries) on this Soundarya Lahari in Sanskrit. My attempt here is to split the words for easy reading in Grantha Tamil script and provide a description of each stanza in English and Tamil. I followed the English version of Soundarya Lahari by Shri. P. R. Ramachander for reference. Any omissions if any are mine and please feel free to reach me if you notice the need for any corrections. The credit and copyright of course goes to Lord Shiva and Adhi Sankara.