Goddess Sarayu (Ganga)

श्री सरयू अष्टकम्

(Shri Sarayu Ashtakam)

Also known as sri sarayu ashtakam · shree sarayu ashtakam · sarayu ashtakam

Eight verses to the Sarayu, and they make two claims about her origin in the same short poem without troubling to reconcile them. She is greeted first as Vasishtha's daughter, and later as having come from the eye of Hari Narayana — the second being the derivation the Ayodhya tradition prefers, from a lake called Manasa that is itself said to have formed from a tear. The verses in between are about what proximity to her does. Merely remembering her or looking at her is highly effective at destroying sin; those who drink her water free of envy will never again suck at a mother's breast, which is the standard way of saying they will not be born again; and those who die on her bank or die repeating her name have accomplished what they came for.

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Script: Devanagari (देवनागरी) — also the script of Hindi, Marathi, Nepali and Konkani.

॥ श्री सरयू अष्टकम् ॥
नमस्ते सरयू देवि वसिष्ठ तनये शुभे ।
ब्रह्मादि सकलैर्देवैरृषिभिर्नारदादिभिः ॥ १ ॥
सदा त्वं सेविता देवि तथा सुकृतिभिर्नरैः ।
मानसाच्च समायाते जगतां पाप हारिणि ॥ २ ॥
स्मरतां पश्यतां देवि पापनाशे पटीयसि ।
ये पिबन्ति जलं देवि त्वदीयं गतमत्सराः ॥ ३ ॥
स्तनपानं न ते मातुः करिष्यन्ति कदाचन ।
मनु प्रभृतिभिर्मान्यैमानितासि सदा शुभे ॥ ४ ॥
त्वत्तीर मरणेनैव त्वन्नाम रटनेन च ।
ये त्यजन्ति तनुं देवि ते कृतार्था न संशयः ॥ ५ ॥
त्वं तु नेत्रोद्भवा देवि हरेर्नारायणस्य हि ।
महिमा तव देवैश्च गीयते च मुहुर्मुहुः ॥ ६ ॥
तत्र का हि मनः शक्तिः स्तवने मानुषस्य च ।
त्वत्तीरे सर्व तीर्थानि निवसन्ति चतुर्युगे ॥ ७ ॥
नमो देवि नमो देवि पुनरेव नमो नमः ।
हे वासिष्ठि महाभागे प्रणतं रक्ष बन्धनात् ॥ ८ ॥
॥ इति श्रीसरयू अष्टकम् सम्पूर्णम् ॥

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