Lord Venkateswara

śrī veṅkaṭeśa tūṇakam (Rhythmic Balaji Stotra)

(Sri Venkatesha Tunakam in English (IAST))

Also known as shri venkatesha tunakam · shree venkatesha tunakam · venkatesha tunakam

A short hymn in the tūṇaka metre, which is what its title names, and the metre is the point: a long trochaic line that runs in a hard regular beat and invites chains of internal rhyme, so the verses move at speed. It begins at the soles of the feet and the marks read there — the thunderbolt, the conch, the arrow and the bow — then the ten thousand red rays streaming from them. What follows is a rapid accumulation rather than a description: enchanter of the five-arrowed one, cause of Brahmā's birth, bright in golden cloth, dark like a moving raincloud, his curls stirring like a swarm of bees, his brow a little raised, and the god called a deceiver in the same breath. Later verses give the conch-marked throat, the moon-lovely face, the chest marked with saffron, and the print of Indirā's foot upon it.

|| śrī veṅkaṭeśa tūṇakam ||
vajraśaṅkhabāṇacāpacihnitāṅghripaṅkajaṃ
nartitāyutāruṇāgryanissaratprabhākulam |
vajrapāṇimukhyalekhavanditaṃ parātparaṃ
sajjanārcitaṃ vṛṣādrisārvabhaumamāśraye || 1 ||
pañcabāṇamohanaṃ viriñcijanmakāraṇaṃ
kāñcanāmbarojjvalaṃ sacañcalāmbudaprabham |
cañcarīkasañcayābhacañcalālakāvṛtaṃ
kiñciduddhatabhruvaṃ ca vañcakaṃ hariṃ bhaje || 2 ||
maṅgalādhidaivataṃ bhujaṅgamāṅgaśāyinaṃ
saṅgarāribhaṅgaśauṇḍamaṅgadādhikojjvalam |
aṅgasaṅgidehināmabhaṅgurārthadāyinaṃ
tuṅgaśeṣaśailabhavyaśṛṅgasaṅginaṃ bhaje || 3 ||
kambukaṇṭhamambujātaḍambarāmbakadvayaṃ
śambarāritātamenamamburāśitalpagam |
bambharārbhakālibhavyalambamānamaulikaṃ
śaṅkhakundadantavantamuttamaṃ bhajāmahe || 4 ||
paṅkajāsanārcataṃ śaśāṅkaśobhitānanaṃ
kaṅkaṇādidivyabhūṣaṇāṅkitaṃ varapradam |
kuṅkumāṅkitorasaṃ saśaṅkhacakranandakaṃ
veṅkaṭeśamindirāpadāṅkitaṃ bhajāmahe || 5 ||
|| iti śrī veṅkaṭeśa tūṇakam sampūrṇam ||

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